Posted by voolavex in Politics, Politics & Religion, Social Issues.
My father – from whom my thinking flows to a large and fine degree – was a Boston Irish Catholic – a term I first learned from my BIC late brother-in-law – who was one as well. I am not sure if this brother in law was a Democrat but my father was – An FDR, HST, JFK Boston Irish Catholic Democrat and proud of it. And my father was flawed in the way that the Irish seem to have canonized the act of being flawed. I think he knew that the same flaw in JFK and his brothers existed. I think he understood and accepted it with grace and sadness – in probably the same way people who loved these brothers had to do in order to support them in their endeavors.
For every person who will quickly point out the wrongs and even terrible wrongs these men did in their lives – there are those who will also point out how hard the last brother tried to balance them in his life – his own and those of his family. How he worked tirelessly to place a light in the shadows each one, sadly, created and the paths they took in error. He could not undo those flaws. But he lived his adult life to try and diminish them – not by ignoring or belittling their existence but by acts of redemption that resulted in 300 laws he wrote and another 700 in which he was instrumental and by 47 years of service to his country and his own home state where I was born and raised for the early part of my life. I cannot let these acts be darkened in his hour of death and I won’t.
Edward Moore Kennedy was father and a brother and a son. He was a husband. He was a legislator, a peacemaker and a fellow American – he was a champion of our citizens no matter what they believed and he did not write exclusionary laws. His laws crossed the aisle. He was so much like every one of us – he screwed up worse than some and not nearly as badly as others. He lived past these dark moments and moved on. He tried to do better when he knew better and he died -not as a cautionary example but as a man who simply donated his life to public service. He raised his own children and his brother’s lost children – he stood for something. He reminded me of my own father whom I loved in full. Remember him as you do those you have lost – with all their strengths and weakness Mourn Ted Kennedy’s passing the same way and endeavor to be grateful for the gifts you have been left and the lessons you have learned from the lives each one lived.
Posted by voolavex in Politics.
Tags: Anne Coulter, Ayn Rand, Barack Obama, Bush, Cheney, constitution, Crap, death, death panels, factcheck.org, Gay, Glenn Beck, GOP, half truths, health care insurance, health care reform, Homeland security, Latina, Lies, Nobel Prize, platform, right wing, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, senator, smear, Snopes, Sotomayor
Obama is my president. He was my choice as a candidate and I am happy he is in the White House. I am sick of the minute by minute negative commentary on his progress in 8 months as the president. But what is even more alarming is the dedicated and vocal GOP opposition that appears to think telling lies is far more important than the running of this country and the welfare of all its citizens. Suddenly we find ourselves rolled over by the calculated lies and misinformation being spewed by the GOP and their right of normal adherents. During the horrifying eight years of George W. Bush and his evil twin Dick Cheney, no one made a peep. Democrats tried but they were denied voice by Homeland Security rules; rendition, being a traitor, selling out this country, doubting (doubting was as bad as traiting) and daring to accuse the GOP of exactly what it was doing and what could and has been proven. The incumbents of that era grew very fat and happy. They became drunk with the sense of entitlement and power they could wield like a club and like it or not we put up with it. Now that they are not in charge, they have returned to what they do best – obfuscation of truth. Their champions are Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter and Glenn Beck. Pop culture demagogues of questionable character who present as absolute truth , lies they want to spread. Their platform – the over the top strict construction of the Constitution and out of context “intelligence” that isn’t anything but crap.
Does it irk people that Mr. Obama (and family) are the very thing they fear? Not just his racial background, but his education, attitude and willingness to hash out policy by going directly to the people. Is he doing a great job – not every time – but he isn’t being allowed much latitude in his actions. Hysterical citizens at Town Hall meetings ready to riot over “death panels” is not quite my idea of civilized exchanges of opinion and ideas. This country is bankrupt. Financially and morally. The Objectivists dragged that unsound “ism” right straight to Wall Street and suddenly Wall Street has a “road closed” sign. Too many laws were broken and hidden and no one gave out tickets until it was far too late.
Health care reform? Oh no you can’t. A suddenly vociferous section of the population doesn’t care if 47 million of their fellow citizens stay healthy or die. They are bloodsucking leeches who want YOU to pay for their insurance. Pay for it yourself – they say. I would bet they would stop that screed in about two seconds if they lost theirs. They fail to see that the 47 million paid for many things they didn’t like – war for example. Gay people paid for things they weren’t even allowed to have. Black people have been paying since the first boat hit Virginia. Suddenly the sanctimonious right is on the warpath. And they are working overtime to undermine and derail the current administration with lies and half truths and it’s time the rest of us spoke up and did something before they get another term in the White House. If you think it can’t happen – Al Gore will tell you it does.
