Do you ever feel like you're back in grammar school and the candidates for school president are promising you hot and cold running chocolate in the water fountains if you'll vote for them?
'Hot and cold running tax cuts in a globally tanking economy. Just vote for me.'
Yeppirs.
Showing posts with label Integrity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Integrity. Show all posts
16 October 2008
03 October 2008
An Intimidating Woman, Part II
I just started writing this little blog with a laudatory sentence about Governor Sarah Palin. Then, almost without thinking, I backspaced right over it. Why, I immediately asked myself, did I do that?
The answer is frightening.
I have been so barraged by vituperative attacks on this Alaskan--both in person and by email--that my own self-defense mechanism shot unbidden from my brain to my fingers before I had a conscious chance to weigh in on its advisability.
Well, pardon me, brain. I'm short-circuiting that little foray right here and now. And I'm going to say it loud and clear.
Last night, Governor Palin was a credit to herself, her family, her state, her country.
She conducted herself with dignity, wit, intelligence, humor, and grit. We could have expected all those admirable qualities in Senator Clinton, had she not been unfairly deprived of the chance to be behind the presidential candidate podium. Instead, we have another woman--one with whom Hillary Clinton has little in common. In fact, only one major thing: gender.
And that's enough to link them inextricably. You see, they're just TOO. Senator Clinton was too hard, too experienced, too loud, too connected, too intelligent, and how dare she tear up...! Governor Palin is too folksy, too inexperienced, too friendly, too conservative, too likable, too family-y, and how dare she smile engagingly and say something witty and pithy...!
Are you getting my sad parallel here? In the space of less than a year, we've been treated to two of the most riveting individuals the feminine gender has to offer in the world of American politics. And, let me put it bluntly:
There is nothing they can do right.
Today I read that the most touching moment last night was when Senator Biden teared up. Senator Clinton was crucified for the same thing.
And Governor Palin? She hasn't had the temerity to show her emotions. All she's done is speak, act, and behave like herself. This is how a 44-year-old woman democrat describes the governor's debate performance: “I still don’t like that pandering to the folksiness: the winking, the dropping the Gs, the shout-outs to third graders. She didn’t completely bomb, but politically, I’m so opposite of what she stands for.”
And the way she talks, of course, is what she stands for.
Right.
Funny thing. I can't recall the particulars of Biden's, McCain's, Obama's, Bush's, Carter's, Reagan's, ad nauseum, cadence of speech, indulgence in winks, or their propensity to mention anyone they knew during debates...a shout-out sort of thing. I wonder how we ever figured out what they stood for.
So here's a shout-out to you, Governor Palin, and you, Senator Clinton, and you, women of America...
Fight on. Lead with your intelligence. Stick to who you are and what you believe. And always remember what one of Jane Austen's heroines said...I live by it....
'My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.'
The answer is frightening.
I have been so barraged by vituperative attacks on this Alaskan--both in person and by email--that my own self-defense mechanism shot unbidden from my brain to my fingers before I had a conscious chance to weigh in on its advisability.
Well, pardon me, brain. I'm short-circuiting that little foray right here and now. And I'm going to say it loud and clear.
Last night, Governor Palin was a credit to herself, her family, her state, her country.
She conducted herself with dignity, wit, intelligence, humor, and grit. We could have expected all those admirable qualities in Senator Clinton, had she not been unfairly deprived of the chance to be behind the presidential candidate podium. Instead, we have another woman--one with whom Hillary Clinton has little in common. In fact, only one major thing: gender.
And that's enough to link them inextricably. You see, they're just TOO. Senator Clinton was too hard, too experienced, too loud, too connected, too intelligent, and how dare she tear up...! Governor Palin is too folksy, too inexperienced, too friendly, too conservative, too likable, too family-y, and how dare she smile engagingly and say something witty and pithy...!
Are you getting my sad parallel here? In the space of less than a year, we've been treated to two of the most riveting individuals the feminine gender has to offer in the world of American politics. And, let me put it bluntly:
There is nothing they can do right.
Today I read that the most touching moment last night was when Senator Biden teared up. Senator Clinton was crucified for the same thing.
And Governor Palin? She hasn't had the temerity to show her emotions. All she's done is speak, act, and behave like herself. This is how a 44-year-old woman democrat describes the governor's debate performance: “I still don’t like that pandering to the folksiness: the winking, the dropping the Gs, the shout-outs to third graders. She didn’t completely bomb, but politically, I’m so opposite of what she stands for.”
