I don’t blog politics

Mainly because there are a grillion bloggers out there who do and, frankly, who’ll do a better job. I just don’t have the time to stay as updated on the issues and updates to write in such a way that would really do anything new or different. If you want some good coverage (better than that on CNN, MSNBC, FOX), head to Jack & Jill, Black Snob, Ta-Nehisi, Post Bourgie or some others scattered in my blog roll.

I will just jot down a few thoughts on the “issues”:

Taxes: I know we’re in a “financial crisis” or whatever. Still, and I’ve always felt this way, I am not all anti-taxation. I believe we need MORE taxes. Americans are so afraid of being taxed. I get it, ya know. When I was working I didn’t like seeing that money coming out of my check. I don’t like to pay local tax, state tax, federal tax. Tolls all up and thru the northeast. Tax on goods. We work hard for our money and guard it dearly. I get it. But as much as I like to hold on to ALL of my money, I realize that taxes go toward the greater good. We are so selfish in this country and I attribute that to our sense of independence and the idea that you take care of yourself and your family, that’s it. In other countries, they put more money into the pot and everyone benefits. I know I’m willing to give more if more of us will benefit as opposed to keeping more of my own money where only I benefit. I don’t think there will be any change in people’s feelings toward this. You get to talking about social programs and more taxation and people will accuse you of being a socialist or a *gasp* communist. Sarah Palin said that taxes are not patriotic. She’s a nitwit.

Abortion: I am so pro-choice it’s not even funny. No doubt about it. The real sticking point with abortion seems to be religion. I am not a religious person, so when I think about abortion, I do not think about sin, hell, God, the Ten Commandments, the Bible, nada. I think about what’s REALITY and what makes the most common sense. It is a reality that people are having sex outside of marriage. Babies are being conceived, sometimes in the presence of “protection” (condoms, hormonal birth control, etc). Many concerns and situations come into play when it comes time to decide whether to have a baby. Health reasons, financial, emotional, family structure, etc. Sometimes, it’s better for all involved to NOT bring a pregnancy to term. As the person who will have to carry the baby and, oftentimes be the primary caretaker, a woman should have a say as to whether she has the child. In some circumstances, having the baby could lead to more trouble than not. The folks who oppose abortion often oppose the social programs that would help the families who chose to bring unwanted pregnancies to term. I definitely think personal responsibility is important and we should focus on sex education and pregnancy prevention. When the child is conceived, however, a choice must be made. I have been faced with that choice and while it was never easy, it was necessary. Furthermore, I hate the term “pro-life.” It almost makes you think that the other side is “pro-death.” I am not pro-death. I am pro-choice for myself and everyone. I’m even pro-your choice to NOT have an abortion. I don’t understand why people can’t just make these personal decisions for themselves.

Iraq: Why the fuck are we still there? What are we doing? Rebuilding? Rebuilding what? Why? What’s this talk about “retreat from Iraq would be defeat”? Defeat? We didn’t even have anyone to FIGHT over there, so what’s this defeat? What’s this talk of equating a pull out to “surrender” in Iraq? Surrender to WHOM? The real reason that the Bush Administration (and now McCain/Palin) doesn’t want to withdraw from Iraq is because it will show how pointless it was to be there in the first place. Nobody really wants to believe that because of all of the lives lost and money spent on that bullshit. If I was president, I probably wouldn’t want to own up to the biggest Oops in American political history either. Why are we spending so much time in Iraq? If we want to be up in another country’s business so badly, we can go to Sudan and handle that genocide issue! Is this about terrorism? Nah, or else we’d have gone after bin Laden, right? Is this about oil? Nah, or else we would still be able to gas up our Hummer, Hummers © M.I.A. This Iraq shit is starting to smell like colonialism.

Gay Marriage: Dude, let it happen. What’s the big deal? No, really. What’s the big deal? I care as much about gay people getting married as I do about straight people getting married; Not much. I do not believe that gay people marrying will in any way undermine my marriage. Marriage is not a purely religious thing, it’s a legal thing. Gay people should have access to the same legal benefits as straight couples. Those folks waving the “sanctity of marriage” flag should sit down and give their arms a rest because the sanctity of marriage has been in big trouble for a long time. Divorce, infidelity, sham marriages, marriages of convenience. Come on! Let the churches say they do not condone gay marriage and I can’t say shit. For the government to cosign, though, is ridiculous. Gay people should still be able to be married by churches who embrace them (like Unitarian) or by a justice of the peace type person. It’s a civil rights issue in my opinion. These people pay taxes like straight people (even more in a lot of cases). How dare the feds continue to ostracize them and disrespect their love?!

Healthcare: I’ve lived the majority of my life without health insurance. I’ve spent more of my 26 years uninsured than insured. You learn a lot that way, mainly how not to get sick or, if you do get sick, how to wait it out and go to the emergency room only if you’re eyeball is hanging out from your skull. You also learn that we have a shitty healthcare system, too shitty for a country such as America. How come other comparable nations have way better healthcare? Probably because they’re willing to pay more taxes for it. It’s disgusting how many people here go without basic fucking medical care. It’s unfair and I think it’s totally contradictory to the idea of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There’s really no argument AGAINST healthcare, just the way it’s delivered I guess.

Energy: I see why, a long time ago, folks thought it was okay to use oil as an energy source. It was pretty abundant and fairly easy to get. Oil power helped grow our country and that’s cool. Slave labor helped grow our country too, but we don’t still use that (except in prisons and overseas in sweatshops, but whatev). Nowadays, it’s clear to see that oil is not a renewable source and as such, it will RUN OUT. Even before it runs out, the shit is getting low and it’s super expensive. Unfortunately, there is still a small group of people making bank off of oil and those people happen to be friends with the POTUS! We know there are other sources of energy to be used: wind, solar, water/STEAM (hey, they powered boats n trains n shit with it). There are even some “new” forms like corn and recycled french-fry grease! We should definitely look into ways we can utilize these alternative forms of energy, particularly by incentivizing industries to invest in our environment’s future. Humans just use and use. It makes no sense. I think continued reliance on oil is just stupid and merely a way to pad the pockets of a select group of people.

Ok, ok. That’s about all the political ranting I can take. By the way… Palin still sucked on the debate. They’re saying she held her own. Well, I’d expect that after they prepped her and coached her right on up to Thursday night. With her preference for large flashcards, I’m sure she studied for the debate like I used to study for my AP Bio class. That, or she read all of the world’s newspapers like she usually does.