Let Barack Obama and his cabinet do their jobs– get out of your comfort zone and if you have to stoop to the GOP level – then get close to the ground and do it. Their media personalities quit office, pop pills and sell snake oil. One of our media spokesmen is a senator now. A wise Latina sits on the bench with a busload of self-righteous hypocrites. Buenvenidos Justice Sotomayor. Their moguls steal bonuses from their stockholders. Two of our CEO’s have won the Nobel Peace Prize.
I don’t have to walk you through this minefield. Don’t get smug or complacent because we won the election. The GOP is still snarling at the door of the Oval Office.
When you hear a rumor go to Factcheck.org or Snopes. When something sounds made up – make sure it is or isn’t before you spread it and other people get sick. There are Republicans who are decent and smart and responsible – but they are very, very well-mannered and subdued. They are being drowned out by their wing nut political partners. They need to be louder but we need to be louder still.
Posted by voolavex in Politics & Religion, Uncategorized.
Tags: bailout, bankrupt, Bean pies, broker, Brownie, Bush, CEO's, Detroit, drving smug, granite counters, Hank Paulson, hedge funds, HGTV, houses, Hummers, hybrid, Katrina, Middle Class, Ratan Tata, Shabazz Bakery, the bailout, Three Card Monte, Wall Street
We all have watched with a sort of sickening amazement as the economy hit bottom in the last few months (years?). I keep thinking of things that shouldn’t be surprising and yet people can’t seem to get a grip on some of them.
Houses. Back when house loans were being hawked like bean pies on every corner* – why on earth did anyone imagine a person with no money, no credit history, no ability to read the fine print (and in fact – who does?) should get a house? How did that concept become a good idea? I didn’t think it was a good idea but I have never wanted to own a house – nonetheless, uncounted numbers did and do and so they sold their soul to the devil, signed the ARM and got a chance to live in their car. Didn’t a little bell go off and say – this cannot be right? And people didn’t just go for little sheds – they wanted those big ugly tract homes with the wrong proportions and the wrong doors for their family of 4 or 5. I blame HGTV for that part. Flip That House, Flop This House, granite counters, work islands, hardwood floors. THE GREAT ROOM. Get real. Bigger and uglier is not always the way to go. Which came first – the big, ugly house, or the features that go with? Those dream houses are bad dreams and aftermath is a nightmare. It is hard to weep for folks too thick to say – whoa – too good to be true – but maybe it isn’t. It could have been me no matter what I believe inside.
And Detroit. Didn’t they see it coming? I did. I drive a really great used car. One owner; pristine, cheap and good on gas. I can even fit a baby seat should I need one and a dog crate – which I won’t. And this is L.A. – no one has sneered at me yet – but I have been pushed off the street frequently by morons in SUV’s texting and talking. The SUV’s are gas guzzlers and the phone use is just dangerous – I love the phones but if you’re going to text while driving – why can’t I do the NY Sunday Times crossword when I drive? Car lots are overflowing with unsold cars. How many can you drive at once. And why does the Miami-Dade CSI team need those Hummers? Maybe if the Big Three and their minions had worked harder at making cars and and less time patting each other the back we might actually know someone who’s driven a Ford lately.
Hybrid cars. I really want one for the obvious reason. I can’t afford one but it hasn’t stopped me from wanting one. People who do have them however have not been elevated to the Communion of Saints for their purchase. Driving smug is as dumb as the texting thing – you can’t really do it well. Hybrid owners drive smug. It totally negates the good thing the car represents. I am growing to hate the drivers while still loving the cars – that is some sort of Christian thing I do not understand.
Wall Street. Didn’t anyone read The Bonfire of the Vanities. Watched Wall Street? Yes you did. Three Card Monte artists in power ties and striped shirts. Short sales, puts, calls, brokerage, pork bellies, metals, in-is-der trading? I knew about this years before there were computers. We had separate phone just for the broker – at home. When every call to your broker was a chance to buy more dog stocks because the broker’s pitch was so alluring. Hedge funds (I still am not sure what they are but it cannot be legal). And while you bought – they bought and they spent and you paid and they lived large and you spent and they did not regulate themselves (as Alan imagined they would ) and now you may see them in front of Bloomingdale’s (Lex Ave doors) playing Three Card Monte for real. Your pension plan. Don’t even go there. You do not want to see it.
