For the good of our county, I hope not.
Electing Sarah Palin as President would certainly be the worst mistake we've made since allowing George W. Bush into office.
The scary part? The reason for a blog about it?
The Right Wing ditto heads just might vote for her. If Limbaugh or Beck command their sheep to elect her, guess what folks? It's President (Nature hating, Geographically impaired) Palin. And who will she owe her presidency to? Who will be receiving our hard earned dollars? Who will get the next line of tax cuts? It wont be us, she'll be too busy paying back all the lobbyists, special interest groups and big businesses that got her elected.
I read today that Sarah Palin is a Fox News Contributor, which since they are known for their useless, fear-mongering, lie spewing rhetoric, I guess I should have known that all along. Fox News is an entertainment channel, not a worthy news source, and if Palin wants to place a bid for 2012 she needs to figure out if she really thinks anyone can take her seriously.
My opinion is that if you want a repeat of the debacle that is/was George W. Bush, then by all means, elect Sarah Palin. But, if you want a country that can at least pretend to be proud of it's leader, maybe the GOP should go back to the drawing board.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
The Majority of the GOP thinks that Barack Obama is a Muslim!
No they don't.
And they don't think he was born outside of the United States either.
A lot of the news articles I've been seeing the last few days have been about the GOP's belief that our President is a Muslim and that he was born in Kenya.
I would venture to say that the greater majority of the GOP are fairly intelligent individuals. There is no way they are so ignorant as to think that any of the above is true. If it were, the Right would be plastering their proof everywhere imaginable, but they aren't.
However, it is very convenient, from where they sit, to claim they believe it. The Republicans seem to have hit the proverbial jackpot when it comes to constituents. At least the ones that are the most vocal, believe anything and everything they so happen to hear on Fox News and spread it like Christmas Cheer.
For a moment, let me pose a question or two. Would we be having this conversation if say, Obama was a Jew? Is the issue that he might be a Muslims, or is it that he might be a non-Christian? Either one says something totally different but equally horrifying.
And they don't think he was born outside of the United States either.
A lot of the news articles I've been seeing the last few days have been about the GOP's belief that our President is a Muslim and that he was born in Kenya.
I would venture to say that the greater majority of the GOP are fairly intelligent individuals. There is no way they are so ignorant as to think that any of the above is true. If it were, the Right would be plastering their proof everywhere imaginable, but they aren't.
However, it is very convenient, from where they sit, to claim they believe it. The Republicans seem to have hit the proverbial jackpot when it comes to constituents. At least the ones that are the most vocal, believe anything and everything they so happen to hear on Fox News and spread it like Christmas Cheer.
For a moment, let me pose a question or two. Would we be having this conversation if say, Obama was a Jew? Is the issue that he might be a Muslims, or is it that he might be a non-Christian? Either one says something totally different but equally horrifying.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Our Founding Fathers
I keep hearing the argument - Our founding fathers would have done this, or that, or our founding fathers said this, or that.
Before I get started with what I think is wrong with those type of statements, let's take a look at some of the things our founding fathers said. Most of our 20th and 21st Century Political Commentators do a very good job of digging back into history and finding exactly what they want to find in order to further their own agenda, an agenda that fuels their cause and puts more money in their pockets. (Actually they pay researchers to do it for them.)
So I thought I would offer up some things that one might discover if they were doing that type of research. When our constitution was being written, for some reason, the writers didn't see any reason to make allowances to give women the opportunity to vote. Apparently, they also did not see anything wrong with slavery.
One of, if not the, most quoted of our founding fathers, An American Guesser, thought that the turkey should be our national bird. It doesn't seem he had any particular fondness for the turkey, but more a disdain for the eagle, "a bird of bad moral character" as he put it.
The Point? The point is that the rules, regulations and ideas of yesterday don't suit us as a modern society. The economics of yesterday should not be applied to the America of tomorrow just because it worked yesterday, it needs to be a good, thoughtful fit for America in present day.
There was a time in history when people opposed the government establishing public schools, building public roads, abolishing slavery (it was viewed as a violation of private property) and desegregation because all of those things were not in the Founding Fathers original design. The United States of today is not in the Founding Fathers original design. Then why should we be held to the politics of the Founding Fathers? Can you imagine what the price of gas would be if there were no interstates for the trucks to drive on?
With all due respect to our Founding Fathers, they were not prophets. They were not all knowing and all seeing. That had good intentions, and the way they navigated the waters of a New America, did quite well for our country in its early years, but they were mere mortal men. To expect any more of them beyond those years is unfair to them and quite frankly, an unreasonable position.
Ask yourself this. Is the reason Our Founding Fathers didn't allow for regulation of the automobile industry because they disagreed, or because they didn't know what a car was?
Before I get started with what I think is wrong with those type of statements, let's take a look at some of the things our founding fathers said. Most of our 20th and 21st Century Political Commentators do a very good job of digging back into history and finding exactly what they want to find in order to further their own agenda, an agenda that fuels their cause and puts more money in their pockets. (Actually they pay researchers to do it for them.)
