Category: politics

We’ve heard that the French hate us. That they don’t like America. It’s not true. Don’t believe it. I haven’t been here for very long, and was fully expecting to have to say I was Canadian to escape a hassle. I didn’t have to. I have had a great experience with everyone I’ve met here, both in Paris (apparently the hub of this anti-Americanism) and here in Cannes. Most people speak English, their TV is full of American shows, and no one has made that classic French face of disgust.

I think I also realize why most people here speak English. It’s not that they’ve got some superior education system or we’re just dumb for not all learning a foreign language to the point of comfortable conversation. It’s’ that they almost have to. English is, oddly enough, the common language not only of business, but of entertainment, and it seems of Europe. I was watching a German snowboarding show the other night, where snowboarders from four or five different countries were interviewed. The German interviewer spoke to the foreign athletes in English, and the athletes answered back.

In Paris, I went into a little boulangerie (bakery) near my hotel and stumbled through ordering a sandwich and some beignets. The young man behind the counter pegged me right away as American, and seemed really happy to be able to practice his English. I ordered in my crap French. He replied in his stilted English, and we had a laugh.

Here, in the hotel restaurant (which is unbelievably good), almost everyone speaks English. There’s one older man who doesn’t, and seems apologetic about it. I don’t get that. I should be the one apologizing. I came into his country, and I don’t speak the language. I’m embarrassed at how bad my French is, which I think has helped me get along with the people I’ve met so far here. I try French first, if that doesn’t work, I ask if they speak English (in French), and then thank them if they say they do (again in French). So far, I haven’t had any trouble with people refusing to speak English (I was warned by several people that Parisians will watch you struggle just for the fun of it). Now, I have had some funny experiences with us both speaking English and us still not understanding each other, but it’s not for lack of trying, and it usually ends in a laugh.

The French don’t hate us. There’s no reason for us to have “freedom fries” or dump French wine. Doing so doesn’t hurt the French government (which is who we may have a problem with), it makes us look silly.

With the President’s announcement yesterday supporting an amendment banning gay marriage (for my opinion, read this one more time with feeling), he’s opened a huge rift in the GOP. We now have a President siding with the ultra-right Christian Fundamentalists in the party and has just thrown mud in the eye of the small government conservatives.

I don’t think this does anything to the Democrats. It only adds fuel to an already raging fire. For the GOP, it’s going to cause all kinds of soul searching, all kinds of turmoil. Even in the first 24 hours, some of the Presidents staunchest supporters, Andrew Sullivan and even Tom DeLay have either revolted completely or are backing off of the President’s position.

At this point, does someone inside the GOP step in to run against Bush? John McCain? Anyone?

So, I kind of killed nonDependant today. I’m no longer going to actively add content or try to create a community there. I’m leaving it up because a LOT of people get to the site through search engines, looking for The Constitution, and I think that’s kind of cool.

I just don’t have time, and didn’t see it going anywhere. Oh well… maybe next time.

I just posted some thoughts about primaries over at nonDependant. Spurred by Wes Clark’s decision to drop out and my guilt at changing my vote at the last minute. I voted for Edwards. Why? Because I knew Clark was in freefall, and that the only way to provide a foil to Kerry was to vote for number two. Edwards and Clark were stealing each others votes, and I knew that if Edwards was going to make it to the “it’s down to two” race, I would have to go with him. I feel guilty for it on one level, and am still questioning my decision.

The primaries are supposed to be about voting your heart. You use your head in the general, and swallow whatever pride you have and vote for the lesser of two evils (OK, I didn’t do that in 2000, which I also feel a little guilty about). I had to go with my head and vote for the “next best thing” yesterday morning.

I’m sorry, General Clark. I really like you, what you stand for, and hope you have a place in the next Administration. I hope you run for office again, and have better luck. You’re a national hero, and have my respect.

To the General’s supporters, I’m sorry. I feel bad for you. You stood for a dream that you could help create a “new standard of leadership”, bring an outsider to the White House and change the empty rhetoric, lies and vacuous promises of the Washington machine. I’m sorry it didn’t work. It’s a good dream. It’s a worthy goal.

Mr. Edwards, I hope you do something with my vote and take it somewhere important. You seem like a good man, a good father, and would make a good President. I hope your stump speech is as genuine as it sounds, because it’s damn good. It’s inspiring, and reaches for a better America for all of us. It embraces the best ideals of our country, and I can stand behind that.