And the way she talks, of course, is what she stands for.
Right.
Funny thing. I can't recall the particulars of Biden's, McCain's, Obama's, Bush's, Carter's, Reagan's, ad nauseum, cadence of speech, indulgence in winks, or their propensity to mention anyone they knew during debates...a shout-out sort of thing. I wonder how we ever figured out what they stood for.
So here's a shout-out to you, Governor Palin, and you, Senator Clinton, and you, women of America...
Fight on. Lead with your intelligence. Stick to who you are and what you believe. And always remember what one of Jane Austen's heroines said...I live by it....
'My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.'
22 September 2008
Letters of Hope and Futility
Dear readers,
Please check out another excellent post about our economic woes at Blue Lyon, http://bluelyon.wordpress.com/
Signed,
Fiery Side
Dear neighbor,
Take heart. I'm writing to some people who can still help you.
Signed,
Cathylee
Dear democrats in power,
After all the betrayal you--Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and all the rest of the congressional democrats--have inflicted on us, I'm sitting here, willing you to do the right thing. Climbing on board one last time to hope there's a shred of decency in our REPRESENTATIVES.
Finally, at long last, prove me right, democrats. Convince me that I haven't been a proud Democrat all these years of my life for nothing. After validating the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, the bankruptcy bill, the Supreme Court justices, THE IRAQ OCCUPATION--just to name a few--give us something to believe in again.
Don't let Paulson put the CEOs and Wall Street in the lifeboats.
Put Americans back in their homes, instead.
Start with my neighbor, could you please? He's about 60, disabled, and spends his days drinking in order to forget he's got only a short time left to spend in the house he bought a couple of decades ago. Maybe you could just save his garage for him. It's filled with a lifetime of tools, machines, and stuff he's collected. It's all that really matters to him.
Try this, democrats: put a face on your actions. Make them real. Think of my neighbor.
For once, after all these years of rolling over, backing off, and, in the case of the democratic nomination, lying and cheating--for once and finally, DO THE RIGHT THING.
Now. Please.
Signed,
The Woman Who Lives Next Door To Another Soon-To-Be-Homeless-Person
Please check out another excellent post about our economic woes at Blue Lyon, http://bluelyon.wordpress.com/
Signed,
Fiery Side
Dear neighbor,
Take heart. I'm writing to some people who can still help you.
Signed,
Cathylee
Dear democrats in power,
After all the betrayal you--Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and all the rest of the congressional democrats--have inflicted on us, I'm sitting here, willing you to do the right thing. Climbing on board one last time to hope there's a shred of decency in our REPRESENTATIVES.
Finally, at long last, prove me right, democrats. Convince me that I haven't been a proud Democrat all these years of my life for nothing. After validating the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, the bankruptcy bill, the Supreme Court justices, THE IRAQ OCCUPATION--just to name a few--give us something to believe in again.
Don't let Paulson put the CEOs and Wall Street in the lifeboats.
Put Americans back in their homes, instead.
Start with my neighbor, could you please? He's about 60, disabled, and spends his days drinking in order to forget he's got only a short time left to spend in the house he bought a couple of decades ago. Maybe you could just save his garage for him. It's filled with a lifetime of tools, machines, and stuff he's collected. It's all that really matters to him.
Try this, democrats: put a face on your actions. Make them real. Think of my neighbor.
For once, after all these years of rolling over, backing off, and, in the case of the democratic nomination, lying and cheating--for once and finally, DO THE RIGHT THING.
Now. Please.
Signed,
The Woman Who Lives Next Door To Another Soon-To-Be-Homeless-Person
28 August 2008
What Really Awaits You If You Vote For McCain
Let's tackle this incendiary question of a vote for McCain.
The democrats are painting such a vote as one for Lucifer himself. Heck, they're prophesying the end of civilization as we know it. Surely, if McCain is elected president, heaven and earth will tremble in the final throes of a decimation begun almost a decade ago and all we hold dear will finally disappear....poof!
Poppycock.
First of all, we still have three branches of government. The next president is not the be all and end all of our republic. A president can do a lot of damage—witness Bush—but Bush couldn't have wrought a tenth of his misery without the overwhelming, sycophantic aid of Congress.
And McCain won't be able to do so, either. Not if we have a decent Congress. THAT is where all the hoopla and pleas and threats should be focused. Why is it continually lost on the populace that we have THREE branches? That they do a sort of wobbly balancing act? That it is critical to vote in senators and representatives to whom integrity is integral? Instead of the attention draped ad nauseum over the presidential election, what if we heard from each of the individuals running for almost 470 seats this election? Imagine the downright democracy that would flow from that.