Bankrupt stores. Stores that sell cheap crap at inflated prices. Too many stores that sell cheap crap at inflated prices. Too many folks who are going broke trying to lure underpaid, overworked humans in to buy the cheap stuff. I want to blame China. It’s hard not to blame China but it’s not all China’s fault -in fact I should blame the vendors not the makers because we order it and they create it and we palm it off as “collectible” or “hot and “must have”. So while I am distraught for the many “Big Box” stores that are biting the big dust – didn’t they suspect something? In many cases I would say good riddance to cheap rubbish but the loss of jobs is what keeps me from too much Schadenfreude. I don’t think the loss of the giants will actually be so bad though – we may stop the imports from the outsources and try to make it here.
The Middle Class. Somewhere along the line the term “middle class” has become a filthy thing to be called. But it’s about the same as being a real person – and real is good. But no one wants to be middle class. Why not. Because you can’t be middle class and be a celebrity? You can be no class and be a star (No talent too). You lack importance? To whom? Here’s a clue – it’s not that important. You don’t want to be the underclass (which is actually the lower class in terms of income – most people do try to escape that) but why not middle class? Because in terms of cash flow you are just an Earth tad above the working poor and Space tad below the Very Rich. Yet you can have a high functioning brain and skills and be middle class. A real person. We pretend there is no class stratification in this country but it’s a lie. But in this country we confuse money with class. So we have a term for it – Nouveau Riche. Class is a state of mind that is okay. Politeness, good manners, speaking well (but not pontificating) and having a sense of style and taste gives you a classless sort of class – even dead broke. People who read for pleasure have class. Informed people have class. Black folks use a perfect term for it: “the way you carry yourself”. That is real class – middle class – and it’s not a bad thing. I would rather be known for the way I carry myself than for my bank account and what it buys. At this point in time – we, of the middle class have been around enough to be old money. One does not have to be to the manner born – it’s just a good idea to know what the manner is and learn from it. And enjoy being middle class. Real. We are the engine that runs the world. Even the president-elect says so.
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Ratan Tata– If you don’t recognize the name – check Wikipedia. He shows us how the concept “Good thoughts Good Words Good Deeds” has actually worked for hundreds of years in a still developing country. He is very wealthy. I do believe he did not set aside his beliefs to get that way.
The Bailout. Hank Paulson should change his name to Brownie. His handling of the so-called Bailout is being handled about the same way Brownie handled Katrina. Someone please take the money away from Hank..
There’s more – but this is enough today What do you think?.
*The sale of bean pies by well dressed, polite young men on street corners still exists and I respect it greatly. That it exists only in certain areas is a statement about many other things. If you have a chance, though, buy one. Can’t find a corner – try a Shabazz Bakery.
Posted by voolavex in Politics & Religion, Uncategorized.
Tags: Alan Greenspan, Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Bush, capitalists, car, cell, Cheney, crooks, Cuba, detainees, Fed, future, Gitmo, greed, Guantanamo, hedge funds, income, John Galt, objectivism, Objectvism, political, Rumsfeld, slammer, Valerie Plame, Yaron Brook
According to his prepared testimony before the House Oversight Committee, Greenspan lamented that “those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder’s equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief.”
Alan Greenspan – former disciple of Ayn Rand and former Chairman of the Fed
Why must we waste a perfectly lovely detention facility right in the luxurious Caribbean. Of course it should be emptied of foreign detainees who are there without representation or any other right to which they may be entitled (we might ask John Cain about being detained for 5 years without a lawyer). It seems these presumed terrorists (and I don’t doubt there are some there) are protected under several international acts that are reserved for presumed war criminals. We have overlooked these pacts for 6+ years despite being signatories of each one. We have created trumped up “acts” and rules to justify every sort of torture and deprivation imaginable. The same stuff we condemned loudly for decades when others did it. Apparently knocking down the WTC relieves us of every single law and rule in the book when it comes to enemy combatants. The George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld Law of Double Standards. It is my belief every person detained in that camp be channeled to a legally authorized facility with counsel available and allowed real justice to be meted out to each person based on facts and due process.