Honestly, I want the primaries to keep going for a while. I like watching the attention paid to the process. I like watching the numbers, and seeing the refinement of the candidates’ message that comes from constant campaigning. I hope that the Democrats take all the attention their getting and turn it into a win in November. Anyone running (OK, anyone but Sharpton and Dennis) would be better than Bush.

Lies, Lies, and Damned Lies. This President is a liar, plain and simple. Spin it however you want, Republicans. The man is liar, habitual, and serious. He’s not lying about marital infidelities. His lies are ruining our economy, putting our soldiers in danger needlessly, and are directly related to the deaths of over 500 American soldiers, and over 3,000 innocent Iraqi civilians.

The man shouldn’t just lose the election. He should be impeached. His lies are dangerous, irresponsible, and are the basis for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” I would consider leading our country to war under false pretenses, spurious evidence and apparently deliberate deception qualifies. Of course, I’m no lawyer, but the man is corrupt. You can’t have that clear an appearance of evil, and that many lies in one hour without suspecting to the point of official enquiry that there is actual corruption and wrongdoing there.

Of course, it won’t happen. It should. If honestly, the President has nothing to hide and wants to know “the truth” or “the facts”, let’s get to them. Stop the deception. Stop the lies. Stop the evasion. Tell the truth, finally. Let the 9/11 commission do their job. Give them everything. Let the Iraqi Intelligence commission look into the use of the intelligence and not just the gathering. Give them subpoena power. If you’ve got nothing to hide, stop making it look like you’re trying.

I’m sure you’re all on the edge of your seats over this one. I’ve talked about it ad nauseam since September when I decided I didn’t have to decide who to vote for right then. Now, I do. The VA primary is Tuesday, and I’ve finally made up my mind. Right this minute, I’m comfortable with it, but I reserve the right to change my mind before then.

I’ve decided to vote for Wesley Clark. Why? Why not just vote for Kerry and be done with it? Because I don’t have to yet. I like Kerry, and I think he’ll make a fine President if/when he becomes the nominee. But, he’s an insider. He’s been in Washington for a very long time. He’s part of the machine. Honestly, I had a hard time not sticking with Dean. But, I’ve watched him as a candidate fall apart in the past week and a half. His stump speech doesn’t have the same spark it used to. He doesn’t have the passion I admired before, and I’ve realized that I really don’t agree with him as much as I do Clark or Kerry. I like Edwards too. He is one of the most engrossing speakers I’ve ever seen, and his stump speech is inspiring. But, there’s something about him I just don’t get yet, and until I figure it out, I can’t vote for him. I’m picking Clark because he’s a viable outsider. He’s a man outside of the Washington machine (as outside as anyone can get and still be viable as a Presidential candidate). He has military experience I respect, has sound economic plans (well, as far as I can tell – they make sense), and seems like a moderate who can get other moderates from both sides to work with him.

So, there you have it, who I’m voting for and why. And unrelated to any of them, I haven’t seen anything about any of the candidates coming to Virginia next week. That disappoints me. I’ve only seen Dean in person and that was way back in August. I learned a lot at that rally, and would love to see one or two of the others in person. I don’t see any yet, but if anyone in Northern VA hears of anything, please let me know.

Joe drops out. I’m happy. Lieberman came off as a whiner and a scold during the campaign, and honestly, during the debates, sounded like a Republican. He just didn’t click with me, or with anyone I know. I feel bad for the folks who support him, but I’m glad the field’s narrowing. Now that Joe’s out, I think it’s time for Dennis and Al to look at the facts and drop out as well.

Now if only we can get GW to drop out of the race too!

You know, the post was disheartening enough, but to see the utter deflation in the comments is too much. I’ve posted about it before, but I’m too outraged/baffled/depressed to go look them up now. I had high hopes for the Dean campaign. I wanted it to be successful enough to show that we can change politics from the bottom up. I wanted it to show that you can beat corporate donations and cynical politicing with determination, small donors and honesty. It looks now like it was all a pipe dream. And, if it’s not a pipe dream, this is a horrible first example of the way to go.