So I thought I would offer up some things that one might discover if they were doing that type of research. When our constitution was being written, for some reason, the writers didn't see any reason to make allowances to give women the opportunity to vote. Apparently, they also did not see anything wrong with slavery.
One of, if not the, most quoted of our founding fathers, An American Guesser, thought that the turkey should be our national bird. It doesn't seem he had any particular fondness for the turkey, but more a disdain for the eagle, "a bird of bad moral character" as he put it.
The Point? The point is that the rules, regulations and ideas of yesterday don't suit us as a modern society. The economics of yesterday should not be applied to the America of tomorrow just because it worked yesterday, it needs to be a good, thoughtful fit for America in present day.
There was a time in history when people opposed the government establishing public schools, building public roads, abolishing slavery (it was viewed as a violation of private property) and desegregation because all of those things were not in the Founding Fathers original design. The United States of today is not in the Founding Fathers original design. Then why should we be held to the politics of the Founding Fathers? Can you imagine what the price of gas would be if there were no interstates for the trucks to drive on?
With all due respect to our Founding Fathers, they were not prophets. They were not all knowing and all seeing. That had good intentions, and the way they navigated the waters of a New America, did quite well for our country in its early years, but they were mere mortal men. To expect any more of them beyond those years is unfair to them and quite frankly, an unreasonable position.
Ask yourself this. Is the reason Our Founding Fathers didn't allow for regulation of the automobile industry because they disagreed, or because they didn't know what a car was?
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Don't Tread on Me!
Have you seen the symbol for the newly formed, Tea Party?
It's not that new, it's the iconic flag from the late 1700's, The Gadsden Flag, better known by the words it bears, "Don't Tread on Me".
It's not about the views of the Tea Party, although I couldn't agree with them less, it's what they will do to such a historical image. An image that far better men and women lost their lives over. The Tea Party is of itself such a comical idea, that they will do the same thing to that flag, make it a joke. Moreover, they will make it just as offensive to the masses as the Confederate Flag is today after a minority of individuals turned it into a symbol of Racism.
I understand the correlation that the Tea Party is trying to make. But, please don't pretend to have lived with nearly the same level of oppression or injustice that our forefathers did, that is just plain disrespectful and quite frankly, delusional.
To the "Teabaggers", hire a graphic designer to make you a symbol or flag. You have nothing in common with the patriots of yesterday, please don't tarnish their memory.
It's not that new, it's the iconic flag from the late 1700's, The Gadsden Flag, better known by the words it bears, "Don't Tread on Me".
It's not about the views of the Tea Party, although I couldn't agree with them less, it's what they will do to such a historical image. An image that far better men and women lost their lives over. The Tea Party is of itself such a comical idea, that they will do the same thing to that flag, make it a joke. Moreover, they will make it just as offensive to the masses as the Confederate Flag is today after a minority of individuals turned it into a symbol of Racism.
I understand the correlation that the Tea Party is trying to make. But, please don't pretend to have lived with nearly the same level of oppression or injustice that our forefathers did, that is just plain disrespectful and quite frankly, delusional.
To the "Teabaggers", hire a graphic designer to make you a symbol or flag. You have nothing in common with the patriots of yesterday, please don't tarnish their memory.
First Post
Well, I thought about this for a minute and decided that it was okay for my first post to be off-topic. More of a, get to know me post, rather than a, what I think post.
So I just turned 34, got married just nearly 2 months ago to a wonderful woman and her beautiful daughter and live and work in Virginia Beach, VA.
I work in the telecommunications industry, namely, the wireless side of things. I started climbing towers in 1998 and after 12 years I became a Construction Manager, managing the day to day activities as relates to construction for one of the big wireless companies.
Politically, I'm divided to some degree, but at the end of the day, I typically fall to the left side of things. I don't think anyone is perfect, but I think some politicians try harder than others to line their own pockets rather than do the best thing for the people that elected them, or those that voted against them for that matter.
Worse than those politicians are the "commentators" of the present day that use fear-mongering and hate based ideas amongst the masses in order to line their own pockets, with no true realistic agenda, just string Americans along and make obscene cash doing so.
So anyway, there's me, my politics, and in the coming blog posts all will be commented on in depth.
Thanks for reading and hope you read more.
Ben McManus
So I just turned 34, got married just nearly 2 months ago to a wonderful woman and her beautiful daughter and live and work in Virginia Beach, VA.
I work in the telecommunications industry, namely, the wireless side of things. I started climbing towers in 1998 and after 12 years I became a Construction Manager, managing the day to day activities as relates to construction for one of the big wireless companies.
Politically, I'm divided to some degree, but at the end of the day, I typically fall to the left side of things. I don't think anyone is perfect, but I think some politicians try harder than others to line their own pockets rather than do the best thing for the people that elected them, or those that voted against them for that matter.
Worse than those politicians are the "commentators" of the present day that use fear-mongering and hate based ideas amongst the masses in order to line their own pockets, with no true realistic agenda, just string Americans along and make obscene cash doing so.
So anyway, there's me, my politics, and in the coming blog posts all will be commented on in depth.
Thanks for reading and hope you read more.
Ben McManus
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