But we have this fabulous, large, working prison camp on balmy Guantanamo Bay – escape proof – like the Rock – and ready to go. Let’s not be hasty. Right here in this very country we have many yet to be indicted (but readily) indictable white collar crooks from our own terror locations right in New York, Washington and other large cities. These are referred to as CEO’s, Board Chairmans, Bankers, Mortgage lender and Hedge Funders. And of course political mischief makers. In fact they are all basically crooks. I might start filling the place with the people who destroyed Valerie Plame’s career. Next on my list would be the chairman of the Fed. The lovable and much respected Alan Greenspan who naively believed (because Ayn Rand said so?) that given a free reign – financial institutions would regulate themselves – no problem. If that were actually true then it would be the very first time in the history of the universe – since the Big Bang – such a thing ever happened. Even toddlers know that the king was in his counting house counting all his money. It makes me chuckle when I think of the gasps and moans folks let out whenever the Mafia is mentioned. All the bad things they do and how they rob and cheat and lie. Right. Even the mob has regulation – it may be harsh – but someone takes charge. Recently Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute for {Get Rich and Run with the Money – oops} – Individual Rights said that Atlas Shrugged had foreseen it all. That the government was at fault – oh crap – you read it:
Washington, D.C. –“Despite overwhelming evidence that government policies caused the current financial crisis, Congress is blaming businessmen,” said Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. “What’s worse, the capitalists who have been shackled with unprecedented regulatory burdens are unable to defend themselves morally. Though the events are different, this pattern of abuse and submission is straight out of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
“The cycle starts with government intervening into the economy and imposing regulations and controls on business. This distorts the free market, leading to economic dislocations. When the problems caused by these distortions inevitably follow, everyone blames the free market and its greedy capitalists. The proposed solution? More government controls. Over the years, conservative critics of creeping government have repeatedly exposed this illogic but have always been helpless to explain why the cycle keeps repeating, decade after decade.
“The pattern keeps recurring because businessmen are willing to take the blame. From capitalism’s inception, its defenders have been morally disarmed by the widespread view that self-interest is morally suspect, and disinterested service to others is a moral ideal. So each new spate of controls has been grudgingly accepted as a fair price to pay for society’s toleration of the selfish pursuit of profit.
“Atlas Shrugged depicted a society in economic collapse due to this recurring cycle, and today’s parallels are obvious. Government manipulation of money, credit, and lending standards over several decades caused the mess we’re in. Now, the offered solution is more of the poison that sickened the economy–more bailouts, more cheap money, more government-guaranteed loans, and above all, more regulations.
“This chronic cycle will not end until businessmen accept that their production of profit is neither immoral nor amoral–it is the capstone of moral virtue. Once they shrug off the role of scapegoat, businessmen can demand with moral certitude that government punish fraud and enforce contracts but refrain from interfering with voluntary trades among consenting adults.
“When America’s markets are finally free of all coercion–in other words, when laissez-faire is achieved–financial crises such as the one we’re experiencing will never happen again.”
Basing the current crisis on this rationale is not going to produce many guilty pleas in Federal Courts. But there will be trials and there will be verdicts and yes, Virginia, people will go to jail.
Why not turn the ugly history of Gitmo into a place that houses the people that did this to our nation – not alleged enemy combatants – but greedy, cheating, lying men and women who should know what it’s like to lose your home, your family, your income, your future, your sanity as you fill their bottomless pit of greed. Let them live in a little bitty cell – like the family car has become an itty bitty cell for the unemployed, disenfranchised, hopeless and homeless taxpayers of this country. I would suggest a dress code – jumpsuits of khaki and oxford blue. And cheap tacky slip-ons. Nutritious food with no flavor and no variety. No wine. No bottled water. Minimal health care ( just like everyone else’s) and no Ayn Rand tomes. Let them know that Atlas has indeed shrugged and it has all landed on them. Envision these detainees in the tropical splendor of Cuba’s southeastern shores hunting endlessly for John Galt as they try to jump start the engine of the world perpetually in motion but only in their direction.
Guantanamo Prison Camp is too symbolic and too perfect to be closed and made into a museum – who would actually visit it owing to its location and the situation in Cuba? But as a slammer. It’s just perfect. Please share your thoughts on this idea.
And, if you are fans, supporters or believers in Ayn Rand and her Objectivism – you are welcome to comment – but I am personally not interested in her philosophy. I have read her books and taken in her website and considered her views. She is not my cup of tea. I will read your comments but I will not post screeds, rants, apologies or propaganda on her ideas. Sorry – but I did it once before and I found it distasteful.
Posted by voolavex in Politics & Religion.
