I sit outside watching snowflakes drift, a vague sun shining, icicles shimmering with dancing motes of reflected light. It’s quiet. It’s calm. It’s still. Softly, far away in the background, Enya sings gentle Christmas carols.
I can breathe. There’s no hurly-burly. And I think. I think about this last year. About the year before. And about the one coming in a week. It’s time for changes. Changes for me. I know what I’m going to do, now.
So, according to Sarah Palin, rape isn’t rape? It’s the male prerogative, that prerogative granted by (her) Christian god? And, to make matters even more startling, any young female old enough to menstruate is old enough to suffer that male prerogative, and, in fact, should feel “under the Grace of God,” especially if she winds up pregnant?
And John McCain selected THIS ugly excuse for a vagina-packing ( …or is that packed) misfit to be a U. S. Vice Presidential candidate? I don’t know about you, but this is the LAST thing this country needs in a position of executive privilege.
Tell me this isn’t happening.
Don’t vote the McCain/Palin ticket. Please.
Have you ever looked into the agenda of the far right? Imagine a country (ours) settled by people who were escaping religious persecution and political intolerance now ruled by people who practice intolerance and ideological persecution. And not only do they practice ideological persecution, they hold it as their duty as good Christians to their god.
Palin is a Pentecost. That’s an extreme Baptist sect. One could also define them as a cult. They do “alligator dancing” in the aisles of their churches “when the Spirit moves them”; they “speak in Tongues” (garbled gab of no meaning effusing from their mouths, often accompanied by foam). And what do they advocate? They, as my ex-brother-in-law so pointedly informed me, are commanded by their god to kill anyone (“pick up a gun and shoot you” to quote) who isn’t part of their congregation…which means anyone not a Pentecost, though I believe they’ll hold their fire against other Baptists, Assembly of God, and similar extreme “right” denominations. So that means everyone from atheists and agnostics, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Taoists, Wiccans, and Jews to Lutherans, Presbyterians, Quakers, Catholics, Mennonites, Mormons, Methodists…any Christian or non-Christian believer and unbeliever will be open gaime, gleefully terminated when and if they run them down and get them in their gun sights. That’s scary to think of.
“Oh, no,” say the “rationalists.” The U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights guarantees us freedom of religion. That won’t happen.”
I remember the “freedom of religion” argument brought up before, and the response? “‘Freedom of religion’ doesn’t mean ‘freedom from religion'” the religious right screamed back. And what does that twist mean to them? It means, yes, you have the right to believe or not believe as you choose, BUT they have a right to inflict whatever damage upon you and yours they choose, their religion delivering (the from religion part) the verdict of pain, harm, and, if mob mentality, Pat Robertson (a Southern Baptist), and the religious rightwing cronies have their way, death, preferably by stoning. Stoning, by the way, is a very painful, horrible way to die…but, then, these folks enjoy inflicting pain on others, believe in it as their right, because, according to them, you, the “mis-believer” or unbeliever, are possessed by (of) the devil, and it’s the devil they perceive themselves to be stoning.
But, let’s get back to this U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights for a moment. Do I need to remind everyone of our right to habeas corpus (…until G W Bush abnegated it, that is), of our right to privacy, of our right against unlawful search and seizure and all the rest? Did that stop Bush, Cheney, Rove, and the entire Bush administration? Nope. It sure didn’t. And they got away with it, with the (stupid) American people and (stupid) Congress, including the (treasonous) Supreme Court who planted Bush in the White House, giving them the green light to do it.
Palin is a Pentecostal Christian who believes that her god has given her this opportunity to set America “right.” Beware. AND, in choosing Palin as his vice-presidential nominee, John McCain has aligned himself with that Pentecostal-saturated agenda. Their version of America is to DICTATE how you believe, to dictate your choices of body, mind, soul, and spirit, and, should you be found guilty in their eyes of being less than “righteous,” they will eradicate you. That’s Palin’s and, by choosing her as his vice-president, John McCain’s agenda for America and its citizens.
I posted this over on the NYTimes article on Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy, announced “after a swirl of rumors by liberal bloggers that the governor’s fifth child, who was born in April, was in fact her daughter’s” where they allowed comments, http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2008/09/02/us/politics/02PALINDAY.html . I posted it at 8:34PM, long before they cut off comments. The NYTimes chose not to release it…moderated my comment out, in other words. Hmmm. Why? Too close to the truth?
Here’s what I posted, and, you tell me, what reason would the NYTimes have for refusing to allow the comment, especially considering all the other fiery, contentious comments, 1108 of them, a great many posted long after I posted mine.
