I think you should blog me...
Politics Suck Rant
I can't believe the political grossness has already started. Got a phone call for a "survey" on a local race (surely the voting isn't until November?) that was a new low. The questions were so loaded....."Would it make you more or less likely to vote for this candidate if you knew he was accused of embezzling funds from his previous employer?....Would it make you more or less likely to vote for this candidate if you knew he had switched political parties before filing for candidacy.....Would it make you more or less likely to vote for this candidate if you knew he had been arrested on two occasions?" Etc. Etc. Talk about skating around libel/slander....not that they were saying the candidate had actually done any of these things, but what if?
I have no doubt that the reason political apathy is around is that people are not stupid, just fed up - they know it is all sham negotiations - ie, we will pretend we really mean what we're telling you, and you will vote for us on that basis. Bullshit. How about if every race on the ballot include the category "None of the above", so if they don't field viable candidates, they will have to go back to the drawing board. And forget about signatures, campaign funds, and endorsements - every candidate should have a background check, psychological testing and a polygraph before they are allowed to throw their hat in the ring. Then repeat every six months minimum if they're elected!
Pride is a Sin, Too
There's a great article in the Dallas Morning News on 8-12-06 about the Mel Gibson/anti-Semitism controversy - from an angle I wish everyone could see.
I quote from an aricle titled "Mel isn't the only Sinner" by Rod Dreher:
"When news of his anti-Semitic diatribe broke, I hurried to my Beliefnet.com blog to join in the piling on. Later in the day, my oldest friend,J., emailed me to say he questioned my judgment in light of the upbringing we'd both had......Yes, Mel was wrong, said my friend, but consider that he was raised by a Holocaust-denying kook of a father. .....he might sincerely have been unaware of his anti-Semitism, and this ugly situation might yet be redeemed if he is not only made to see his capacity for evil ....but also allowed to believe in his own capacity for goodness."
"This episode could be moment of conversion, too, for all of us high-minded commentators who take comfort in not being like that booze-addled anti-Semite.....Who among us can say for sure what bigotry and crookedness lie hidden away in our own hearts, concealed from ourselves by our wealth, position or pride, awaiting a moment of weakness or stupidity to manifest? Who among us, having been laid low by our own vanity and meanness, wouldn't beg for mercy, for redemption, for the opportunity to show the world that there is more to us than our sins and failings?......Mel Gibson's public disgrace is an occasion for reflection on our own humanity. It's a moment to ponder the prescriptive wisdom in W. H. Auden's line:'You shall love your crooked neighbor with your crooked heart.'"
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