Tags: Boston, Catholic, cicil rights, Civil Rights, Elanor Roosevelt, Irish, JFK, Kennedy, March on Washington, metrosexual, Mt. Vernon, Negroes, New Rochelle, NYC, Obama, Potomac, speakeasy, Spivy's Roof, war, War College, Washington D.C., Washington Post
I had a wonderful father. The beliefs he offered me and showed me have stayed with me to this moment in time. He was a Boston Irish Catholic intellectual with all the baggage that carries. Short of cash and far too smart for his own good at a time when university was for the very rich., he never got his degree. He always said his love of books was due to the fact his parents both worked in a book bindery and stayed employed during the Depression. He passed it on to me. He was a serious smart ass and a great wit. He drank. He was a snob and a social climber – the networker of all time. He was a metrosexual before the word was ever coined. He had quite a few jobs that made great stories. At eight he learned to drive and smoke. He drove a hearse to and from the family speakeasy because he looked “mature” and they needed a sober driver. He rappelled off the walls from under his bedroom window and transported bathtub gin back and forth. He told me the secret of a good bathtub gin was Red Lion Juniper Juice. I was young enough to be impressed. He was a butler. He went to Washington DC to work as a copywriter for the Washington Post and he was good. This was before we entered the war. His cronies were all admen and crackpots and they ran in a pack. Not chasing women but more after the joy of the times they were in and the place they were in them. When in NYC he frequented Spivy’s Roof. One day he wandered through the public rooms of the White House and saw Eleanor Roosevelt in her office. He said hello and the next thing he knew they had a standing lunch date. He revered her and I have no doubt he entertained her greatly. One night, drunk on a Potomac golf course near the War College one of his cronies played reveille on his trumpet at 3 a.m.; the lights went on and the lot of them staggered like jackrabbits to get outta’ town. He met and courted my mother in 1942 and two people could not have been less suited to one another – but it was war time and every GI wanted a sweetheart. He had been drafted (bad vision and flat feet did not keep him out of this man’s army) and after resisting Sam’s call he finally showed up with a pair of boxers and a quart of gin. During the war they married and it went south from there but not before they had me and Boston apartment full of Heywood Wakefield furniture. He wrote a book about his experiences in the Army and it was indeed published. I have always been proud of this achievement because he was so happy about it. He was an officer and a gentleman. We’ll skip the re-up and the wrong assignment and the subsequent divorce – it was dismal but I did eventually wind up living with father in New York City and thus began my education in 1958. My father was a Kennedy Democrat and rightly so. As he liked to remind people he was born 3 days and 26 miles from JFK in 1917. It didn’t take long for me to become just as enthralled.
During this period in my life my father sold Winfield China and his territory was New Rochelle and Mt. Vernon; his clients were middle class Negroes. He chose his territory. He often took me with him and as a consequence my only experience with the Black community as a young teen was lemonade, cookies and a serious caveat to be quiet and respectful. What I saw were working people with nice flats and good jobs. They didn’t seem very different to me than any other people. Civil rights occupied his conscience and troubled him deeply. From this I learned things I assumed everyone knew. I was angry when I found that was not the case.The March on Washington was my father’s march. And mine. He had a seat – spiritually – at every sit-in and our worst falling out was when I called him a bigot after he told me I couldn’t go to Selma. The reason: he was afraid white people would kill me. He taught me the N-word was the worst word a person could utter. His beliefs and moral outrage never left me and when Barack Obama ran for president I could imagine how my father would have felt. And I was sad because he didn’t live to experience this sublime moment in the advancement of his cherished thoughts. I know I voted for Obama, at least partly, as a result of my father’s wisdom. And I know that I cast my ballot for Obama and his platform from a deep and precious place – a place that would never have been born and never have flourished without the dreams from my father.
Posted by voolavex in Politics & Religion.
Tags: amendment, amendments, civil, constitution, legal, moral, Mormon, Mormons, Prop 8, same, sex, union, wrong
“Proposition 8 is a California State ballot proposition that would amend the state Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman. It would overturn a recent California Supreme Court decision that had recognized same-sex marriage in California as a fundamental right. The official ballot title language for Proposition 8 was “Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry”; the entirety of the text added to the constitution was: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
This is all it said. When you read it sounds kind of simple and silly. I mean who has the right to decide who can marry? Why should anyone care?
There used to be a law that kept miscegenation from happening in this country. For those of you who are not familiar with the concept I quote Wiki: Miscegenation comes from the Latin miscere, “to mix” and genus, “kind”. The word was coined in the U.S. in 1863, and the etymology of the word is tied up with political conflicts during the American Civil War over the abolition of slavery and over the racial segregation of African-Americans. The reference to “genus” was made to emphasize the supposedly distinct biological differences between whites and non-whites. In fact, all humans belong to the same genus, Homo, to the same species, Homo sapiens and to the same subspecies, Homo sapiens sapiens. The folks who wrote Prop 8 made sure there would be no confusion about terminology.
