Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Politics, Religion, and Money

I've been reading a bunch of blogs tonight. Scratch couldn't sleep. We don't know if it is a molar coming in, the 2 shots he got yesterday, or if he is just becoming like his old man. I brought him downstairs with me, we cuddled, we wrestled, he spread Cheerios around the room like some modern-day, General Mills-sponsored, Johnny Appleseed...all in all, just two dudes rockin' the night.

I read a bunch of old archives about politics, the "bail-out" and, unfortunately, a few posts or comments by "religious" folks spreading their judgment of others. As I read, I had a running internal dialogue of responses. I commented a couple times, but I always feel badly when I write too much in the "comments" section. Oh, I still do it, but I feel badly...

Soooo, why not write out some of my own opinions on my own blog? Since the blog is new, and I have just a handful of readers, why not alienate those few? How better, than with the two unholy topics of conversation, politics and religion? I threw in money, because some of what the campaigns are talking about leads straight to Wall St.

If any of you stick around after reading my opinionated drivel, PLEASE, PLEASE, comment with your own opinions. (Feel free to leave HUGE comments. I only feel badly when I do it, I love reading others.) The one thing I strive for myself, is an open-mind. I am a registered Independent, and have voted for both parties. I like to change my mind, because it means I learned something I didn't know, discovered it rang true with me, and superseded an ignorant belief.

Ignorance has a bad rap these days, but it isn't a dirty word, it only means something you don't know. Ig'nant, now ig'nant is different. Ig'nant means holding on to a belief in the face of knowledge to the contrary, but you can't be ig'nant if you are ignorant...you just don't know enough.

The one thing I am going to try hard not to do, is to call people names. I was with my Father the other day. MY FATHER THE MINISTER. John McCain came on TV, and Dad immediately said, "He's an asshole." What the fuck?!

McCain is not the politician I loved in 2000. I still believe he was taken aside by someone in the RNC after 2000, and told that if he ever wanted to be the Republican nominee, he had to play ball. No more going against the party in public, no more maverick.

HOWEVER, John McCain was a Navy pilot whose father was a Navy Admiral. If anyone could have avoided Vietnam, the son of an Admiral was that guy. JM requested a combat assignment. The enemy captured him in 1967 after his plane was shot down. The North Vietnamese would not treat his broken shoulders or other injuries UNTIL they learned who his father was, some weeks after his capture. That means he was tortured and his bones were allowed to set incorrectly (and probably excruciatingly) during that time. About half a year after capture, McCain’s father was put in charge of all Naval Ops in Vietnam, and JM's captors offered to let him go, to garner favor with the old man. JM REFUSED TO BE SET FREE UNLESS THE MEN WHO HAD BEEN CAPTURED BEFORE HIM WERE ALSO RELEASED! The N. Vietnamese refused, and JM spent the next 4 1/2 years in a POW camp, because he wouldn't allow his release to break the spirit of other American military men or be used to discredit the military by allowing a "privileged" soldier to have special treatment.

I am voting for Obama, for a number of reasons, but mostly because I believe we need an entirely new direction for our country’s leadership. I do not agree with John McCain’s choice of Vice President, his methods during this campaign, or many of his proposals. I will not, however, sit quietly when I hear people call him an asshole. I told my father the same info I wrote above, and let him know that the guy in that story deserves respect. Not agreement, but definitely respect.

Enough for today, stay tuned for alienation and the righteous anger of the masses. (Well, as many masses as a guy with 5-6 readers can muster.)

12 comments:

minivan soapbox said...

Can't argue with you actually...Well, I mean I probably could...But I prefer not to. One of the few posts that I've read that gets it's point across - without calling everyone else an idiot for not believing the same thing you do.

I respect Obama, I really do. And I DO think that this country needs a change...a big one. However, we will be voting for McCain (first time I've ever told anyone that)

Sometimes it can be a very simple thing...and in our case...The democratic party is interested in housing ALL jobs "in house" for the Federal Government. My husband is currently a contractor...and if he lost his job...well, I just don't know what we would do.

Leslie said...

You know, I really respect that old McCain. The pre-2000 one you are talking about. I even contemplated voting for him in those earlier elections. The man running today is a different man. It is clear, from his past actions, that SOMEWHERE inside him a great man resides.

Still voting for Obama.

DKC said...

That was a very measured and adult way of looking at JM. And for those reasons, I can see your call for respect. I do respect him for those actions. But as laggin pointed out - he seems to be a different man today. Nothing that he will say or do will change my vote.

I'm honestly just so tired of it all - I wish it was finished already.

cIII said...

Oh, I think you can be an Asshole and still be Respected. Take, for example, Frank LLoyd Wright.

That guy was a Major Leauge asshat. Womanizer, Egomaniac, ect. But he still gets my Respect.

Respecthole.

I just made up a Word.

cIII said...

Edit:
*Rasspecthole.

That's better.

Leslie said...

Or "asspect", cuz Frank did see the world from a certain aspect.

miko564 said...

K- See, this is why I have problems with the name-calling and bullshit. We may not agree, but I wouldn't know it boiled down to a true fear for the financial well-being of your family if we were screaming epithets.

Laggin- Yeah, I feel like he may have sold his soul on this one.

DCD- Measured and adult?! Well to hell with you too! How very cruel of you....LOL.

Cii- I shall try to use Rasspecthole in a sentance everyday until it becomes a part of the lexicon!

I agree, that someone can be a rasspecthole. It is the ease with which reasonable people start spewing hateful rhetoric while discussing politics that bothers me.

miko564 said...

"sentence" I hate when I hit publish before spell check.

bernthis said...

I couldn't agree with you more. In 2000 (or was it 2004?) I thought for a moment that I might actually switch parties in order to vote for him b/c he really did seem "different" in a good way and you are right. He has been hijacked by the conservative right and now he's paying a huge price, I can tell you that one small bit of it is that I wouldn't vote for him. Thanks for your balanced portrait. Don't see a lot of that these days.

miko564 said...

Bernthis- Thanks, and welcome to the party. I'm sure I'll lose you as a reader soon, religion is next!

The Mr. said...

Whenever I tell dcd that i have found this really interesting article online, I always get this skeptical.... "umm ya honey thats nice", kinda thing....(her dad ruined his internet cred years ago by mailing us bogus photos of the space shuttle disaster)...among other things. Anyhow, here is an article from yet another shady source that I thought interesting. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

miko564 said...

Desroc,
Damn. Yeah, you have to take an article against a conservative by RS with a grain of salt...but, that's a lot of ex-military guys and Republican senators who speak against him.