Political thought
Feb. 17th, 2004 01:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kellinatorWouldn't it be supremely ironic if George W. Bush finally made good on his claim to be "a uniter, not a divider" -- by uniting voters of all creeds and political persuasions to vote against him?
I'm very obviously not a Republican, but from what I understand of the party ideals, if you're a Republican I can't fathom why you'd want Bush as the main representative of your party. I thought Republicans were supposed to be all about fiscal responsibility. Bush has shown none. In fact, he's pissed away the surplus left by that notorious tax-and-spender, Clinton.
And here's another thought that's been driving me crazy for the past few days -- the furor over same-sex marriage rights should be exposing the hypocrisy of so many in the Republican party. So many Republicans are constantly insisting that they want less government, "no more big government" -- well, as far as I can tell, that means they want less government poking around in big business, but apparently it's the government's sacred duty to tell people what they can and can't do in the bedroom. Why does anyone else care? Don't give me that "sanctity of marriage" bullshit: Vegas' new ad campaign invites you to go there and marry a total stranger, and that was even before Britney Spears' little matrimonial adventure, plus we've got an entire genre of reality shows based around marriage or at least the possibility thereof in increasingly depraved variations (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
streamweaver and I have agreed the thing that makes "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance" watchable is the fact that the bleach-blond money-hungry this-is-going-to-launch-my-career-and-I-don't-care-who-gets-hurt-in-the-process bitch being duped so richly deserves it). We straight people are doing a fine job of ruining marriage on our own, trust me. It reminds me of a debate on same-sex marriage rights I attended at Vanderbilt a few years ago. At the very beginning, those speaking for equal marriage rights stood up and said "We're not telling anyone what to do religiously, we just want equal civil marriage rights." Then the anti-people got up and STARTED RAILING ON RELIGION, as if they hadn't even listened to what was just said, which I suspect they hadn't (I knew one personally and he was a bona fide idiot). Think about it: can you heard anyone make a single argument about same-sex marriage rights that isn't rooted in religion or similar morality issues? So you object because you think men marrying men or women marrying women is icky. Well, I think anyone marrying Newt Gingrich is icky, but that doesn't mean I don't think people should have the right to. (Whether they're fucking stupid enough to marry Newt Gingrich, Mr. Family Values who didn't pay his child support and was conducting an extramarital affair at the same time he was on his Contract On With America rampage, is another matter entirely.) Look at the Bible, for heaven's sake, all you fundies: Did Jesus spend His furor on the prostitutes and tax collectors? No, He saved it for the Pharisees, who held themselves up as superior and perverted religion to hold others down and enrich themselves. And yet so many people out there follow the example of the Pharisees rather than that of Jesus. Those people make me sick. Yeah, I do plenty of things that I probably shouldn't be doing, but I'd like to think I try to treat people with kindness and compassion. What good is nitpicking Leviticus if you can't get the basic ideas down?
That's my rant, and I'm stickin' to it.
I'm very obviously not a Republican, but from what I understand of the party ideals, if you're a Republican I can't fathom why you'd want Bush as the main representative of your party. I thought Republicans were supposed to be all about fiscal responsibility. Bush has shown none. In fact, he's pissed away the surplus left by that notorious tax-and-spender, Clinton.
