Category: Politics

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Thoughts regarding Sheriff Paul Babeu

When this first broke, I thought that I wasn’t going to comment on it. I changed my mind after watching this news conference.

On several of the blogs that I read, there have been really shocking and horrific comments made about the sheriff. The most venomous and unfair remarks I’ve read were from blogs that cater to the gay world. Even the comments in blogs of the religious right weren’t as hostile.

This left me wondering what about this man had generated such venom. So when I saw a link to this news conference if figured I’d have my morning coffee and see what this guy could possibly say that would generate so much anger from the gay community.

This is a long video. I like a lot of what this man says. Those items we disagree on… well nobody’s perfect!

Sheriff Paul Babeu Press Conference from Paul Babeu on Vimeo.

Several things struck me about this guy.

He strikes me as genuine.

He’s doing his best to hold it together during a very public exposure of his sexuality. He comes across as a very private person and having something as personal as your sexual behavior splattered across the world wide news machine has to be difficult. I give him credit for hanging in there.

Sheriff Babeu explains his life philosophy pretty well. He says he’s a man of duty, and that duty and honor are both at the top of his priorities even when duty and honor may result in personal difficulties. He points out that he’s never lied about being gay. From another published comment attributed to Sheriff Babeu, He’s also never worn being gay on his sleeve.

Sheriff Babeu explains why he contacted an attorney to represent him in a disagreement with Jose. One of the things that caught my attention later in the news conference is that Sheriff Babeu refused to discuss the particulars of the relationship. It’s hard to make out but I think one of the reporters off camera asks something about the length of time the relationship lasted and when it ended. Sheriff Babeu only responds, “prior to September” and goes no further.

The Sheriff states a couple of times that he’s a single man, and that he’s done nothing wrong or illegal in dating other adults. At one point the Sheriff tells someone in the crowd that the minute details of his personal life aren’t anyones business. The person in the crowd doesn’t like that answer but quiets down pretty quickly.

During the whole interview I saw nothing but a guy dealing with a tough situation with a commendable amount of grace under pressure. Hell, I’d vote for him.

Sheriff Babeu didn’t come across as a racist,  hatemonger, liar, or abuser of power. So I was still at a loss to understand why the gay community as represented on the mainstream gay blogs were so hateful in their comments about this guy.

Then the Sheriff addresses the allegation that he threatened to have Jose deported.

AH HA! Here we go, THE HOT BUTTON ISSUE! Immigration…

Because every gay person should be completely happy with, and supportive of illegal immigrants. (Even though a large percentage of them are devoutly Catholic and by church doctrine are opposed to gay rights)

Sheriff Babeu says that he didn’t threaten Jose with deportation, and goes on to say that to his knowledge Jose’s immigration status was the same as anyones.

The commenters on the gay blogs and some of the blog sites themselves have locked onto this single allegation and in one of the most  hypocritical twists of logic have tried, convicted, and condemned Sheriff Babeu without any evidence whatsoever.

How can the gay community demand justice, freedom, and equality while at the same time stomping all over those very principals?

Sheriff Babeu, is an example of both what is right … and wrong in this country.

Here’s a guy that just lives his life. He works, contributes, serves his country, serves, his community, dates, and has bad breakups. He’s no different than any of the rest of the people in this country. In fact he’s the ultimate guy next door.

Here’s whats wrong in this country.

By saying “I’m Gay”, somehow all the contributions this man has made are thrown into question. Many people, in politics, the media, and some in the communities he serves will now look at Sheriff Babeu differently and few, will even seek to limit his freedoms.

Is it any wonder at all that folks like the Sheriff work so hard to keep their private lives private?

Our society creates and reinforces an environment where your choices are;

Be gay, open, honest…. And stigmatized… In corporate America, You’ll never gain promotions, achieve anything of note, or move up the corporate ladder to success. In the political arena, with few exceptions you’ll have to be a Democrat, can’t be conservative, and will probably not be taken seriously and therefore your career will always be limited. OR Hide.

Given those options which would you choose?

I hope that Sheriff Babeu is a tough as nails. I think the next few weeks are going to be very hard on him.

I sincerely hope that his friends continue to rally around him and that he’s never lacking for support.

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And we wonder why we’re in the fix we’re in.

I admit, I’ve been interested in the Presidential campaign.

One of the saddest things that I’ve seen recently (Aside from the candidates) is the comment section below “News” articles.

These reader/viewer comments are often startling in their venom, illiteracy, and obvious incomprehension of the topic at hand.

I’m no English professor. I regularly screw up punctuation. Sometimes I even allow a misspelled word to end up in public view.

But when I read something like this:

“Mit romney half of you he can take you there because of his back ground as a business man… Ron paul on the other hand his convencing is believable”

I am startled.

When I see additional comments in the same article like those below I’m afraid.

we have all seen the prank with the walking whined up dentures you set them down and then they flip flop .. click clack and chatter all over the place both sounding and looking totality ridicious … well meet Willard … GOP Please … guys enough ….

