Political Memo

A memo to our elected officials…

•We’re sick of political parties and their bickering. They stop progress, steal time and money from us and generally waste our time.
•We’d like to really be free to vote for who we want in every stage of the election process, but that requires fixing the primary system. Right now you guys are missing out on potential support because of this.
•We wish you were all trustworthy, but have basically given up on this and now consider most of you to be crooks. Yup, we really don’t trust you guys (and gals) anymore. There are a very few exceptions to this. Very, very few.
•The fact that important legislation gets killed because some clown tacked on something irrelevant and possibly insane to it, makes all of us angry. It does not make us respect our legislators.
•It also makes us angry to know that you no longer work for us, your constituents, but for lobbyists and their overlords.
•We are not impressed when you choose a token concern with which to make your name when you really could care less about the cause and those who really do support it.
•It would be outstanding to see someone in office with a backbone who is willing to do the right thing instead of simply pushing everyone around.
•You might find it easier to sleep at night knowing you did the right thing instead of the same old thing as all the other people who have managed to get themselves elected to office.
•Being a complete weasel will always cost you more than you think. It will cost you more than votes, but then respect probably doesn’t matter to you anyway. We are not numbers, we are human beings. We have feelings, needs, desires and rights, just like our elected officials.
•A lot of us practice some sort of faith and believe in a higher power.
•We also believe in science and think it is a wonderful thing.
•We realize there are radicals on each side of every issue including religion and science. We are not these people, they are a minority and do not speak for most of us.
•We are not as stupid as you like to think we are.
•We pay attention more than you think we do.
•Try to occasionally think about what the American people actually care about. It could lead to periodic epiphany and more success in your political career.
•If you do the right thing we WILL support you, no matter what the media have to say about it.

AOL/XM Radio XM Cafe is playing: I Don’t Need No Doctor from “That’s What I Say: John Scofield Plays the Music of Ray Charles” by John Scofield (with John Mayer)

Words Will Hurt You After All

As of last night, Cynthia McKinney has joined the long list of Georgia politicians who have been booted from office for not understanding that opening their mouths is damaging to their political careers. McKinney, as is so often the case with politicians, is a polarizing individual. You either supported her right to march around in the press spouting unrestrained rhetoric or you wished she would go away before doing any more damage to the image of the state.

The Bible has the following important tip regarding the tongue: “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.” – Proverbs 21:23

Now if only I can remember this and keep my mouth shut more.

iTunes is playing: Now I Get It from the album “Wherever You Are” by Neil Finn

Mel Gibson and Israel

So, Mel Gibson has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. Not only that, but he has been accused of saying some unkind things about people of Jewish descent during the arrest. He has since issued a public apology and has asked to meet with Jewish leaders to apologize for his remarks. Of course he is being vilified in the press and now his planned miniseries about the Holocaust has been canceled by ABC.

There are many tragedies in this story; the obvious ones are the impact to his career, which will survive, and his family, who are probably more disappointed than anything else, but what about the loss of the miniseries that has been shelved by ABC. There is no doubt that the Holocaust story needs to be told and retold, because people seem to continually and intentionally want to forget that it happened. Consequently the loss of this reminder of our humanity and it’s often deadly failings could be the greatest loss from this incident.

This seems particularly poignant right now with Israel blowing Lebanon apart while hunting Hezzbolah, a radical group who has vowed to destroy Israel and the Jewish people. So Mel Gibson is anti-semetic for being an idiot while intoxicated and Hezzbolah is what? Misunderstood? What choice is Israel ever given in these matters? It always seems a choice of existence or oblivion for them.

AOL/XM Radio is playing: They’re On To Me from the album “Someone To Tell” by Ari Hest