No lack of sunshine, baby, I got you

Warning: This is going to be a rambling post in which I explore my views and opinions on a lot of things, though a politcal dicussion prompted this post, so there will probably be an emphasis in that area. If you don't want to read any of that, you can probably skip this post and not really miss anything.

That being said...

I feel free speech is a fundamental aspect of a non-tyrannical government. Not an absoulte - yelling 'Fire!' in a crowded theater, for instance, isn't something I support, but just about everything else - hateful speech, swearing, racial slurs, the worst of it. Certainly, there are times (or, in some cases, all the time) when it's inappropriate, rude, ignorant, what have you, but not illegal. Not somethng the government should monitor and hold against you.

I'm not saying that's our right as Americans, but our right as sentinent creatures.

I also firmly believe in giving everyone the right to vote. HOWEVER, I don't think everyone necessarily should vote. I think only people that have some knowledge of the issues at hand should vote. I'm not saying that there should be some kind of test to make sure they possess this knowledge or anything, just that the phrase "Everyone should vote. Period." is not something I agree with. It's not really something that you can really enforce, nor should they, just an idealogical standpoint. I get really annoyed hearing people "I'm voting for X because he's cute" or "I'm voting for X because I like his name". Should they lose the right to do so? No. Is it irresponsible and counter to the point of democracy? Yes.

Anyway.

My mom has a frustrating habit of jumping to conclusions, then hanging onto them in spite of any new evidence that may come to light. It saddens me. One of the (few) things I really like about myself is my perceived logica... logicalness? logicality? Something like that. I'm usually pretty good about listening to the facts, factoring in potential bias, holding rational discussions, and forming logically sound opinions. I fall prey to the heat of the moment, as everyone does, but I think I've really worked on realizing when I'm doing it, and just walking away.

My mother is a staunch supporter of Bush. Not a supporter of the Republican party, or the right-wing establishment, or the current administration, but of George W. Bush Jr. Fine. Why?

This came up during lunch today. I mentioned to Bambi that Clinton - yes, Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the United States - is going to be on the Daily Show tomorrow evening. Greg made a comment that he'd be in friendly waters, that they'd been going after Bush pretty hard. I responded that, well, the guy makes it so easy. That's when Mom started to provide input as well. She really, really supports Bush. That's not what frustrates me so much. I mean, I certainly disagree with her on that one, but it's her right. What really frustrates me about it is that she doesn't back it up with anything, doesn't respond to criticisms of her position at all. Even when presented with actual evidence directly contrary to her position or conclusion, she brushes it aside or ignores it. It's really frustrating.

I loathe the right-wing establishment. I don't necessarily diasgree with all of their views - blanket agreement with a party drives me nuts. But a lot of the tactics used - Coulter, O'Reilly, Hannity, they drive me nuts. I disagree with most - not all, most - of their viewpoints, but that's not the issue - the issue is the lying, distorting, misquoting, and selective editing.

Edit: That wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, a lot shorter too. Having a Naxx raid in the middle of it probably didn't help.

Faith Hill -- I Got My Baby