 

yes Mitt You an outsider alright how many Americans can give their children one hundren million dollars. The only things that out with Mitt is He not wanting to pay his equal share of taxes. and not supporting His country by putting His money in off shore by dodgeing taxs Liar

These are comments supposedly from “average” citizens. Two of the three are from states where the average educational level of the population exceeds Baccalaureate. These are three of 7 comments from the same article about Mitt Romneys address to the CPAC.

The first one is striking because, aside from it’s incomprehensible message, the writer also misspelled Mitt. For goodness sakes, the mans name appears in print multiple times in the article and it’s in the freaking headline!

These people are voting… One wonders if they are voting based on what they READ and understand, or what the talking heads on the news channels are saying.

If these people are representative of American Voters… It’s no wonder we’ve got the mess in Washington that we do.

Truly, the internet is the great equalizer. It gives voice to all village idiots at once…

 

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Alright I’m not a big believer in conspiracies BUT this makes ya think.

I’ve always been  someone that treated conspiracy theories and theorists the same way that you’d treat a addled old aunt.

You know, you can invite the old dear to the family Thanksgiving just make damn sure that everyone else knows not to say a word about any knitted products. And absolutely NO-ONE is allowed to wear sweaters.

The whole family knows if you get the old bird talking about knitting that no-one will be able to enjoy Thanksgiving day football.

Why? because the old girl will shout louder than you can make the TV about pearl stitches and the inferior quality of anything made anywhere except her house. Then you’ll get her dissertation on the poor quality of the yarns available. Followed up by her fateful meeting with Joseph Marie Jacquard and what a bastard he was to her.

However, as  I mentioned several weeks ago. I was at a friends home and he suggested that perhaps some of the conspiracy theories about 9/11 held merit. My folks taught me that you should listen to everyone even those people that you believed were completely insane or that you disagreed with so much that all you wanted to do was beat some sense into them.

So, I watched the show that my friend suggested. Then I watched another, the second one was much better than the first in that there was what I’ll call a smoking gun.

As I’ve perused Netflix I’ve noticed other documentaries. Normally, I’d have passed these documentaries by as complete hokum and not even sullied my television with their pseduo-science.

Indeed, some of them are complete wastes of time. after about the 4th Dramatic swell of music to underscore a specious argument, I’m done!

You want some fun… Watch Ancient Aliens, in addition to the guy that looks like a character from Babylon 5 who I personally find hard to watch with anything like seriousness. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to take apart their “facts” and come to conclusions that don’t require alien visitation. I find myself watching the show because they mention really interesting archeological sites and finds, which I’ll go online and read about later…

Sometimes though, you stumble across things that really catch your attention.

The end of america header

In this category of attention grabbing, sphincter tightening, documentaries is one called;

The End of America

I’ve been wondering where the hell my country has gone for many years. I’d chalked my disconnected feelings up to dis-satisfaction with the changes that all countries and societies go through over time. You know, I’m getting older… I figured I was becoming my Grandfather waxing longingly about the way things were.

But then I realized the things that are concerning me are issues about what I was taught in school to be fundamental freedoms.

I’ve described myself as a constitutionalist conservative. When I say that, I mean that our constitutional freedoms are to be preserved at any and all costs, while at the same time government shouldn’t be up our asses all the time protecting us from … ourselves.

Freedom means that we’re allowed to make mistakes, we can choose to smoke, drink, fuck, or whatever else as long as in the exercise of your rights… you don’t infringe on mine.

So I’m for small, relatively un-intrusive government and completely equal rights & freedoms for everyone. Suspension or abridgment of any part of the constitution is a really big deal to me.

To date I thought I was alone in my concern that perhaps we as a country were standing on a slippery slope.

I thought that I was over-reacting to disparate events that I saw forming a disturbing pattern. (Yeah, I’m terrified of becoming one of those conspiracy theory nutjobs.)

Yet here is a documentary which isn’t about drama, or spooky music, or anything other than a lady named Naomi Wolf essentially giving a stand up talk about a book she wrote.

The points she makes are well made and can be documented. Whether the connections she makes between the points are valid is something that I don’t think we’ll be able to know until perhaps it’s simply too late to do anything about it.

I’m glad that she wrote the book, I’m glad I got a chance to see this documentary and It’s nice to know that perhaps I’m not one of the conspiracy nutjobs… just yet.

If you have the time, check out the documentary or the book. It’s worth while for you to evaluate and make your own decision especially in this election year.

I do wish that I’d never had that damn conversation with my friend in the first place. I’d have preferred to remain blissfully ignorant and uncurious…

NOT Really!

It’s being able to talk openly and honestly with my friends that has made me a much better person than I ever would have been if they weren’t in my life.

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Conspiracy Theories (Updated)

A very good friend of mine & I were discussing conspiracy theories in general over the weekend.