The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution – which trumps the states says this:“Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
It also says that if one state says something is legal in the said state, then the other states have to respect it. Equal justice and equal rights are the primary issue that Prop 8 addresses and it is simply wrong.. Its inclusion into the state constitution creates a special class of citizen who is not permitted to fully experience or enjoy the privileges and rights guaranteed to others. In fact it ensures that people who are homosexuals are not equal citizens of this country and thus not governed by the same laws nor given the same rights the constitution guarantees in Amendment 14. In essence: “Round ’em up and keep them all together where you can make sure they don’t want things “regular” people want. ” Sonofabitch. Maybe we should whup ’em and sell ’em too?
The supporters don’t care. The claim they make is this : “we need to protect traditional marriage and to restore marriage”. To be perfectly honest I had no idea that marriage was being threatened. There was a time when “living together” was a big deal and I think marriage was feared to be threatened then, but now weddings are very popular and except for people like Gene Simmons, lots of folks want to get married. That works for me. Some people don’t. That’s fine too. And it is a widely discussed decision between people who are facing marriage. Neither the state nor the union has any specific moral requirement for marriage. I was married in a civil union ceremony in a judges’ chambers. He said I was married and although no clergy were present and no religious prayers were uttered – he said it was marriage all the same. I’m happy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_union).
But there is a hidden agenda lurking in picture and it really makes things sticky. Why? Because the majority of this proposition was underwritten by the Mormon Church. God help us if the Jews had tried this (and there are plenty of religious Jews who don’t approve of or accept same-sex unions. But they didn’t try to change the California constitution. Way too smart for that.) Go to this blog for a donor tracker – it takes hours to go through but you can sure see who is and isn’t your supporter http://atomicgaywonk.blogspot.com/2008/08/proposition-8-money-tracking-resources.html. It’s worth your time.
But why, of all people, do the kinda’ odd Mormons imagine they have some duty to protect traditional marriage? They say it is a moral question and my feeling is that civil laws do not decide what is moral. The best judge on earth will tell you that the law deals with legal statutes and not morality questions. If the Mormons don’t want same sex Mormon marriage – that’s their choice. The same goes for the Christian church, the Jews, the Muslims and the Hindus. Your faith, your rules. Leave it if you don’t like it. You see though, once this kind of agenda gets attention and support it become insidious. If we can do this – hmmm- why not try something else? They are a missionary faith – they invade the privacy of homes to sell their beliefs and they actively seek converts. That’s one way they got to talk about the Proposition 8 on a one to one basis with folks. And it worked. For the informed minds or minds that want to be informed, part two continues this post and there are some really good parts – so try to read it too,
In any event I am stewed like a prune about this whole Prop 8 matter and actively support the Gay on every level. They are right to be outraged. I am outraged.
Posted by voolavex in Politics & Religion.
Tags: abortion, bombs, constitution, doctors, enslave, fundamentalists, Holy Rollers, kill, maim, McCain, NARAL, Obama, Planned Parenthood, Pro-Abortion, Pro-Life, Republican, Snake Handlers, women
I was wrong. Last night I watched McCain who twitches and grimaces like he has Tourette’s and Democrat nominee Obama – who looks like an ad from GQ, hash it out – again. It was painful. I think maybe just hearing it might have been better. Watching was painful. And just when I thought they had said everything they could – again – McCain started using a term I was not familiar with. And he used it more than once and I thought he had invented it for the debate. Silly me. Apparently “Pro-Abortion” is used by many groups who distort the actual meaning of Pro-Choice. Here’s two I found – and I didn’t think I would actually find many because it is such an idiotic concept – who would even try. Well I was wrong.
are merely two groups who actively use this term to describe people who want to choose their own actions. As offensive as I find it, I also question the veracity of the term itself. It cannot be an accurate because who can force anyone to have an abortion? Pro-choice groups do not use guns, or bombs or threats to coerce anyone into an abortion. Period. You may have a bully of a parent or husband who tries or succeeds – but that is family. No group I know of – who advocates choice wants you to have an abortion if you would like to have a baby instead. No group who is pro-choice targets pro-life groups for murder. Pro-Choice is a name for people who think having a child or an abortion is private and no ones business but ones own. Pro-Choice says that prevention of unwanted pregnancies is the best way to reduce the need for abortion. They offer choices about preventing unplanned pregnancies – including abstinence. Pro-Life offers one thing and one thing only. A baby. Wanted or Unwanted. Healthy or Compromised. Married or Unmarried. Even rape victims and even mothers at high risk for death. This is pretty much what they want. And now John McCain wants us to accept the term Pro-Abortion and it is simply incorrect. John McCain – who must have folks vetting his terms and speeches – knows that NARAL and Planned Parenthood are NOT Pro-Abortion. John McCain knows that moderate GOP voters know this too. So he comes across as an idiot, a shill and a stooge for the Right Wing Christians. Do I think he is all those things – I don’t know – I just know what he sounded like to me.