And here's another thought that's been driving me crazy for the past few days -- the furor over same-sex marriage rights should be exposing the hypocrisy of so many in the Republican party. So many Republicans are constantly insisting that they want less government, "no more big government" -- well, as far as I can tell, that means they want less government poking around in big business, but apparently it's the government's sacred duty to tell people what they can and can't do in the bedroom. Why does anyone else care? Don't give me that "sanctity of marriage" bullshit: Vegas' new ad campaign invites you to go there and marry a total stranger, and that was even before Britney Spears' little matrimonial adventure, plus we've got an entire genre of reality shows based around marriage or at least the possibility thereof in increasingly depraved variations (
streamweaver and I have agreed the thing that makes "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance" watchable is the fact that the bleach-blond money-hungry this-is-going-to-launch-my-career-and-I-don't-care-who-gets-hurt-in-the-process bitch being duped so richly deserves it). We straight people are doing a fine job of ruining marriage on our own, trust me. It reminds me of a debate on same-sex marriage rights I attended at Vanderbilt a few years ago. At the very beginning, those speaking for equal marriage rights stood up and said "We're not telling anyone what to do religiously, we just want equal civil marriage rights." Then the anti-people got up and STARTED RAILING ON RELIGION, as if they hadn't even listened to what was just said, which I suspect they hadn't (I knew one personally and he was a bona fide idiot). Think about it: can you heard anyone make a single argument about same-sex marriage rights that isn't rooted in religion or similar morality issues? So you object because you think men marrying men or women marrying women is icky. Well, I think anyone marrying Newt Gingrich is icky, but that doesn't mean I don't think people should have the right to. (Whether they're fucking stupid enough to marry Newt Gingrich, Mr. Family Values who didn't pay his child support and was conducting an extramarital affair at the same time he was on his Contract That's my rant, and I'm stickin' to it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-02-17 11:02 am (UTC)Your article was well-written. Are you going to help the Dems this election season? :)
Even though Dean is 99.9999% unlikely to make it as the nominee, most of the Dean folks (and I figure the Clark people too) are going to be working overtime to canvass and run voter registration drives for the November election. I'll keep you in the loop with what happens to Georgia for Dean if you want to help volunteer with general election activities.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-17 11:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-17 11:14 am (UTC)Jesus turned water into wine, hung out with hookers and talked to lepers. He was approximately a Kennedy. Repeat after me: JESUS WAS A LIBERAL.
Well, I think anyone marrying Newt Gingrich is icky, but that doesn't mean I don't think people should have the right to.
That's what got me when the Republicans were in full hue and cry over Bill cheating on Hillary. If he'd been a good Republican, chockablock with Traditional Family Values, he would have dumped her and married the young cookie, like Newt (twice), Ronald Reagan, Rush Limbaugh and Bob Dole.
What good is nitpicking Leviticus if you can't get the basic ideas down?
My favorite question for people who quote Leviticus on homosexuality: Why aren't you picketing oyster bars, or demanding that The Gap stop selling clothes made of mixed fabrics? The fundies appear to mine Leviticus pretty selectively.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-17 11:17 am (UTC)Frankly, I don't see why morality should be simply rooted in faith, anyway. It seems to me that your ancor should/could be the harm principle. Tons of folks are simply satisfied with the bible saying it's wrong, without any discussion or reasoning behind it. It drives me nuts.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-17 11:46 am (UTC)In particular, the Newt Gingrich part of the rant struck a key: my son and I had many discussions about honor and marriage based on Newt's so-called life. One of his teachers sparked them by holding up that "man" as a pattern-card of honor! When I was able to speak again (after picking my chin off the ground), we discussed honor and marriage... What can people teach us about marriage who can condone a man who bullied his wife to sign divorce papers on her death bed? Isn't that a little too 16th century/Henry VIIIth for most of us?
Re:
Date: 2004-02-17 12:52 pm (UTC)Never happened. A commonly re-told lie about Newt. He's a jerk, but please stick with the truth. It's sufficient to run him out of town on a rail.
:: just someone who lives close enough to shop at the same Home Depot as Newt ::
Re:
Date: 2004-02-17 12:56 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-17 01:04 pm (UTC)Jackie Gingrich was recovering from surgery. They were already in the process of divorce, after she decided to quit covering for his cheating. The cancer was uterine, and she was not on her deathbed, but in recovery. He came to the hospital because they had a pre-arranged time to discuss the particulars of the divorce. He brought a yellow legal pad, and took notes of what they wanted to divide.
That's the story. The rest is embellishment by a lunatic left.
What he did afterwards (remove support for his older children, which caused their church to hold a special donation drive to help them out) is far more sinister....
Re:
Date: 2004-02-17 01:36 pm (UTC)And frankly, you don't have to embellish the story that far. I'm sure there are far more impressive "embellishments by the lunatic left." Though I see far more crazy stories from right-wingers... the "lunatic left" is too busy tripping over its own feet.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-17 02:20 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-17 03:12 pm (UTC)That didn't happen.
What he said was, "You want this divorce, so I'm coming to where you are as we agreed and we'll work out how to divide our property."
Not as sinister, dishonorable, or disrespectful, on the face of it.
