Apathy

I don’t know if it’s depression, disgust, or anger, but I find myself avoiding politics.  I know where I stand, I know why, and I have a hard time accepting that anyone could really believe that another Republican President is the right way to go for the country, especially when his running mate is that awful woman.  Seriously, she’s making us look bad.  Really, really bad.  Every time I think of her, her running mate, or the election in general, I shake my head in dismay.  My kids say the won’t vote because there’s no point, even though they have the first black man running for President, and though I encourage them to vote, I agree with them.  I like Obama.  I’d like to think he means what he says, but to be honest, he’s a politician and I am cynical.  I’ll believe it when I see it.

And while we’re all wrapped up in Presidential politics and the economy, can we PLEASE remember why our country’s in so much debt in the first place?  Our idiot President started a war with two countries that did nothing to us, and as a result: 606 US Soldiers killed in Afghanistan, and 4,180 US soldiers killed in Iraq.

Whatever You Do, It’s Wrong

I’ve heard a lot of things about being a mother, but I heard Barbara Walters say something that really made sense.  Women stress about staying home with their kids, about being working mothers, about feeding children the right food all the time, about giving medications and vaccinations to babies, etc…, and no matter what you do, there’s always someone saying it’s wrong. 

Which also means that there’s someone who’s saying it’s right.  We do the best we can.  We agonize over every decisions hoping that we won’t screw-up our kids, but knowing it’s inevitable that something we’ve done will come back to haunt us.  Probably several things.  I’ll try to keep that in mind when I abandon my son to the care of “professionals” when I return to work next week.

Let’s not forget that the mothers of these young men and women are probably agonizing over everything they’ve done as well:  4,143 US soldiers killed in Iraq, 30,509 US soldiers wounded in Iraq

And For What?

I have to send a special shout out to Daniel on this one.  Writing is a catharsis indeed, but we cannot forget to write what we should as well as what we can.  All the posts on religion, education, and politics mean nothing if we DO nothing, and most importantly, we cannot forget that while we sit in front of our computers in cushy office chairs surrounded by air conditioning there are thousands of people suffering IN OUR NAME. 

Our government is torturing and detaining people for indeterminate lengths of time without giving any reasoning, and they say they’re doing it to make us safer.  What proof do we have?  What can we point to as the reason for even arresting these men?  We make excuses and we spout slogans, forgetting all the while that people are suffering, truly, deeply suffering – and for what?

4,123 US soldiers killed in Iraq, 30,409 US soldiers wounded in Iraq

Support This Troop

War does a lot of things to a lot of people.  Some find a renewal of faith and others lose it completely.  For nus, those who have stayed on the sidelines and watched this comedy of errors continue year after year, it is impossible to judge the young men and women who serve.  You would expect that fellow soldiers would understand and accept the changes in their comrades as “part of the experience”.  Many become more religious, more patriotic, more etc…, but some do not.  Some let go of their deeply ingrained beliefs, question what life is all about, and change who they are.  This soldier did just that, and because the Army and his fellow soldiers didn’t like what he was saying, it caused a shitstorm.

Army Spc. Jeremy Hall was told that “…because I can’t put my personal beliefs aside and pray with troops I wouldn’t make a good leader”.  He was asked to leave a table at Thanksgiving because he wouldn’t say Grace.  He is currently suing the military, not for money, but for the promise of religious freedom.  This poor young man joined the Army believing that he was doing something good for our nation and its people. All he has found is that he has to defend his own rights.  We owe him and all the other true defenders of freedom a collective apology.

4,114 US soldiers killed in Iraq (apparently not defending religious freedom), 30,275 US soldiers wounded in Iraq

Christianity in Iraq

I saw a piece on 60 Minutes about Christians in Iraq.  Before the war there were over one million Christians practicing openly in Iraq without being bothered because Saddam Hussien allowed for religious freedom.  That meant that women could drive, work, go to school, etc…  Since the beginning of the US occupation of Iraq the Christian population has dwindled significantly.  A young man in the story told of how his family split their time at mass so that if the church was bombed, only half of them would die. The Christians who survived the initial religious persecution by the Islamic Fundamentalists have mostly escaped to Syria.  All that are left are the women whose men have been killed, the very old, and children.  They practice their religion in secret.

My problem with this story was the spin.  60 Minutes detailed how the Christians were surviving in Iraq and how their lives had been better before the US invasion, but glossed over the part where their slaughter was largely our fault.  It is true that had we not invaded, these people would still be living under the rule of Saddam Hussein, who had NO ties to Osama bin Laden or Al Qaeda AND allowed his people some religious and social freedom that is wholly absent from the Iraq of today.  Now that is impossible.  The militants have made sure of that.  Good for us!

