Eight Years is a Long Time

(Originally posted on MySpace on Sunday, July 20, 2008)

This week I'm going to angrily talk politics. There's a lot going on in this country and, of course, I have an opinion about it.

First of all, let me say "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out" to both Jesse Helms and Tony Snow. I hope both of them are enjoying their special places in Hell. Helms died a few weeks ago, and of course we all had to listen to Bush and all the "in denial" Republicans tell the country what a great American he was. On the contrary, Jesse Helms was not a great American. He was against everything this country stood for. He was a closed-minded bigot and was proud about that fact to the end. He was scum and the fact that he was elected Senator of North Carolina for so many years just proves how ignorant the great American public is. I'm glad he's dead. I just wish it would have happened a lot sooner.

Compared to Helms, Tony Snow was a saint, but that doesn't excuse his sins. Yet again, we had to listen as Republicans claimed he was a great American when nothing could be further from the truth. He was an arrogant, scum bag liar who said and did whatever he could to make his incompetent boss look good. In my viewpoint, he's just as responsible as anyone for the mess this country finds itself in now. Dying of cancer was too easy for him.

Two down and so many more to go.

Speaking of the mess this country finds itself in these days; I watched this week as "Not My President" Bush once again took the podium to lie to the American public. He claimed that while the economy was going through a tough spell, it was still strong and viable. I don't think very many people believed him. Not with thousands of people losing their homes and finding themselves homeless. Not with millions unable to afford health insurance or even fresh groceries to feed their families with. Not with banks and airlines threatening to go under and well paying jobs getting harder and harder to find.

(He gave this speach to the American public at the same time his chief Fed, Ben Bernanke, was telling Congress how dire the economic situation was getting. Someone has their wires crossed and it isn't Bernanke.)

Bush is easily going to be remembered as the worst President in the history of this country. The damage he's done to the economy, the Bill Of Rights, and just the safe well-being of all Americans is going to take years, perhaps decades to fix, if they can even be fixed at all. The man should be run out of office and beaten in the streets like a sick dog. But instead he'll be allowed to stay in office and wreak havoc for his remaining six months in office. I shudder to think about how much more damage he can cause in that time.

(And two days after writing that I heard how he's trying to change the definition of abortion to apply to any birth control, so he can refuse Federal funding to hospitals who provide it to women. Fortunately, Hillary Clinton and other Capitol Hill women are on the job and not taking it lightly.)

In the meantime, he will continue to take the podium and lie. He doesn't know how to do anything else. In the face of his tremendous incompetence, he really can't do anything else but lie and hope that people believe him. But those days are long gone.

Instead, the American public have decided to let another Republican, John McCain, lie to them. The fact that so many believe him shows that these people don't learn their lessons easily. While I'm unsure about Obama myself these days, I'm still amazed that given that the Republicans have screwed things up so badly over the last eight years that this election is so evenly matched. John McCain is just mouthing the same failed policies that Bush gave us and claiming that they are change. And a good percentage of the country believes him! It's unbelievable. All I know is this. I don't think the Republicans will win this election, but I've been surprised by the ignorance of the American public before. After all, they did elect Bush in for a second term and then started whining about him within a few months. But if they do elect McCain into office, then they're going to get what they deserve. He'll bring this country even further down than it already is with his anger problems and his obvious ignorance of the world, like his refusal to learn the difference between Shiites and Sunnis. I loved watching him squirm this week when he was asked about his vote against insurance companies providing birth control pills, while still covering Viagra. He rolled his eyes constantly, didn't talk for long minutes and then ducked the question completely, all while sitting on his "Straight Talk Express" bus. Now, that's Presidential. He's pathetic.

Someone I know once told me that they had no choice but to vote for the Republicans. They had to think of their children and their grandchildren and what the future would hold for them. They felt that only the Republicans could provide a stable future. Now that it's obvious that their Republican vote means that their children, their grandchildren and even their great grandchildren will be paying for the follies of the Bush dynasty, I wonder how they feel. I'm willing to bet that they still have some excuse to justify their mistake. That's the American way.

As for Obama, I suggest that that man step it up. This election should be an easy one to win. I know the so-called "liberal" media, which is actually anything but liberal, concentrates on fluff and loves making stories out of non-stories that distract the American people from the truth. But if he's Presidential material, he should be able to handle this and get his message out to the voter. Wait until after the conventions and the real attacks begin. If he can't handle that, then I doubt he can handle the Presidency.

His insistence on bending his message to attract conservatives is a troubling one. I don't believe he'll ever attract those hard-core conservatives and by trying so hard, he's losing a lot of liberals and moderates.

There's a lot of people I know who are claiming they may not vote for either, myself included. Third party candidates are looking a lot more attractive these days. Of course, we'll have to see what happens when it approaches Election Day and push comes to shove. I swore I wouldn't vote for Kerry and then broke down when it became such a close election. I'm hoping I won't this time. I hate having to vote for the lesser of two evils. It just makes me that much more cynical.

I'm still watching Obama. I'm hoping he steps up and confirms the promising vision he seemed to be making while he ran against Hillary Clinton. If he lets me down, I may just wash my hands of the whole filthy process. I'm tired of having my hopes crushed.

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And on the gay marriage front, there is a new Facebook Group that I think I might join:

Gay Marriage Killed the Dinosaurs (Global Chapter)

Description:

This group is for people who understand the grave risks of gay marriage. Some suggest gay marriage will merely undermine one of our most fundamental societal institutions, causing countless straight couples to get divorced because exclusion of gays was the only thing holding their marriage together.

But we know better. Gay marriage killed the dinosaurs. If we let liberal activist judges in Massachusetts and California set the course, the blood will run in rivers. Mixed with molten lava.

Top Ten Reasons to Make Gay Marriage Illegal

01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all like many of the principles on which this great country was founded; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of marriages like Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

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And on that note, I'll stop. We'll see where I stand on the Presidential election in late October. I'll be sure to let you know. I'm going to try to get to another tour story next week. That will be a lot more pleasant. So, until then, take care of yourselves.