Now, what GOT him there, the infidelity, speaks more to the dishonorable and disrespectful nature of his actions.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-18 08:59 am (UTC)What I'm getting is, you're annoyed because of the perception that Newt left his wife while she was dying of cancer, when in fact, they were already splitting because he was a habitual philanderer who then failed to pay child support, and anyway she didn't actually die. (Note: I wasn't even the one who brought up this particular detail or not-detail.) So is he a California-king-sized piece of shit or just a king-sized piece of shit? For someone who's made such a big deal about how wonderfully moral he is, it's just details. And no, no one should exaggerate defaming stories, but the truth in this one is bad enough that no one particularly needs to build upon it anyway.
And I am done with this topic. Some people like arguing on LJ. I am not one of them. Newt Gingrich is a jackass, and that's all I gots to say 'bout that.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-17 03:16 pm (UTC)The intent of the distorters is to make it seem as if he walked up to a woman in torment and pain from the knowledge of her impending death and told her without any previous warning that he wanted a divorce. That's a lie. He's a jerk, but inaccuracy and spreading of lies diminishes the speaker, and any causes they represent. Focus on the truth, or people will pull you down with those you're opposing.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-17 09:31 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-18 08:34 am (UTC)no subject
no subject
Date: 2004-02-17 12:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-17 12:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-17 12:59 pm (UTC)Clinton was thwarted by a Republican Congress, and buoyed by an out-of-control economy which artificially elevated the tax base. Our surplus was illusory, and as soon as the correction happened, change in tax rates or no, there was going to be a deficit.
Which is not to say that a sudden desire to go to the moon, and Mars, isn't a bit expensive. I don't think Bush has seen a spending program he didn't like. Tax and Spend Republicans are scary.....
mwah!
Date: 2004-02-17 01:08 pm (UTC)As a married Christian, I find it offensive that people dare to say that a loving committed relationship is wrong.
The fundamentalists just don't get it.
You're right -
Date: 2004-02-17 01:17 pm (UTC)A) There's probly NO ONE on earth that would do it the way Jesus did it.
B) We're probly all wrong, and in God's eyes, every wrong is equally wrong. Therefore, the homosexuals are probly wrong (yes, damnit, leviticus!) and the homophobes are just as wrong. I'm wrong too.
C) Anyone who believes and repents can go to heaven. Now lets be realistic. Repenting doesn't mean stopping. If we could stop by repenting we wouldn't need constant forgiveness.
You're not wrong - I wish stupid people would shut up. I won't get into politics. I hate politics, and polititions. [rant]I think we should start over completely - take all the polititions to Jersey, and start over. And try to find honest people. People that don't build themselves airconditioned parking garages, then raise our taxxes because there's no money left in the buget to pay the staffs at public schools. Personally, I don't care if they are fornicators, ex-convicts, or even mentally disabled ..whatever, as long as when we look at where all our hard earned tax dollars went, they haven't done anything fucking stupid with them. ARGH. [/rant]
no subject
Date: 2004-02-17 05:37 pm (UTC)wow.
Date: 2004-02-17 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-17 06:57 pm (UTC)Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)
They're 5 miles high as the crow flies
leavin' vapour trails against a blood red sky
Movin' in from the East toward the West
with Balaclava helmets over their heads, yes!
But if you think that Jesus Christ is coming
Honey you've got another thing coming
If he ever finds out who's hi-jacked his name
He'll cut out his heart and turn in his grave
Islam is rising
The Christians mobilising
The world is on its elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message and worships the creeds
It's war, she cried, It's war, she cried, this is war
Drop your possessions, all you simple folk
You will fight them on the beaches in your underclothes
You will thank the good lord for raising the union jack
You'll watch the ships sail out of harbour
and the bodies come floating back
If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today
He'd be gunned down cold by the C.I.A.
Oh, the lights that now burn brightest behind stained glass
Will cast the darkest shadows upon the human heart
But God didn't build himself that throne
God doesn't live in Israel or Rome
God doesn’t belong to the yankee dollar
God doesn't plant the bombs for Hezbollah
God doesn't even go to church
And God won't send us down to Allah to burn
No, God will remind us what we already know
That the human race is about to reap what it's sown
The world is on its elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message and worships the creeds
Armageddon days are here again
no subject
Date: 2004-03-08 10:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-08 10:32 am (UTC)