You Can’t Have Him

I fully agree that this ad seems a little contrived and is definitely cheesy, but the concept is correct.  People are not paying enough attention to McCain’s stance on the Iraq war.  I know the economy sucks and that’s a pressing issue for all of us, but while we’re being steered to pay attention to the economy, people are still dying in Iraq, and familes are separated.  According to McCain, things could be that way for a very long time.  Long enough that my son could actually be affected by this stupid, illegal, and immoral war.  I agree with Alex’s mom.  i will travel to the ends of the Earth if I have to, but Mr. McCain, YOU CANNOT HAVE MY SON. EVER.

4,110 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq (again, this number does not reflect those who have died of injuries once they have air-lifted out of the country) 30,247 Us soldiers have been wounded in Iraq

Fear Not

I wanted to write something beautiful and poignant because today is a sacred day in which we should honor those who served our country but all that came to me was disappointment.  I have an overwhelming sense of disappointment in the American people but I find it futile to voice it because I know they do nothing and say nothing about this illegal and immoral war because they are afraid.  They are afraid of upsetting civil order (as Thoreau suggested with a different war in a different time) by speaking out against the war because they’re afraid of being labeled as traitors (or non-supporters of the troops), mostly because their government representatives have taught them to be so.  They’re afraid to read too much or be perceived as knowing too much because they don’t want to be labeled as too smart (or liberal).  They’re afraid to speak negatively about anything (especially politics and religion) because they don’t want to be labeled as cynical.  They’re afriad to admit that it does matter if they don’t vote because if they fail to fulfuill their responsibility as citizens to choose what type of government they will have, they will feel no ownership when the time comes to criticize it.

Fear not.  The men and women we choose to honor today gave their lives in service to this country (or for what they believed to be service to this country) so that we would not have to be afraid of our enemies foreign or domestic.  We mourn their loss and should honor their memories not with BBQ’s but by using the freedoms for which they fought.

We should all be afraid of this number: 4,080 US Soldiers killed in Iraq, 30,112 US Soldiers wounded in Iraq

4,000 and Still No Answers

The recent rash of violence in Iraq hasn’t been covered much in the news, but I feel it’s important to mention since many Americans still have friends and family fighting in this illegal and immoral war and the NNM is doing it’s best to distract us in every way possible.  Think about all the stupid things the NNM covers, while ignoring the important world events happening on a daily basis.  Who cares about Brittany Spears when their child is dying from a lack of health care?  Is the baseball steroid scandal all that important to those still rebuilding their lives from Hurricane Katrina?    When downtown Philadelphia is beginning to look and feel more like downtown Bogota, does it really matter that Obama gave a lightly poignant speech about race?  If our freedoms are eroding away and no one seems to notice, what exactly are our soldiers fighting for?

 4,000 US soldiers dead in Iraq (not including those who died of wounds after being airlifted to Kuwait, or those soldiers who have committed suicide at home because of PTSD),     29,451 US soldiers wounded in Iraq

Calling Card

It started in 2000 when the National News Media (referred to hereafter as the NNM) called the election for Gore, then for Bush.  It continued unchecked through the 2004 election, and now the beast has grown as the NNM devoured the Primaries and spit them out in the image they chose.  Fights are created between candidates without their knowledge, and anyone in politics commenting at all on any aspect of the Presidential canpaign has their words twisted and contorted until no one really has any idea what anyone is saying. 

Unfortunately, most of the American public doesn’t know that you can’t trust the news, especially those of the generation of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.  What I wouldn’t give for just one ounce of integrity in today’s NNM.  Maybe we’d have some idea of what’s actually going on in the world instead of being bombarded by op-ed pieces about soldiers coming home and flags flying high.  It’s an election, dammit, and let’s not forget that there’s also the small matter of the WAR we’ve been fighting.  And let’s stop saying that we’re choosing the “leader of the free world”.  Frankly, it’s insulting to the rest of the world, and it’s not a title we seemed to have earned as of yet.

3,966 US soldier killed in Iraq (yes, that’s still happening, and no, I still don’t think these numbers are accurate)  29,203 US soldiers wounded in Iraq

Fair and Balanced

Even the media is admitting now that they have a role in the outcome of elections.  Mentioning the effect that publicity has on elections does not absolve the media outlets from responsibility, but this seems to be the tactic they’re using.  After Hillary’s win in New Hampshire Brian Williams and other talking heads began to discuss the media’s role in the “upset” since they had been making predictions about what would happen.  They didn’t mention that any discussion of politics on national TV plays a role in the election debate, especially when certain candidates are ignored (Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich) and others are glorified (Barak Obama, Mike Huckabee).  And yet we continue to allow the media to get off the hook.  We pretend that they aren’t influencing millions of Americans on the Media Conglomerate News.  It almost makes you hope that the Writer’s Strike continues and puts these major outlets out of business.  I’ll trade my favorite TV shows for just a little bit of truth.  Won’t you?

3,904 US soldiers killed in Iraq; 28,870 US soldiers wounded in Iraq (not that I believe that these figures are in any way accurate anymore)