clarification

I think some of you got confused with the 'death of a blog' post. I wasn't talking about this blog. Also, to clarify, "The Left versus the Right" is dead, but the 'death of the blog' post wasn't about it either. Confused yet? Anyway, i'm updating this blog again, as can be see with the two new posts below...

Current Events

I suppose I should talk about all the recent (and shocking) political news.

No one smiles on their mug shot, its just not done. Delay, sir, you are indicted on money laundering charges, this is not something to be happy about. I only wish all this stuff (Delay, Rove, etc) had come out before the '04 election. Its too late now, we're stuck with Bush and his buddies in Congress for three more years. Of course, I've heard that Bush doesn't get along with Congress that well any more, especially after the Miers nomination. Idk how Bush came up with that one, but a common theme among his appointies seems to be that his known them for about a decade (that's right, i watch the DS). Oh, i just think its so interesting for the Republicans to be bickering with themselves for a change, I had been led to believe that Democrats were the party that had difficult staying on message. Maybe, gasp, some democracy is creeping into the Rep. party. Maybe some decent Republicans who believe in sound fiscal policy will start getting elected. I remember when the Republicans used to be about not running up deficeits, and i'm not against that. Especially now. I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for making this all one paragraph, i'm not perfect.

Anyway, 2006 is rapidly approaching and i think the congressional elections will be very interesting next november. Where I live we recently had some type of local election and i heard from a friend that: more people watched a rerun of the Jeffersons than voted (thats just a random thing i thought was neat and has nothing to do with anything else. I'm not using that to go into a "voting is important" speech because i don't think people who aren't interested in voting should vote, but thats for another time.)

you get what you ask for

When a company or industry is in the business of performing, people want a good performance, and therefore only good performers are hired. Indeed, in any job that requires impressing the general public, for example the PR person of a major corporation, the person hired for that job will portray the image that both the company and the public want to see.

Perhaps this is why the founders of the United States didn’t want the president to be directly elected by the people. Now, of course, that’s a horrible thing to say, but I sometimes wonder, I really do.

George Bush, who is a miserable failure of a president (and if you need proof of this, I’ll make a list at the end of the post*), is very appealing, the kind of person you could sit and have a drink with at a bar. He is not, however, the best choice for president. John F. Kennedy was one of the few Senators to be elected president, and (I think) the only Catholic. How did he manage this? Just look at the guy’s face! No wonder he scored so many chicks in the Oval Office.

Now, JFK wasn’t a bad president, and America has more that its share of great leaders. We’re the longest lasting modern democracy on Earth, after all. So good looks and competent governing aren’t mutually exclusive, but the emphasis on looks and personality has increased tremendously in the last half century, and this is a disturbing phenomenon.

Look at pictures (or portraits) of our early presidents. Look at Lincoln! He was ugly! Washington had wooden teeth (although I think I read somewhere that this wasn’t actually true) and he got a city and a state named after him! You’ve got to say that they were pretty good presidents. In fact, you’ve got to say they were some of the best presidents we ever had! But they wouldn’t stand a chance of getting elected nowadays. Not one damn chance.

Now, I refuse to make the media take all the blame, because a free press is necessary for a democracy to function (whether modern media is still free or not as been discussed before on this blog, but any media is better than no media). The American people are responsible for our democracy (Yes, you!). Thus when our democracy prospered (for instance, the post-war 50’s), the leaders of the country certainly helped, but the people were ultimately responsible, both for electing said leaders and for doing what Americans do best, work on tails off! But when our country suffers, it will only recover when Americans do something about. Turn off the TV. Don’t watch the presidential debate. Try the radio, or better yet, read about their positions. Vote not on how they look, or how they talk, or how religious they say they are (Mark 10:25, and all of ‘em are rich), or how great they say America is, or they’re speeches (because they don’t write their own speeches), but vote on their positions and their experience/qualifications.

Elections aren’t a reality TV show! It affects the entire world! Get out and vote, and make a bloody informed decision. And if things go bad you may only complain if you voted for the other guy! So I’m bloody well complaining!
(*Iraq: thousands of Americans dead on false premises, plus hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, the New Orleans tragedy and the slow response, tax cuts for the rich, CAFTA, lost jobs, Karl Rove is revealed to be the dirty politico he is, George Bush eats kittens, and soo much more)


Kudos to whoever originally made this pict