It looks like (and these are leaks and reports, so I could be all wrong in my interpretation here), that the operatives working for the campaign messed up, and big. They took this huge grassroots campaign and destroyed it with their giant egos, greed, and poor decision-making ability. It reflects poorly on Dean, not that he particularly did anything wrong, but he apparently picked the wrong people to deliver his message. Decision making, and being a good judge of character is an important characteristic in a President. It looks like Dean picked the wrong messengers, and it’s going to cripple his chances of being President.

I have two weeks to decide who to vote for on 2/10. I’m no closer to that decision than I was a month ago. Part of it is that I like the top four, and all for different reasons. Part of it is I really, really, really want to vote for the guy who win in November. Dean doesn’t look like that guy anymore. Of the other three, I’m not so sure who has the best chance, and who I can really believe in.

I’ll let you know what I decide… not that it matters all that much.

In church yesterday, we had a lesson about strengthening the family. It was all going fine until it was derailed by a comment about gay marriage and an upcoming “assault on the family” waged by legislation and the courts. Being a good little Mormon, afraid of outing myself as a liberal to this room full of men, I kept my mouth shut until I could come up with a diplomatic way of expressing my utter shock at the suggestion of two folks that our families were somehow impacted by gay couples having the same rights we do as straight couples.

I ended up saying something like (paraphrasing, because I’m not sure exactly what I said – my face was red), “I’m going to try to say this very carefully. I would think that as members of a Church that has been legislated against in the past to the point that it was once legal and encouraged to kill Mormons, we would be suspect of government intervention in the name of ‘morality’. We are Christians. And as Christians, we’re not about judging people. I would think that if we want to bring more people into the Church, and to Christ, we would want to embrace them as people, and not try to further marginalize our brothers and sisters who happen to be gay. I think we should be very careful about supporting these proposed laws, because they are often viewed as a license to hate, and that’s not what being a Christian is about.”

What I didn’t say during the lesson, but wanted to, was that I don’t see how allowing a gay couple to have the same legal rights as a straight couples when it comes to survivor benefits, power of attorney and the rest of the legal rights that come with a marriage (to the state, really a “civil union” anyway), threatens our families. Homosexuals are easy targets because they’re “different” and “not like us”. If we really wanted to strengthen the “family”, we should look at the problems that already afflict families. We should look at ways to decrease the divorce rate, which is currently well over fifty percent (meaning your marriage is more likely to fail than to succeed), provide more help for single parents, and look at ways to promote marriage over co-habitation (since a couple is 33% more likely to divorce if they live together before marriage than not). We need to look at ways to strengthen family bonds, and create healthy and stable home lives for children. We need to break the chain of poverty, which causes so much stress on family life. I don’t see any of that happening through legislation. I don’t see what allowing homosexuals couples equal protection under the law has to do with my family. I’m not going to be forced to marry a man, and my wife doesn’t have to go marry a woman. It will most likely not have anything to do with my family or marriage.

We already have enough hate in our country. We have enough Fred Phelps to go around. Being Christian means hating the sin, not the sinner. By marginalizing those who choose different lifestyles than our own, we show them, and ourselves, that we lack charity. Since Christ himself said that we should love our neighbors has ourselves, and said it was the second of all commandments (Mark 12 30-32). Shouldn’t that pretty much trump anything you find in the Old Testament. Mark 12 is pretty much a refutation of the Ten Commandments, yet, those who proclaim their hatred for homosexuals constantly use the Old Testament in their attacks. Charity is the pure love of Christ. If we constantly attack those who are different from us, threaten to make illegal the love they can’t help but feel, and judge them ceaselessly, where is our charity?

This is way too much time to spend on a piece of legislation that is nothing more than a sop to the President’s religious conservative base. If he was truly interested in saving the institution of marriage, he would make it harder to get divorced, outlaw co-habitation and force everyone to be nice, happy, well-balanced people. But, of course, we know that no law will ever do that. By legislating something, it doesn’t make it go away. Homosexuals won’t just “see the light” and become straight because they can’t have the same rights we do as straight people. If we allow this law to pass, or the amendment to be added to the Constitution, they will know that we do not have charity, that we do not love our neighbors, that we are not Christians.

No, not that doctor, Doc. A great post on why Bush has to go. And coming later today, a big long post on this whole gay marriage/constitutional amendment stuff and how silly it all is. You can get ready for it by reading this excellent analysis of the debate from the BBC.