Secondly, McCain is not Bush. No matter how vehemently the democrats want you to believe that. (I fervently hope NO ONE is EVER like Bush. This man is one sorry ass mistake of the human race.) Nor is McCain propped up on all sides by the likes of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Rice, Mukasey, and Ridge. (Perhaps he'd offer an array worse than that, but I can't imagine anything quite so horrifying.)
Before I continue, let me set one thing very straight here. I don't like McCain. I don't agree with him on most things and I really disagree with his war stance. I don't even know if I'd call him an honorable man, though he was unquestionably an honorable soldier.
(Aside: I was shocked and infuriated yesterday when I heard Mike Malloy on Air America rip into McCain. He said, 'yes, he was a POW but did you also know he was rat? Yeah, he ratted out everyone including his mother'. Then Malloy launched into a grammar school attack on physical McCain, 'he has cancer on his face and he can't raise those useless little arms...' All I can say is, better useless arms than a hateful, awful soul, Mr. Malloy.)
But the question is whether McCain is Bush, and all that entails. And I do not believe that to be so. For many reasons. But that's another blog, perhaps.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the Democratic Party is mincemeat. Funny, all the prognosticators claimed the Republican Party was slowly expiring, having reached its apex and squandered it. But from where I sit, I can barely hear the heart of the Democratic Party.
It started fluttering in 2007 when the dems voted more money to kill people in Iraq. It went into respiratory jolts each time the democrats demurred from doing anything to stop the Bush Humvee obliteration of rights, lives, joys. But it checked into the cardiac ward in January 2008. That's when it became apparent that our party, the one we've worn like a badge next to our kids' pictures, had already decreed the presidential nominee. Everyone else was dirt.
We didn't know it, though. We all thought we were still in a game with rules and sidelines and goals and cheering sections. But as the game went on, slowly, many of us started to realize our voices were being silenced. The fix was already in. Dorky us.
The party we'd loved had moved on without us. At least all of us who didn't jump on the designated nominee bandwagon. Not only were we cast aside, but all the rules and regulations and cheering sections were jettisoned, too (I miss those cheering sections! It was a good thing being a part of a party that was going to fix the world, instead of using and misusing it...)
So, back to my point. Our party is mincemeat. And as a particularly astute commenter on my blog pointed out, if John McCain wins this year, we can 'ensure that the current Democratic party dies, and along with it all those who took our democratic system and flushed it away'.
That about says it all.
Getting pretty dark here. It will be at its darkest when I vote for McCain. That'll be just before the dawn.
The democrats are painting such a vote as one for Lucifer himself. Heck, they're prophesying the end of civilization as we know it. Surely, if McCain is elected president, heaven and earth will tremble in the final throes of a decimation begun almost a decade ago and all we hold dear will finally disappear....poof!
Poppycock.
First of all, we still have three branches of government. The next president is not the be all and end all of our republic. A president can do a lot of damage—witness Bush—but Bush couldn't have wrought a tenth of his misery without the overwhelming, sycophantic aid of Congress.
And McCain won't be able to do so, either. Not if we have a decent Congress. THAT is where all the hoopla and pleas and threats should be focused. Why is it continually lost on the populace that we have THREE branches? That they do a sort of wobbly balancing act? That it is critical to vote in senators and representatives to whom integrity is integral? Instead of the attention draped ad nauseum over the presidential election, what if we heard from each of the individuals running for almost 470 seats this election? Imagine the downright democracy that would flow from that.
Secondly, McCain is not Bush. No matter how vehemently the democrats want you to believe that. (I fervently hope NO ONE is EVER like Bush. This man is one sorry ass mistake of the human race.) Nor is McCain propped up on all sides by the likes of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Rice, Mukasey, and Ridge. (Perhaps he'd offer an array worse than that, but I can't imagine anything quite so horrifying.)
Before I continue, let me set one thing very straight here. I don't like McCain. I don't agree with him on most things and I really disagree with his war stance. I don't even know if I'd call him an honorable man, though he was unquestionably an honorable soldier.
(Aside: I was shocked and infuriated yesterday when I heard Mike Malloy on Air America rip into McCain. He said, 'yes, he was a POW but did you also know he was rat? Yeah, he ratted out everyone including his mother'. Then Malloy launched into a grammar school attack on physical McCain, 'he has cancer on his face and he can't raise those useless little arms...' All I can say is, better useless arms than a hateful, awful soul, Mr. Malloy.)
