This has been bugging me of late. I don't feel particularly naive. I understand that the corruption of our political system runs very very deep. But I can't understand how we allow politicians to get away with completely disregarding their own viewpoints. I'm pretty sure Jon Stewart is with me on this problem.
A particularly classy recent example swirled around John McCain stating in a speech (I believe to Congress, but i'm not positive) that he would be FOR repealing the "don't ask don't tell" law only if the leaders of our military, those who have the most direct knowledge on this subject, thought that it would be a good idea. But here's the thing. One of the reasons Johnny Boy didn't win the election was his lack of vision. John never thought that military leaders ("real men") would support a policy that was 'only' openly discriminant against "girlie men." What John did not realize is that these military men understand commitment, trust, and sacrifice more than most. And when the 3 or 4 heads of the military came to Congress and said that they could not, in good conscience, support a law that would ask soliders to risk their lives for a country that would not, in return, accept them as who they are.
So the military said "don't ask don't tell" should be repealed John, now is the time to lead. To be a man of your word. So what does John do? He criticizes the military men for feeling the way they do. He is "disappointed in them."
Ohhhhhh you're disappointed huh. But you're still going to support repealing the law right. I mean, because you said point blank that you would. So I assume . . . oh what? What now? Oh no, i see i see. Saying you criticize their decision should be taken as implicitly stating that you aren't going to keep your word. That seems fine. I mean, it's totally fine that you seem so safely grounded in a non-existant moral root-system.
I'm sorry John. That, I simply cannot abide.
(In a funny side-note, when I was searching for google images with the keywords "John McCain don't ask don't tell, the 4th picture was a turkey.)
And relatedly. As my home state of Massachusetts recovers from flooding, I can't help but think that the news is becoming more and more like the middle scene of some disaster-porn action movie. I mean, I've seen the White House blown up, burned, washed away--the Eiffel Tower disintegrated, bent, washed away--on and on and on. (I don't know what it is with film makers, but they seem to LOVE finding new ways to attack the existence of earth--one meteor, lots of little meteors, aliens, monster waves, earthquakes, earth core meltdowns--think about how many movies' plots intertwine with "destruction of the earth as we know it." Film makers, it's called therapy. You can get the anger out and you don't have to waste 10 mil. making Deep Impact). Anyways. In the middle of all of these films, little things start going wrong. Flooding. Fires. Earthquakes. Hurricanes. This sounding familiar? It's the friggin current NEWS.
I know that FOX "news" likes to go on air every cold day in summer and dispute global warming, but can we get anyone to point out that the world is actively showing damage? Anyone? Msnbc? It just seems like we are acting just like the people in the movies. Explaining away the signs after the fact. "Oh, the problem in New Orleans was the levies, not the hurricane." And when it gets worse, we'll have no one but ourselves to blame.
I officially love you now. The whole DADT debacle is becoming a huge embarrassment to the military. Now we have generals telling bald-faced lies to Congress in a desperate attempt to stop repeal (and causing an international brouhaha in the process--which is almost as serious as a hullabaloo, but not as fun to say) and openly defying the chain of command and disobeying direct orders from superiors. WTF happened to military *discipline*? Not to mention the fact that they are essentially arguing that enlisted corps of the US Armed Forces can invade foreign countries and defeat crazed terrorists but they just can't fend off the advances of a girlie man. Who knew I had such power? Am I, like, kryptonite to the Marines?
ReplyDeleteAnd on the climate change note (interesting juxtaposition of topics there, meadow muffin--if only the right wing would admit it's actually occurring, you can bet your overexposed hinderparts that they would be blaming the homos for *that,* too):
I've been tempted to make the same observations. Two massive deluges inside of a month, oddly fluctuating and unseasonal temperatures, record snowfall in the mid-Atlantic states--nope, no evidence of climate change there!
But as someone who doesn't actually know what the hell I'm talking about, I don't want to make the knee-jerk jump to attribute short-term regional weather patterns to global-scale climate shifting. That's the mistake the right-wingnuts always make (hey, it's snowing, so global warming is a crock!).