This conversation was taking place over a very nice bourbon after a pizza & beer.  One of the things that we touched on was the conspiracy theories surrounding large corporations, and our government.

He’d just seen a movie with a controversial take on the Twin Towers.  I need to sit down an watch the movie before I can really comment about it in great detail.

A “proof” the movie presented was that the Hijackers made really long turns in order to get their planes lined up for impact with the Twin Towers.

Since these guys were schooled in only the basics of single engine flight the question raised was how could they have controlled the planes which are complex marvels of technology.

My answer is; These planes are complex marvels of technology.

Yeah the hijackers weren’t trained pilots. They certainly had little if any knowledge of multi-turbine aircraft. So for me a more fundamental question is How did they even keep these beasties in the air?

Technology! The hijackers of 9/11 were aided and abetted by none other than the flight computers of the planes themselves.

Over the years since 9/11, attention has been paid to the perfection of the turn one of the planes made. I am not sure that turn is evidence of a conspiracy.

 It’s probably just evidence of a crazy jihadist radically yanking the yoke of a very smart plane and the flight systems computing that the requested maneuver wasn’t possible.

So the flight systems activated to counter an insanely impossible turn. The systems calculated a turn with as short a radius as possible and then executed that turn perfectly, ignoring the screaming moron who was sitting in the pilots seat at the time. That’s the beauty of fly by wire systems, computers cross check the pilot input.

The downside is that really skilled pilots trying to avoid a collision or other hazard have their input ignored too.

I’m not shooting down conspiracies or conspiracy theories. But I’m reminded time and again of Occam’s razor. Roughly stated, The simplest explanation is more often the correct one.

If in fact conspiracies abound, what is the end game?

If our government had planes fly into the Twin Towers and the towers were in fact rigged to explode, Why?

We had plenty of less dramatic excuses to invade various countries in the Middle East. There were a lot of bad people doing a lot of bad things… These bad people were carrying out attacks against our embassies and within the territories of our allies. An attack against an Embassy used to be considered an act of war. According to treaties with many of our allies, mutual defense against enemies is like… line 1 of the treaty.

So if we wanted to have a war in the Middle East we didn’t need the excuse provided by a bunch of morons flying planes into buildings. We could simply have started fielding troops and in all probability there would have been countries… our supposed allies condemning us for doing it… OH Wait!! They did…

IF we were after oil, we had every opportunity to just take it after we were in the Middle East. Honestly, I wish we had.

We’d already been yelled at by the UN. Lots of countries were calling us imperial expansionists and calling for sanctions against the evil American Empire.

We’d already paid the price for committing the “crime”, we might as well have plugged our sippy straw into the oil fields and kept pumping until we pulled up sand. But I’m not all that nice a person…

I think if in fact conspiracies are normal, then the end game isn’t 10, or 20 years out… I think you’re looking at timescales 30 years or more into the future. Oh sure there will be intermediate events in the shorter timeframe but those smaller events only lead to the big finale.

The President may have actually given us a clue about this broader system in his SOTU address.

For better than 20 years American corporations were given tax benefits FOR moving their operations offshore and simultaneously many of them were given incentives by the governments of the countries that they relocated their operations to. Can you say double dipping?

Now The President is calling for tax incentives for companies to return operations to this country. And he called for additional tax incentives for companies that set up their returning operations in the areas previously decimated by OffShoring. Extreme urban renewal? hummmmm?

Now we know a possible goal of the game. Corporations can increase profits for 20 years on the backs of the American Taxpayer and then when the parasitic load becomes too great… The corporations can return to America and be hailed as socially responsible American companies.

I’ve suggested for years that Out Sourcing is at best not good for our country, and at worst it was treason.

I’m not a big believer in conspiracies. I find it hard to believe that large groups of people can execute conspiracies without blabbing.

On the other hand…

Woodward and Bernstein had it absolutely right….

Follow the money!

———— Update —————

I just watched the movie my friend was talking about. Then I watched another one. I have to admit that the inconsistencies each of these programs asks about is interesting.

Damn! Now I’ll be wondering if  maybe conspiracy theorists have a point….

For me, the basic “Follow the Money” rule rings truer than ever.

Who gains what? What is the long term gain? These are questions that the second documentary asked and presented plausible explanations in answer to the question.

I think there should be a corollary to the “Follow the money” rule, if the money isn’t obvious… then follow the bodies.

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OK I wasn’t going to but I can’t help myself SOTU

I have to ask myself where has our President been for the past 3 years? Am I the only one that was sitting on my couch worrying about the power it takes for me to turn on the big screen who was saying DUH!?!?!

Being one of the unemployed The President was speaking of, energy consumption is a concern. But of even more concern was that our President seems to just now realize that Offshoring may be bad for economic growth. Again… DUH!

How completely disconnected is our government from We The People ?

For the first time in 3 years the President actually sounded Presidential 

Had our President acted this Presidential during the entirety for his presidency, I’d have a far different opinion of him.

Who was this man?

Why hasn’t he been around more?