but, read to the end of this. Cousin Tom is going to jump all over me, but he'd better not call me a liberal. You know, if you've been following this blog that I have no use for Obama, Biden or Hillary Clinton. The latter two go way back with me.
The banning of books (of course) bothers me. A library is a repository of ideas, stories, history, thoughts. We need access to every book ever written; it will only make "us" stronger. Apparent grudge matches bother me. There is not doubt that we need to utilize our vast supplies of energy, but we can do it smart or we can do it stupid. I'd like to think we can be smart AND ecologically savvy.
Anne Kilkenny's letter about Palin which has become viral, is here:
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate
I can handle a firearm. I can use a pistol, a shotgun or a rifle, and I'm not anti-hunting. My preference is shooting paper. I choose to hunt with a camera, but if the day comes when I need to feed my family, I'll be in the forest, deer hunting (and I think I could field dress game as well). I believe that everyone be taught, who wants to be taught, to handle a weapon responsibly and use it for self protection if necessary.
BUT, if you practice denning, that is murder or at least unethical and immoral. Aerial hunting for bounty or sport, is the same to me. Poisoning wildlife by baiting carcasses with poison kills far more wildlife than the target species. 1080 collars, used in the west a few decades ago, caused countless deaths of non-target animals and birds. And the death is cruel. When I see a trot line on the swamp, I will cut it down if it isn't actively baited for the same reason. In this century, in our time, I had hoped we had become more compassionate a species, ourselves. But I guess not.
I got chewed out royally this morning from a friend (maybe not now) who is staunchly Republican and rather close-minded or maybe the better term, an intensely focused Republican. She told me in her email that Ron Paul is a fool . Seems to me that now, after the fact, he is getting more face time. People are listening to him. And then she called me an anarchist and intimated I should get my information from conventional media. Well...I have no faith in the "facts" that are presented by the big four of the media. In my opinion, all of them are blatantly biased.
She is going to vote for Saints McCain and Palin and I probably will, too. But if they win, they need to be watched and held to public scrutiny and uproar.. I told her not to kill the messenger, and that it's ok to be the messenger and play the devil's advocate sometimes. Hopefully, both gives depth to thoughts and opinions.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if candidates and politicians wrote their own speeches? If they read all these bills that must be signed into law (or not) themselves, and not leave it to an aide to interpret for them? But I digress.
Back to Sarah. I hope she's as good as she wants us to believe she is. Wouldn't that be a breath of fresh Alaska air?
See what you think of the article. I like his style of writing, and his point of view. And naturally, there is room in a few places for disagreement. But I won't do that because it stands on its own merits, very nicely.
And one thing more. My father used to say, "My country, wrong or right." I used to feel that way. I was raised that way. But I am sure my father would be terribly disappointed with the "wrong" decisions and lies of our government in the last 30 years. And I believe he would admit to being wrong. I think he would be surprised at my visceral dedication to returning my government to its Constitutional foundation. I think he would be proud of me.
WANDERINGS, with Walter Brasch
Sept. 7, 2008
No Wolf Whistles for Sarah Palin's Compassion
by Walter Brasch
Defibrillator usage increased last week after John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate and only a heartbeat from the presidency. But, shortly after most Republicans were shocked back to life they circled the wagons to declare she was the perfect choice. Apparently, the cure also included a dose of psychotropic drugs as well.
The pundits and commentators rallied beside Palin, even lying about how great her ghost-written acceptance speech was, apparently in the mistaken belief that they are being fair and balanced. Since Palin is the topic of everyone's greatest love or deepest enmity, I won't be writing about her life and most of her positions.
I won't write about her lack of experience--or her outrageous statements that she has more experience than Barack Obama, and her delusion that she deserves any of Hillary Clinton's 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling.
Although I would like to say something about her vicious attacks on community organizers, persons who sacrifice so much to help those with so little, I won't. That's for others to talk about.