A table on
Abortion law – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia spells it out pretty clearly and there are many countries who do not allow abortion
on request but they do have exceptions that are certainly civilized enough to take into consideration circumstances and health issues. Abortions by country on
wiki is a very good way to understand more about the subject and how it is handled elsewhere. Italy says yes across the board. I find this ironic.
But for the most part there are exceptions and there are considerations. Another quick search under the words “foreign abortion + bombings” turned up one in Bangladesh. Pro Life means not killing doctors, nurses and patients
and whatever collateral damage (living things) gets caught in these acts of terror.
There is no Pro-abortion movement and John McCain knew it when he used the term. Pandering to one segment of society is not equal rights. It enslaves women. It encourages and incites riots, killing and acts of domestic terrorism.
Pro-“Life” activists are militant; they put a higher value on some lives than others. They do what domestic terrorists do – they kill, they maim and they deny every American equality. Pro-life is not about life – it’s about control and subjugation. When those wing nuts start talking about what to do with all the babies they are insisting on – then I may hear them out.
For the record, abortion is not birth control but, it is a medical decision that should be made first by a woman and her doctor. Republicans spend more time trying to get into women’s pants than any other bunch I have encountered. For a party that wants less government they certainly want to set one up in my uterus unilaterally and decides what comes in and what goes out.
Embracing personal choice is voting and worshipping and speaking on terms protected by the Constitution. Maybe the snake handling, holy rollers and fundamentalists should read the Constitution instead of scripture. And maybe John McCain should work on keeping his foot out of his mouth.
Posted by voolavex in Politics & Religion, Uncategorized.
Tags: Barack Obama, Board of Directors, Crap, John McCain, liquid, non-sectarian, Prayer, Republican, Sally Six Pack, solvent
This world, today, is a terrifying spot to be in, I have created a non-sectarian, plea to whomever you wish to ask for aid and succor. Please feel free to share it.
“Dear Person of Power in the Spiritual Plane:
Please keep me from ever being in a financial position or a tax bracket that makes voting for a Republican ever seem like the right thing to do. Keep me solvent but liquid, keep me concerned for my fellow man and not my Board of Directors and please, whatever you do, bring Barack Obama to the White House. And when you have done that please pick a house and send John McCain to it and throw away the key. Strap Sally Six-Pack in a dog sled and mush her back to Juneau and deliver us from having this sort of crap exist.
Forever.
Amen”
Posted by voolavex in Politics & Religion, Uncategorized.
Tags: Abuse of Power, Alaska, Barack Obama, Beauty Queen, heels, John McCain, lipsticks, list, Mom, Mrs. Malaprop, multi-tasking, Newsweek, Nov 5, Prayer, Sally Six Pack, Sarah Palin, Soccer Mom, Special Needs chidl, VP, Washington Post, Wasilla
Sally Six-Pack has maneuvered herself between a rock and a hard place on
a melting ice floe. Look at the multi-tasking list she has made for herself in this election:
Governor of the Great State of Alaska
Former Mayor of Metropolitan Wasilla
Former Beauty Queen
Soccer Mom
Hockey Mom
Mom of a Special Needs Child
Mom of a Pregnant Teenage Daughter
Mom of a Soldier
Committed Christian (not sure what that means but she is one)
Gun lover
VP candidate
Supporter of Secession for the Great State of Alaska
Show runner for McCain Campaign
Mrs. Malaprop.
Hottie
Hate Mongerer
Name caller
Faithful wife of First Dude (really?)
Cronyist
And, as of yesterday – an abuser of Political Power.
And if that’s not enough, last week, Sarah Palin made the cover of Newsweek this week and already folks are crying foul. Damn – I know plenty of people out here in TV land that would run a Hummer over a baby just to make the cover of Newsweek. What the hell is up with people – it’s a great close up shot – she looks age appropriate – in fact better, especially after five kids and all that sun damage out shooting caribou in the Great State of Alaska. So what’s the problem. Eeee-oooo – we can see a crow’s foot. Someone forgot to Photo shop her into a glamour kitten. Well, here the rub: Sal cannot have it both ways. Either she is a soccer mom married to Joe Six-pack – with a face untouched by Botox or she is a beauty queen who can’t actually wear heels and gloves at the same time. And it’s not even BOTH ways – She wants it every way. Check out her list above. Sarah’s acolytes expect her to be all those things and more and Sarah just eggs them on. (Oh and plus a politician and one with a brain too.). Well – in that case – you really cannot have it every which way you choose. The mere fact that Snarky Sally Six-pack got the cover of Newsweek should make her family and all her misguided followers thrilled. If we are lucky – after Nov 5, we will not see her again for many a moon.