I’m suspicious. How about: With rumors getting too close to truth (Trig is actually Bristol’s baby), in order to cover Palin’s original lie claiming Trig is her son, how about the Republicans and Palin throw the dogs off the scent by claiming Bristol is five months pregnant (pregnante 2 weeks befor Trig’s birth)? What if the truth is, Bristol is NOT pregnant, but now they get her one of those “tummies” actresses use to look pregnant? Everybody will now lay off seeking the truth about Trig being Bristol’s. Sarah’s deceit claiming the boy as hers will never be discovered, because, overnight, they had the medical records scrubbed. Then, magically, just about a week before the election, Bristol will have a miscarriage, and everybody will be oh so sympathetic…which will bring McCain/Palin some more sympathy votes, right? And no one will ever be the wiser about Sarah’s deceit about Trig. Just me suspicious about all this, mind you, but it is possible. Since it is obvious that Palin and the Rove guided McCain team have enough influence to do it, I’m betting Sarah Palin’s and Bristol’s medical records have already been “fixed.” Only a DNA test of the boy by some unimpeachable lab (hah!) would ultimately convince me that Sarah and her husband are the true parents of Trig. Do I think the Republicans and Sarah Palin truly capable of such deceits and going to such lengths. Most certainly.
COVER-UP/CENSORSHIP POSSIBILITIES UPDATE: I went to Google, typed Bristol’s Pregnant and found this:
Going to the link: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/9/1/125317/7644 got me a “Sorry. I can’t seem to find that story.”
Going to Google’s Cached version got me: “Your search – cache:XcMNMdPr0eIJ:www.mydd.com/story/2008/9/1/125317/7644 Bristol’s Pregnant – did not match any documents.”
Going to Google’s Similar Pages got me: “Your search – related:www.mydd.com/story/2008/9/1/125317/7644 – did not match any documents.”
Wow. Somebody is very busy with the dust pan and broom, aren’t they?
Most of my best friends are Republicans — old time Republicans…Birk Birkheimer, Ralph Williams…especially Ralph Williams — men who recall Eisenhower with pride. These are men (and women, because there are women, too, though I have named but the two men whom everyone…around here, anyway, should know) …men and women who have true honor, high morals, unimpeachable ethics. These are my kind of people, the kind of people who live by a creed: “Lead, follow, or get the Hell out of the way!” These are people who will defend you and your right to speak, to live, to make a living, to be, no matter your political persuation so long as you, likewise, maintain a demeanor of high moral and ethical character. They don’t care if you’re gay, lesbian, believe in choice, practice something other than Christianity…you name it. They don’t want to know about your sex life, nor your religion or political persuasion. What they do care about is that you don’t impede life, liberty, and the pursuit of another man’s (or woman’s) right to be as guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Most of these people are war veterans, whether they are women who worked for the war effort in factories and hospitals or men were on the front lines. We’re talking WWII veterans and Korean “Conflict” veterans, we’re talking men and women who were involved in the Cold War and who remember the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Conflict like it was yesterday.
Then there are my friends who are more contemporary — Vietnam War era. These men and women are liberals — pro-choice, pro-peace, pro-environmental protection…and anti-gun control, pro-capital punishment…like me.
You know what Republican Ralph Williams said today to Liberal Patrick Tormey (my very best friend)? He wondered how people were going to make it now that rents are so high, that the banks are messed up, that the economy is screwed to Hell and gone…by his own party. He shook his head and mentioned the coming election. “You know?” he said. “I don’t even think I’m going to vote.” Now that is a disenfranchised Republican. (There are quite a few around here in Idaho.)
Well, I’ll vote, because, despite my cynicism about ANY politician, I’m going to “believe” just one more time…in Obama and Biden, especially Biden. I HOPE that Obama isn’t just blowing smoke, and that what he says he stands for is actual.
I’m a die-hard Kucinich supporter. I was a die-hard Ross Perot (Remember him?) supporter. I keep asking myself, though. Where’s my party? It certainly isn’t the wimpy Democrats who shift their principles with the wind (save Kucinich, of course), nor with those extreme Democrats who think that every chick who spreads her legs for every Jack Penis should have an income while she is paid to secure an education at taxpayer (my) expense, which are the same Democrats who think that I ought to care about White Trash Sally-Annie’s brat, and who, if I don’t believe in their perspective implicitly, should have my right to think for myself revoked. Democrats don’t like thinking individuals, especially ones who disagree with their soft party lines. Then there’s the same exact problem with Fundy Republicans who think that I should have my citizenship and even my right to live revoked if I don’t believe their way, from religion and Jesus Christ to rape-the-land and kill all the gays and lesbians.
Who am I? I’m an independent, technically. Who am I? I’m a Constitutionalist in the old fashioned sense of the word — a flag waver, yes, and a Thomas Jefferson fan, a believer in the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights…applied equally to everyone, not just the “good ol’ boys and gals.”
Where’s MY party? I want a party — one that upholds my right to bear arms; one that upholds my right to determine what’s best for me, my body, my mind and spirit; one that allows for pro-choice in everything, from relationships to religion to determining whether or not I want an abortion; one that upholds my right to free speech, regardless that somebody else thinks it’s hate speech or politically incorrect, regardless that it doesn’t uphold some religious tenet someone else holds sacrosanct. Maybe for me, sacrosanct is the exact opposite, ever figure? Where’s my party? It ain’t the wimpy Democrats, that’s for sure, but, likewise, it ain’t the Republicans who aren’t Republicans at all, but rather advocates of economic and political tyranny, with them installed as dictators.
Where’s my party?