Some Assembly Required

MUSIC: Living Colour

I really did not want to delve into politics with my blog. So forgive me for this one. I just want to say I do not want to dictate how and why you should vote a specific way. I do not care if you believe or not the things that I do. I can have a conversational debate with you. All that I asked is that you do not repeat verbatim the “party” line regardless of which one. I want the conversation to have more depth to it than quick sound bites and name calling. But avoid doing this if you are easily offended.

I hate the way politics are done in this country. And there is not one party that represents me 100%. I would like to join the “I’m American” party for once. There has been a lot of debate on the airwaves lately. It really gets heated every four years when we are electing the President. Every four years I hear the fact that we need, “Change!” However, no one can really define what exactly this “change” needs to be done. The truth is the only “change” that the only change that is going to have an immediate impact on my life is quarters for the laundry machines. And when it comes to “change” I would like more of it. So please LOWER THE TAXES. It is true that we do not understand our own history in this country. America fought for its freedom for one reason. Not that “each man was created equal.” But it was a nice thought. The truth is we were pissed off that the King of England was taxing the shit out of us. (I hate to mention this but I think it is the only thing not taxed in this country. The last of the “revenue stream”.) We just wanted to live our lives without someone telling us what to do. And then making us pay for it.

The other thing that is disturbing about the Presidential election is that they all run on the idea of being a “Uniter”. They will bring us all together. Is that necessarily a good idea? It is like family Holiday get togethers. There is a reason they only happen about 5-6 times a year. The other problem about running on this idea of “unity” is they spend a lot of time “ripping each other a new one”. But you can let the “healing begin” if you do not “wound” the other guy. It is becoming like the oxymoron “Civil War” without the gun fights. Another problem is that none of these candidates stand behind what they say. MEMO: To the candidates. In this modern age of media, when the “replay” of what you have said somewhere is put out then you cannot say you were “misquoted”. You were “caught”. And arguing about “context” is a just poor attempt to “cover your ass”. We know what you said and when. So Cowboy Up!

Let me bring these two points together. I am tired of hearing that is country made this far by just “fucking up” and we have done nothing good. Without us “evil” would not exist in the world. And that is what is pissing Satan off. He was making “evil” a lot earlier than 1776. I know America can seem like a “goofy” place. And makes you wonder how we got to be #1. We are country where obesity is as much of porblem as anorexia. People complain about hunger but food is available on about every third or fourth street corner. There is no health care for people but when there is an emergency those who respond never ask first for an insurance card before trying to save your life. There is nothing but complaints of censorship going on but we now have over 500 channels on TV. I thought the idea of censorship was to limit outlets of information. You can get in most parts a free library card and read whatever you want. There is much more information being put forth than any time before in history. America has come to this point in history by “trial and error”. There has been good and bad times. The challenge of the “experiment of democracy” is that is not meant to be done by lazy people. The culture of America can probably be best explained by that little breaking and entry pest Goldilocks. She went into the bears’ house and everything was too big, too small, too hot, too cold, etc. It was hard for the pest to find something that was “just right” for her. The bears in my opinion should have come home ripped her into large, small, and just right pieces. Dunked those pieces in the porridge and then had a nap.

The worse part of this election year is how much will be spent on it. And people think that talk is cheap. The sad part is that it has less “value” to it for the amount of money. I know there is a huge debate over the costs of things in this country such as energy, health care and the war. And there should be. But no one is saying anything worth the campaign costs. And all the political parties are guilty.

I am not saying I have any answers. But it is strange for me. The more I write. The more questions I have been having. I am trying to figure out this world. So in looking for answers I am reading more than usual. To paraphrase Stephen King again. If you do not have the time to read, you do not have the tools to write. I read a book last week by Kevin Sites who was freelance journalist working for Yahoo.com’s Hot Zone and wrote the book In the Hot Zone based on the experience. He reported on 20 conflicts all around the world in the course of one year. It puts a face on the cost of war by putting a human face on it. It was an eye-opener. If you think the major media outlets are telling you everything that is going on then you are in for a rude awakening with this book. I still do not know why war and its violence is a course of action in this world. It may be necessary but there is a price to it too. I am not sure who said the following. Power is the most addictive drug there is in the world. I know there is a debate going on about the war in Iraq. There is a great debate on the costs and our involvement. And where and when it should be done. After reading this book I could not find one war that has a simple answer to it. And at the same time I cannot say we should never be involved either. The debate is we should never use our military to involve ourselves in the affairs of other countries. I just want to pose this one idea. When you give money to an organization that does work in another country then are you not engaging in some form of foreign policy? It is something to think about.

Another thing you may not think about. The story of a heavy metal band in Baghdad, Iraq. Ideas and practices do exist in place we would never think about.

Heroic Stories is another to check out if you are interested in “human potential”.

It is starting to become even more interesting to be a writer.

I am trying to figure out the “Meaning of Life”

And the state of relations