27. March 2010 by admin.

Can I say that I hate the anger being directed at our politicians in Washington?  How dare these people vent with the hatred and vitriol they have shown, and without regard even to political party!  This is an undirected and misdirected venting that serves no purpose and actually highlights the ignorance and stupidity of the people doing the venting.

Let’s begin with the fact that the people making these decisions in Washington were duly elected by the majority of the voters to represent us in making the laws that govern this nation.  If these people disagree with the decisions of the politicians, they have the right to vote them out of office in the next election.  But to threaten them?  I bet they didn’t even vote in the last election.

And then there was the homemade sign in the back of a BMW 740iL parked next to me at the grocery store this afternoon.  One Big Ass Mistake America.  Oh, funny, taking the name of the President and turning it into a comment.  Let’s see, would that have made him Big Ugly Stupid Hick?  Hey we can all play that game.  But does it serve any purpose?  Once again, venting by attacking the people who were duly elected by the majority of the nation.  Huh.

Does anyone think anymore?  Or is it all just knee-jerk reaction, hatred, vitriol, and stupidity by people upset that their viewpoint lost in the last election.  You know what?  Get over it.  You lost and we won and now it’s your turn to sit and watch as the nation heads in a direction you don’t like.  I happen to think that we are heading in the right direction…well, our politicians are, some of our people are definitely heading in the wrong direction.  Wonder if they happen to be Republicans or used-to-be-Republicans-but-they-were-too-liberal-Tea-Partiers.  Huh.

Let’s get back to honest and open dialog with an understanding that the loser has to accept reality and not attack those who represent us in government.  Debate, I can work with.  Hate hurts everyone.

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23. March 2010 by admin.

Well, the landmark legislation has been passed and is being signed by the President today.  I, for one, am looking forward to a time when I won’t be denied coverage because I now have a pre-existing condition.  And I do hope to change jobs in the future and I don’t want to be afraid of losing my insurance as a result.  If people would just look at the provisions of the bill, they would see that it is a major step in the right direction.

Oh, and to those who decry its cost, where were you when the previous administration was spending $1 billion a day on an unnecessary war and to pad the pocketbooks of their profiteering cronies with no-bid contracts?  Besides, you do realize that we already pay this price in a hidden manner through higher costs for healthcare, don’t you?  Oh, right, remember who I am talking to.  Never mind, the money magically appears.

And to those who claim the Federal government can’t make you do anything, remember that they already regulate most everything so they have a means of doing it if they choose to.  Health care is a societal cost and its about damn time we benefit from our spending!  I am glad we’ve made it happen in my lifetime!

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29. September 2007 by Rob.

I had a little incident the other day with a woman who is devoutly religious, one of those “born again” Christian women who always say “amen” as a punctuation mark.  While in normal conversation I tend to ignore the overtly religious implications of her thoughts, tending to be of the “everyone has the right to their opinion” variety of person, this time she went too far.

She was agitated because two women tried to get a marriage license here in Denver and were denied.  They protested by sit-in and were arrested for trespassing.  Not entirely an uncommon event but something which was always occurring in other states, at least she thought it couldn’t happen here.

The comment which triggered my little diatribe was when she said that god had created marriage to be between one man and one woman.  Hold the phone.  God did not create marriage, man did.  In fact, if you look at marriage throughout the ages, you find that religion was either not involved until sometime around the middle ages or was only for the wealthy and powerful.  Now I have to apologize to anyone who has already recognized that this is a christian-centric thought because that, unfortunately, is the primary bias against which I have to fight.  I know a bit about other religions and apologize that my remarks tend to be a bit generic here, but they can and do apply to other religions, just not all of them.

Anyway, I asked her where she got the idea that marriage was created by god and she said that it had always been that way.  I then asked if Adam and Eve were married which seemed to startle her.  I said, there is no record in the bible of god ever marrying the two of them.  I then asked if there was marriage in the time of Jesus and she said “of course.”  You mean when the family of a girl (usually 12 to 15 and worthless to the family) was offered to the lucky family that had a son (usually much older)  along with a major bribe - in the form of a dowry - just so they could unify the two families?  You mean when the woman traded her father’s name for her husband’s since she was considered little more than property?  You mean when only the wealthiest or most powerful individuals had those unions “blessed” by the priests?  Did you know that the sacrament of matrimony is only about a thousand years old?

She went still, this wild look of shock on her face as I pounded truth after truth into the argument. You see, she had been converted by someone who told her that everything in the bible was true and she willingly believed it.  But when confronted with the truth, she was unable to process it.  I asked her how two women getting married could, in any way shape or form, harm her marriage.  She roused long enough to answer with the expected phrase: it diminishes the institution of marriage.

She was nervous when I laughed and responded.  So the strength of your marriage depends entirely on whether or not people you dislike are allowed to have the same rights and privileges that you have?  I would think that divorce, infidelity, and the ability to get married quickly would diminish marriage, not simply allowing two men or two women to be bonded in love.  You make it sound like a country club where you don’t want any of “those” people invited.

She was a little flustered and I could see that her mind was spinning.  It’s not nice to toss a little chaos into the rigidly structured minds of  people who rely on religion to determine their lives.  But sometimes you need to open the window and allow a little fresh air in.  Don’t ever claim anything as absolute when there is conflicting and contradictory evidence for something else out there.  And please don’t ever attack me personally.  You get me started and I won’t stop until I have completely destroyed your position.  You see, this little thing called truth?  She’s a powerful bitch!

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25. September 2007 by Rob.

The “him” I refer to is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  And the stories over the past few days have come fast and furious.  From the initial outcry over Columbia University’s hosting him to the comments he made at the United Nations, Americans really haven’t followed the true meaning behind these events.

The fact is that his participation in the event at Columbia University was necessary to prove the true power of democracy.  I was astounded and gratefully amazed at the University President’s comments which challenged President Ahmadinejad views.  And Ahmadinejad’s reaction and subsequent fall was the most perfect example of why this effort had significant value.  The derision he was met with when he stated that there were no gays in Iran is not something he is used to.  But he, and the world, need to see that true democracy allows idiots to spout their lies and fallacies but to also be challenged for them.  He couldn’t defend his views and so he lost, a true victory.

Unfortunately, those people who protested his appearance, while they have the full right to do so, obviously didn’t get it.  They didn’t want him to have the right to speak his piece in a forum where people could choose to be…or not.   If he had been barred from participating, then, remarkably enough, his views would have been validated because we would not be living in a democracy.  If the protesters had been there to challenge his views, then I feel they would have been valid.  But to seek to deny him the opportunity to speak?  I suggest you read the Constitution of the United States again.  And thank your lucky stars that we have not (yet) fallen from that ideal.

Posted in Your Rights, Freedom, International, Politics | No Comments »