New accusations by the Washington Post of her hate speech and slur mongering fuel the fire too. The cover of Newsweek is the least of her worries and ours. Sally Six-pack should have a sock stuffed in her mouth until the election is over and her presumptive running mate should keep running his and alienate even his closest friends on “both sides of the aisle.” One sings, the other doesn’t.
Posted by voolavex in Politics.
Tags: Ageism, Alaska, attitudes, Black, campaign, Canada, contretemps, culture, earmarks, election, fears, four years, GOP, heart, Hillary, history, hypocrisy, kosher, McCain, Obama, Palin, pork barrel, Racism, rack, religions, Sarah, sexism, wife
Now that there is a hint of a peep that some GOP insiders are thinking Snarky Sarah should fall off the GOP ticket, I am waiting with bated breath to see if and how she does it. Anyone who considers interaction with Canada a qualification for determining foreign policy has severe brain freeze. (And when was this contretemps with Canada/Alaska and why didn’t we know about it?) As far as I can tell the closest the Snark has come to foreign relations is with her Kenyan houngan Rev Muthee. She is a bad print of a smoke and mirrors magician who coughs on the smoke and walks into the mirrors while the rabbits run away. Since neither Palin nor McCain know enough to get real – here’s hoping the Grand Old Party pulls the plug on this fiasco without delay. Having a nice rack is not a qualification for much anymore since you can get a nice rack for about $5,000. Anyone can buy those pricey Peggy Hill glasses and teasing hair is not actually a talent. Neither is having five kids. She should, drop – literally – out – ASAP.
As an aside; while McCain stood and repeated himself Friday night, I wondered what his running mate thought of the many times he mentioned “earmarks”. Sarah’s earmark hobby doesn’t make her an expert on that either- pork barrel patronage is simply NOT kosher – even in Alaska.
So here we have a campaign concert in contradictions and a election rife with three of the most un-PC components of hypocrisy alive and active in the United States. Let’s review:
AGEISM:
McCain is too old. What is too old? Too old for what? Why is he too old? When was there an age cap on running for office. Who declared this to be a fact? You know who was too old? Strom Thurmond.
And if it’s McCain’s health that is used as a clean up for ageism – let’s not forget “Just A Heartbeat Away from Another Heart Attack” Dick Cheney – who is still just several pace makers away from the White House. Or the handsome and down to earth Ronald Reagan who may or may not have spent a good deal of his two terms in the throes of Alzheimer’s and or naps. Every time they mention McCain’s 72 year old heart it’s a slur. Like it or not.
RACISM:
Obama is Black. Obama is not Black enough. Obama is too black. Obama has a Black wife and two Black children. . Obama’s mother was white. What about his middle name? Obama is an elitist person of color (That is just a crafty word for uppity.) Obama went to Harvard. Is someone jealous? Seriously, doesn’t someone with 9 houses seem elite? Even on an ordinary day I would not use the word elite to describe Obama but I would consider the McCain’s nouveau riche and they probably think they are elite. I know most middle of the road Americans are pondering how it came to pass that a dark looking man is running for president. Some are scared and will not say so. Others are forming militias. If Obama was white it wouldn’t matter. He might even slip by if his father had been white and his mother black but it is what it is. This is racist and every time someone mentions Black in a “roll your eyes” tone of voice or calls him the N word among “friends” – it’s a form of slur. Like it or not.
SEXISM
She’s a Woman. She has children. She grabbed the main chance. She was middle-aged. She went to law school. She wore pants suits. Her hair was wrong. Who does her hair? Who chooses her outfits. What about those hairbands? Look at that rack. She pre-menopausal, she’s menopausal, she’s dried up.
She hunts and shoots. She stood by her cheating man. Could be Palin or Hillary – they have vaginas in common We do not want the Senate floor to be turned into the vagina monologues* This is all sexist and thus slurs. Like it or not.
There it is, the clock ticking away like a bomb. And as loyal Americans we stand true to our history, culture, hypocrisy, fears, attitudes, religions and bank accounts – at it again. Every four years. Like it or not.
* With a thank you to Eve Ensler for the creation of the term.
Voolavex 