But the question is whether McCain is Bush, and all that entails. And I do not believe that to be so. For many reasons. But that's another blog, perhaps.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the Democratic Party is mincemeat. Funny, all the prognosticators claimed the Republican Party was slowly expiring, having reached its apex and squandered it. But from where I sit, I can barely hear the heart of the Democratic Party.
It started fluttering in 2007 when the dems voted more money to kill people in Iraq. It went into respiratory jolts each time the democrats demurred from doing anything to stop the Bush Humvee obliteration of rights, lives, joys. But it checked into the cardiac ward in January 2008. That's when it became apparent that our party, the one we've worn like a badge next to our kids' pictures, had already decreed the presidential nominee. Everyone else was dirt.
We didn't know it, though. We all thought we were still in a game with rules and sidelines and goals and cheering sections. But as the game went on, slowly, many of us started to realize our voices were being silenced. The fix was already in. Dorky us.
The party we'd loved had moved on without us. At least all of us who didn't jump on the designated nominee bandwagon. Not only were we cast aside, but all the rules and regulations and cheering sections were jettisoned, too (I miss those cheering sections! It was a good thing being a part of a party that was going to fix the world, instead of using and misusing it...)
So, back to my point. Our party is mincemeat. And as a particularly astute commenter on my blog pointed out, if John McCain wins this year, we can 'ensure that the current Democratic party dies, and along with it all those who took our democratic system and flushed it away'.
That about says it all.
Getting pretty dark here. It will be at its darkest when I vote for McCain. That'll be just before the dawn.
21 July 2008
Euphemisms, Lies, and Leaders
Voilà, a sampling of rhetoric to gloss over Senator Obama's crafty, calculated, and utterly impolitic MOVE TO THE CENTER.
'The conversation is rising about what the left should properly do when the presumptive nominee appears to emphasize his moderate side...'
'Senator Obama is a nuanced, sophisticated speaker.'
'He's a good politician. He's doing all he can to make sure people know he would govern as a post-partisan moderate.'
'He’s being proactive by taking centrist stances on issues that are important to a lot of people in this country...Obama is doing what he has to do in order to win.'
What tripe.
I'm getting downright fatigued with the unscrupulous manipulation of language to disguise actions by politicians that are entirely self-serving and ineffably stupid.
Let's just speak plainly. The Senator from Illinois has lied. Either he lied when he laid out his stances on public campaign financing, wiretapping, the death penalty, free trade, diplomacy, immunity for telecoms, handguns, the 'surge', and more---or he's lying now.
I have two problems with that.
1.How am I to impress on my teenagers the dishonor brought to their lives by lying when our would-be leaders spew lies like stock in trade?
2.How can I vote for someone who lies, bold-faced and with impunity?
There's another thing I teach my children: when you compete in any venue, do it with honor. Win, but win with honor. Without it, any win will be empty and will do justice to no one. Witness the 'win' to which we've been subjected these last, long eight years. We are all the poorer, even those with lots more in the bank.
Is it too much to ask that our leaders possess an iota of integrity?
Can we not have a win with even the outward perception of honor?
'The conversation is rising about what the left should properly do when the presumptive nominee appears to emphasize his moderate side...'
'Senator Obama is a nuanced, sophisticated speaker.'
'He's a good politician. He's doing all he can to make sure people know he would govern as a post-partisan moderate.'
'He’s being proactive by taking centrist stances on issues that are important to a lot of people in this country...Obama is doing what he has to do in order to win.'
What tripe.
I'm getting downright fatigued with the unscrupulous manipulation of language to disguise actions by politicians that are entirely self-serving and ineffably stupid.
Let's just speak plainly. The Senator from Illinois has lied. Either he lied when he laid out his stances on public campaign financing, wiretapping, the death penalty, free trade, diplomacy, immunity for telecoms, handguns, the 'surge', and more---or he's lying now.
I have two problems with that.
1.How am I to impress on my teenagers the dishonor brought to their lives by lying when our would-be leaders spew lies like stock in trade?
2.How can I vote for someone who lies, bold-faced and with impunity?
There's another thing I teach my children: when you compete in any venue, do it with honor. Win, but win with honor. Without it, any win will be empty and will do justice to no one. Witness the 'win' to which we've been subjected these last, long eight years. We are all the poorer, even those with lots more in the bank.
Is it too much to ask that our leaders possess an iota of integrity?
Can we not have a win with even the outward perception of honor?
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