The fact she's running on a ticket headed by a man who opposes lobbyist influence, yet had her inauguration as governor sponsored by an oil company--well, I won't even bring that up. And, of course, I won't say anything about her excessive use of pork barrel funds that McCain also opposes. And, I see no reason to point out that McCain's first two choices of Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge were somehow vetoed by the Republican leadership.
I'll let others write about how Sarah Palin and George W. Bush both believe they are fiscal conservatives, but both are more "tax-and-spend" than the wildest liberal. For Bush, it was beginning office with a surplus of more than $236 billion and running up a $427 billion debt in less than five years. For Palin, it was a balanced budget at the beginning of her six years as mayor of a town of 5,000, and leaving it with a debt of about $20 million.
Although there is no evidence she has had any interest in foreign policy, she did manage to tell us she's sure that the war in Iraq is "God's will," and that Americans soldiers were sent to Iraq on a "task that is from God." Nope. I won't write about that, either.
There's really no need to comment upon the two ethics investigations that have been launched against her for abuse of her office or reasons why seven witnesses suddenly have decided not to testify.
There's no reason for me to discuss her belief that Alaska schools should teach creationism, and that she's has doubts about the theory of evolution.
The fact that she believes library books should be banned if they have passages that disagree with her own beliefs, and that she tried to fire the city librarian who disagreed with her beliefs, won't even be discussed.
And, certainly, I won't discuss her personal family life. Not her beauty queen background or her family values agenda that opposes single motherhood and supports only abstinence education instead of a comprehensive sexual education program. Her unmarried 17-year-old high school drop-out pregnant daughter can discuss that.
I certainly won't write about her belief that she is certainly not a proponent of the Green movement, and apparently believes it must be magic fairy dust that created Global Warming, since she doesn't believe that people caused what's melting the ice in Alaska and putting polar bears in danger of extinction. Not that she cares--she supports disrupting the balance of nature by drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), which McCain opposes, and opposes a federal rule, enacted by the Bush Administration, which makes polar bears a threatened species.
And that's what I am going to write about. Sarah Palin and her boom-boom mentality. She loves to kill animals. As a youth, she went out daily so she could enjoy mooseburgers. I don't know how much burgers a slaughtered moose can provide, but I suspect that if she, her family, and all of their friends ate all of the moose she killed, the cholesterol and obesity levels in Wasilla, Alaska, would be significantly higher than the national average.
Killing moose is apparently one of the reasons that as governor she encourages wolf hunts. Alaska is the only state that allows hunters to use helicopters not only to kill wolves but also to chase them down and then execute them while they lay exhausted from the chase. No hunter would ever consider this to be fair chase hunting.
Palin has even offered a $150 bounty for every wolf killed in Alaska. Kill every one of the 9,000 or so wolves in Alaska, and the taxpayers will reap a harvest of about $1.3 million. And, don't worry about wolves being extinct in Alaska. There's still another 5,000 or so in the Lower 48, most of which are protected by the Endangered Species Act.
Wolves are highly intelligent social animals, who are loyal to their mates, care for their children, and protective of all in their pack. Humans should emulate them rather than murder them.
But just this past May, Sarah Palin had no problem with her own Department of Fish and Game killing 14 orphaned wolf pups in their own dens, in violation of her state's own law.
Killing wolves doesn't give hunters the excuse that they kill for meat or clothing. Wolves provide absolutely no meat value, and wolf coats are just not the fashion item for this season. Except when deliberately provoked, wolves don't attack humans. Even then, wolves try to avoid human contact.
So, the killing of wolves serves only two purposes. The first is because Mighty Joe Hunter can get a trophy. Sarah Palin is a close ally of the Safari Club, which believes in killing animals and mounting their heads on cedar-paneled walls. The other reason is because wolves are her competitor--they hunt caribou and moose, the kind that Sarah Palin wants for her own dinner table.
No, I won't write about Sarah Palin's political philosophies. Her disregard for life is enough.
[Dr. Brasch is professor of mass communications at Bloomsburg University. His latest book is Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush, available through amazon.com and other stores.]
And then, I get this in the mail from another friend - Verify the link. I'm doing what I can to be fair and unbiased.
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