Friday, December 28, 2007

Who are you voting for?

Very interesting:
http://www.dehp.net/candidate/

Gives you a list of each candidate, and how close they are to your opinions, with a point system (sort of like soccer or hockey tables). Most interesting, it lists the specific points on which the candidate differs from you.

Apparently the maximum position away from mine was Hunter. No idea who he is, so I went to look. Yup, I'm pretty sure he's about as far away from me as possible, in fact, perhaps not far enough away.

gov't approved religion

"On Sundays hundreds of worshippers come to celebrate early morning mass. Three services are held - there are no spare seats at any of them.
This is the kind of official Christianity that the [government] tolerates.
The rule is simple: if you are loyal to the [government], you can pray and you can worship as much as you like.
The government wants its Christians in the state-approved church where it can see them and control them."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7150613.stm

Sounds like just the sort of thing the Conservative Christian Right wants: government approval and sanction of Christianity. Perhaps the rabid "be a conservative Christian or die a heretic" should relocate. Apparently there are places where the government will let, and even encourage you to go be a Christian. Of course, that's only if you be a Good Little Christian and follow the government's worship services.

Oh, yeah, that's if they want to move to China.

Any time a person has to make the government happy, in order to be able to pray and worship, the rest of us should be very, very frightened.

What other reason do you need?

Pukin' and sneezin' and sniffles and stuff....
http://covertheuninsured.org/ads/?stream=Reasons

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

God, I love Free Speech

http://www.goats.com/store/stickers.html

If You Love Your Freedom ...

If You Love Your Freedom ...

Thank Me. I Vote.


This whole obsession with the Bush-ie version of "patriotism" is enough to make me puke. The "If you love your freedom ... thank a vet" bumper stickers sincerely push the limits of my control about road rage.

The army does not protect my Freedom. Or yours. Ask any Pakistani what they think about the military protecting their democracy.

As a preface, my father is a highly decorated combat veteran (Air Force pilot, Vietnam). One of my uncles is a veteran (Navy aviator, Vietnam). My first husband was a member of the National Guard for the entire 10 years we were married (Army Armored). My husband is a veteran (Army Artillery). This doesn't even include my many friends who are/were in, too. So, no, I've got absolutely nothing against the US Armed Forces. That said... in the following, for purposes of brevity, the 'army' should be interpreted to mean the Armed Forces.

The Army exists for the purpose of executing US Foreign Policy. This is NOT a criticism. It is the entire purpose of having a standing army. We have one so no one messes with us here or our stuff overseas. I want us to have an army. I just want us to be completely clear what its mission is.

An army is incapable of protecting freedom. By joining, one gives up most of one's constitutional rights, by suborning them to the Army's needs. If this didn't happen, chaos would erupt, thereby negating the effectiveness of the army. Freedom to argue about the vagarities of the current political situation is not allowed in the light of following orders. If soldiers aren't all on the same page - following orders - then they aren't really an army, they would be a bunch of buddies dressed alike carrying weapons.

Voting protects my Freedom. An army can only prevent elections. It can't force them. Doing so would make the elections not-free and not-fair. Ask anyone in a banana republic.

Voting is what keeps the dorks in Washington vaguely aware of the world outside the Beltway.

This doesn’t even get into the whole “thank a vet” - “support the troops or die” issues. Support the troops! I keep wanting to tell my locally elected representatives to go fuck themselves the each time I hear them utter this phrase. Lord knows, I’d like to tell the Chief Executive that, too. All I hear with these words are “Be a Brainless Prole!”

The implication that my disagreement with the Presidential Idiot means I am unpatriotic?? Thomas Paine wasn’t very patriotic, was he? Neither was Jefferson or Adams. If, of course, you asked the guys running the show who didn’t like to be criticized because of their taxation and military decisions.

The only veteran I’m going to thank about my freedom is the one I meet at my polling place in February.


Get the fuck off your ass and go vote. Protect your Liberty.