A Nation of Purple

Ive been catching up on some of my politics as distasteful as it may be - but necessary to not be one of the sheeple. And distasteful it is when you hear some questions these candidates pander to and agree with. The one that prompted this latest posting was from one participant in a town hall who spoke of the "anger the average European Christian, native-born American feels when they see their country turning into a multicultural chaos Tower of Babel."
WOW! People believe that this is their nation? A European Christian nation? What about the Native Americans who were here before us? All the African Americans that were FORCIBLY brought here by all those "European Christians"? The Asians (and Irish) upon whose this nations railroads were built by? All the Hispanics we annexed (& bought) from Spain via Texas, California, New Mexico & Arizona? All the Creole people who make Louisiana such a unique State? The Inuit? etc. et. al......

We are lucky that sometimes the candidates sometimes have common sense and this particular questioner was quickly silenced by Mr. McCain with as sound "(he was) grateful to live in a nation that has been enriched by people coming to our nation from around the world." Can we get a great big Howard Dean "YEEEEHAAAAAH!" for standing up to that idiot and not pander! We are a not a nation made up of red states, blue states - but a combination of much more - both together and so much more - A nation of purple with a hue of every color in there!

So thus I continue to go about the ardours duty of going through each of the candidates stances on the issues, or lack thereof - as many just have blurbs with no real policy or details behind them. And yes, this is for both parties as unfortunately no one else has signed onto the WHIG party.
My ranking of the candidates on the issues is below - with one candidate on each side getting a slight boost due to some aspect that makes him stand out (personality and other intangibles)

Reps: 1- Huckabee; 2- McCain; 3- Guliani; 4- Hunter; 5- Romney; 6- Paul; 7- Thompson; 8- Tancredo
Dems- 1- Richardson; 2- Obama; 3- Gravel; 4- Biden; 5- Kucinich; 6- Edwards; 7- Clinton

My rankings on both sides actually came as a surprise, mind you I don't agree with all the issues of my top picks, and it was semi unscientific using this: http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm and of course the candidates sites themselves.

OK now onto the scary part: In one of the latest Defense bills passed I discovered this passage in the Defense Appropriation Act for Fiscal Year 2007 ; H.R. 5122 [109th Congress]:

Subtitle E - Defense Against Terrorism and Related Security Matters Section 1042 -
"Revises federal provisions allowing the President to utilize the Armed Forces in connection with interference with federal and state law to allow the President to employ the Armed Forces and National Guard in federal service to restore public order in cases of natural disaster, epidemic or other public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or domestic violence. "

WAIT!!!!!!!! This - if I understand it correctly (and I do) effectively makes the Posse Comitatus Act invalid!!! I'm fed up at this point at the growing powers of the Executive Branch - where is the backbone of Congress? Our voice - our freedoms don't mean a thing if we elect people who are just going to go with the flow and be walked all over. OK I'm not trying to sound all Conspiracy theory and all, but still its too much of a trend, the politics of fear are some of the worst ever..... (minor update: This is even better explained under the Insurrection Act of 1807 entry)


All I can think of is a quote by one of our founding fathers :


They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. — Benjamin Franklin

The Massing of the Sheeples... or not.

New Term for the following year: Sheeples.

Origin: mash up of Sheep and people

Definition: The masses of people who just follow because they are too engrossed in thier own lives and have no time to care (about our liberties, our country, etc.)

Ok so were all tired of listening about the presidential canidates, and we all have our favorites .... or not at all.

My Opinion - The system is broke - we have to major power brokers putting up 2 sets of opinions and nothing else. The sheep see two paths, and fail to see the other option - blazing a new path. I mean even when herding sheep there are certain some that decide to go astray.

So the powers that control the two ideologies - much like the sheperds or cowboys, go off and round up these unique thinkers and pen them up, thus ensuring we dont develop new ideas. And this happens in both parties.

I'm sick of it - sick of it all. Really I do believe the Brits are on to something - elections are called and you have 60 days to campaign... simple. We need to stop sending our canidates out looking for money - or just have every canidate run for Both parties primaries, like ... Stephen Colbert!

Yes as many of you know he announced his (mock) Canidacy. Thats awesome - now if he were really electable that would be even better! but how brilliant is the idea of no parties and just general primaries. Even better is the idea of no fundraising, canidates all get the same amount of money. Running a campaign is no longer a business (as it is now), everyone has an even platform to present thier views. Yeah it will never work out...

But who knows. As Ray says - we need to reform the Whig Party. So far there are 2 of us, who else is in??

Addendum to Summer

1- Saw two genuine musical legends - the incredible Elvis Costello & the enigmatic Bob Dylan

2- Sally finally let loose some steam after all those summer trips. Than goodness it happened near a friends house and Darren & George helped me out in getting her back up and running for $20 bucks! Replacing a busted upper radiator coolant hose is simple work after all. (If you don't know by now - that's Sally pictured below after OBX, dont blame me for the name - My niece Alexia named her)


3- Finally watched my first Football Game of the season. Damm do the Dolphins SUCK!! ok I'm still giving Cam Cameron time to turn the team around - but come on boys - you let thata busted up Daunte Culpepper - whom we let go - score 3 TD's Running the ball in HIMSELF, and another 2 passing TD's??? Talk about embarrassment!

4- RAY knows how to cook !! My GAWD!!

5- Dave C. knows how to brew beer and have FUN!!! cant wait for that batch to be ready!

Yep that covers the last week of summer.....

For the Record :

Vacations suck....

No not the vacations themselves, but more because when you come back, unless you have one of those jobs which is FUN to you and that you look forward to every morning (Of which I dont have) then you realize you were in paraside of one sort or another and you have to come back to real life.

But generally I find myself just finally relaxing and destressing by the time I need to go. (note to self - take 2 weeks Vacay from now on). Then you come back to the daily grind - i.e. the zombie factory. Uplifting isnt it??

Well seriously, I did have a great time while I was at the beach..... just coming back.... sucks....

Folklife Can't Really Suck this Much Can It?

Ray and me went two weeks ago to the Folklife festival.... My Gawd!! Who thought of the lineup of Virginia for this thing?? If you want to see Virginia , go 10 minute South!! Or get this - The CALL CENTERS or Ireland!!!! Brilliant Geniuses! Even the Mekong River Area was annoying... Puppet theaters with no shows, and a Tea House with no Tea......

Thank goodness that friends make an outing fun, yes despite it all we had fun, mostly because we made it ourselves..... plus I actually managed to not crack my head open on a bike ride with Ray...... NEAT!!!

Here are more pics that Ray took