when he breathes, i can see his breath, which reminds me to try it myself. sure enough, i can see mine too.
i love late august in minnesota.
i don't know if it's supposed to be like this before the calendar turns to september, but i like it nonetheless. the only bad thing is the reminder that our all-too-short summer is coming to a quick end.
***
we had new carpet put in the house, which is why diggler and i are on the back deck. he hurt his foot a few days ago -- something cut one of his nails to the quick, so any sort of fast walking makes him bleed -- and i've not been able to take him to the vet until this afternoon, so he's had to live out in the garage. he's not quite sure what he did wrong to be punished like this, so i took some pity on him and brought out all the accoutrements of puppy life inside the house: big, comfy pillow; rawhide bone; and, of course, his dad.
the carpet looks awesome, and once i get my camera back from the cleaners (damn dirt on the sensor!) i'll put up some shots on flickr.
***
a few days ago i broke my self-imposed "please don't talk about politics" rule and threw up all over the keyboard ... one reader -- "PJ" -- wrote a very thoughtful comment, and instead of responding there, I thought I'd pull it out to the main page, so that all 10 readers of this humble blog could see it.
With that said, I think the underlying reason individuals in the "liberal" media like to lash out at this administration boils down to the incompetence they've shown in handling this war and the issues plaguing our country over the last 6 years. This is not a knee jerk response with little thought. History clearly shows that the U.S. has continually underestimated the insurgency in Irag (among other things). In 2003 our President stood on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in front of a massive banner that read "Mission Accomplished" to boast about our glorious victory in Iraq. The events of that whole day seem completely surreal considering we continue to have large numbers of troops on the ground even three years later with no end in sight. This one event blatantly shows the incompetence of not only the President, but also the people that surround him.
The aircraft carrier thing was silly, yes, but it was also designed for CNN and NBC and Fox News -- a thought-to-be-perfect backdrop to prove that major fighting in Iraq was over. I've never understood the people who take that event and turn it into "But ... but ... Bush said Iraq was done! And yet we're still there!"
Look at Bush's opening paragraph:
Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.
Regardless of what you think about the veracity of, and effort put toward, that last sentence, it's a bit of a stretch to claim that Bush was celebrating something that his words clearly show he wasn't celebrating.
And to put icing on the cake, the Middle East is now becoming increasingly unstable. Granted some of that isn't the fault of the U.S, but we've played a big role.
Thought experiment: Take the U.S. out of the Middle East totally, completely -- pretend both Iraq wars never happened, etc. Can you honestly say that the events we've seen over the past, say, five years wouldn't have happened in some way?
Gee. Arabs hate Jews. Arabs shoot at Jews. Yup -- sure sounds like we played a "big role" in that!
Sorry to be flip about it ... I think several good things happened from our actions in the region lately. The Lebanese getting Syria out of their country, and the first real democratic elections in Egypt, to name a few. Not every action can be considered totally a "good" thing or a "bad" thing, as nothing happens in a vacuum, of course.
I think American's have gotten tired of the constant "spin" that comes out of the White House and they want to see a president who is willing to converse and listen to people who aren't ultra conservative republicans. An example of this would be when he holds those town hall meetings and the guest list is virtually locked down so only supporters of the Republican Party can really ask questions to the President.
Clinton did the same thing -- which is not to fall back on the tired "But a Democrat does it!" defense, but merely to point out that that's what politics has become. It's a show, for cable TV news programs. Everything that every politician does is scripted, sculpted, tested, polled and choreographed. I agree that it leads to cynicism from voters, but I don't agree that this White House does it any worse than others have, or will do in the future.
There are also many large domestic issues that this administration hasn't done anything about, even though there has been a Republican majority in Congress for the last six years. We haven't seen any progress on Social Security, Healthcare, or Education. Instead they go round and round debating stem cell research, flag burning, and gay marriage in an effort to scare ignorant midwestern conservatives to vote for the Republican Party. The blame can be partly put on Democrats as well for not pushing and working with the Republicans on their initiatives so they can make some positive changes happen for our country.
Social Security: tied up in partisan gridlock
Healthcare: I think Bush gave a bunch of money to seniors a few years back
Education: No Child Left Behind
I'm not a fan of the solutions given for those last two, but I don't think we "haven't seen any progress" on those issues.
This is why I believe people are so willing to give knee jerk responses in the media today. We are all in a complete and utter state of disillusion about the way our government has acted over the last six years. Like it or not, the buck stops with the Republicans because they have been in the majority. Please don't take this response as me bashing the Republican Party either. I'm not saying all republicans are lunatics*, but it just seems like they aren't in tune with mainstream America right now. Instead, it seems like they are definitely leaning hard towards the right just to appeal to the safety of their base. While doing this, they are also making a conscious decision to turn a deaf ear on any good ideas or debates that come from the left.
They aren't in tune with mainstream America, and yet they won elections in 2000, 2002, 2004 and very well might win in 2006.
* Although, I’m pretty sure if you looked up lunatic in the dictionary there would be a picture of Ted Stevens.
I don't know -- my internet tubes are working just fine. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment