What's been done has been done

This is going to be a bitchy post. I'm going to rant about things that annoy me. If you don't want to hear that, skip it. You won't be missing anything.

First off: politics. First off on the first topic, a disclaimer. I understand several things that usually happen in politics: politicians try to spin any and every occurrence to their own, and maybe their party's, benefit; they tend to stand by their party, keep to their talking points. I understand those things. But several things have happened lately to really, really annoy me:

First, Tony Snow, the White House Press Secretary, 's reaction to John Kerry's offensive comment concerning education and the war in Iraq - something like "You can work hard and be smart, or **you can get stuck in Iraq**". The parts in **'s are direct quotes, the rest is a paraphrase. I don't condone his comment, just as an aside. However... during the press conference, which I watched live on Fox News, Snow referenced Kerry's comment that he left out the word "us". Snow said something along the lines of "I don't get it, I can't even see where you would insert the word 'us' in there - You us can get stuck in Iraq?" Now, he was mainly responding to reporters' questions, I understand that, but that one comment really, really pissed me off - it's obvious to anyone with half a brain where the word 'us' is inserted into that sentence to make sense; The Colbert Report ran that clip and mocked Snow for it.

Second, a republican pundit was talking to Wolf Blitzer on CNN, in regards to the Mark Foley incident. His assertion that the timing of the release of this information was very, very coincidental, something so damaging to a (the) republican(s) so close to some highly contested midterms. Now, I'll admit that it is a somewhat valid point, and the Democrats certainly shouldn't have sat on this information, if they had it, only to release it a highly fortuitous time. It's circumstantial, but I could understand a legitimate investigation being launched. However, the republican pundit wasn't saying it might have happened, he was saying that's what the Democrats did. Wolf asked him several times, quite directly, if he had any proof that that was the case. The pundit's response? "Do you have any proof that they didn't?" I mean, yeah! Fuck that whole "Innocent until proven guilty", "Burden of proof on the accuser" nonsense!

Third, voting. I take great umbrage at the oft-espoused idea that everyone should vote. I'm not even kidding. Now, to be clear, I certainly think everyone should be able to vote, after meeting a few basic qualifications - citizenship, age, that kind of thing. So yes, anyone can vote. However, I feel strongly that people should have at least some grasp of the issues before they vote. That's what bothers me about people who always vote along a certain party line. That, and people who impulse-vote - "Oh, I liked that guy's commercials!", that kind of thing. That's why I'm not voting in the midterms - I don't have any idea what's going on.

Finally, people assuming I'm a democrat for my constant ragging on Bush. I don't follow a party line - they're both essentially full of shit. Yes, I hate Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Snow, Rove... the whole lot of 'em. However, they're in charge, so they're the ones making the decisions, they're the obvious targets. The Daily Show went after Kerry for his comments concerning the troops and education. I mean, they didn't do the half-hour exposè about troops' education levels like Fox News did, but they did make a lot of fun of him, mocked him pretty thoroughly. So yeah.

Second topic: People at work.

Most of them are cool; well, that's not completely true - I don't interact with most of them, mainly just the ones that I stock grocery with. I also deal with the overnight GM and departmental folks during the pre-shift meeting, breaks, and various chatter.

Actually, I'm getting pretty tired, so I'm going to do the work rant later.

Also, new feature: Tags. There's a list on the right hand side, after the monthly archives, with links I've put on my posts. You can click on a link to see all posts with that link. Good stuff.

Amber G -- Why Can't You Just Be In Love With Me

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

CNN.com - Federal judge?declares Pledge?unconstitutional - Sep 14, 2005

CNN.com - Federal judge declares Pledge unconstitutional - Sep 14, 2005

Sweet. It's a start.