Meeting Persephone

How does one go about ignoring the excessive bullshit of the political scene these days? I find it quite impossible myself. So I figure why try? Time to piss and moan in that impotent way that only those of us with "freedom of speech" can - yes, we have freedom of speech, but who's listening?

I'll try to stick to the debate this time around. Neither performance was stellar but I won't even waste time pointing out that, yes, Biden did and should have a better grasp on the issues than that femmebot Palin. Nor will I confess to you the plethora of names I called that irritating bitch while watching the debate and eventually looking around for sharp objects with which to gouge out my eyes and ears after listening to and seeing her for an hour and a half. (did anyone else get fed up with the winking and phony bullshit of hers?)

No - this time I'll talk about the issues that I have with the issues as well as the issue I have with the candidates' positions on those issues.

1 - Neither party has a decent health care plan. The only logical place for this country to be heading (and it amazes me that we've not yet gotten there) is for a single payer universal health care plan. Every other advanced country in the world has universal health care - it is long past time though now is the perfect time. Mandatory coverage for children will not get us there - and that requires us to purchase insurance from private providers whose main goal is profit - not health. McCain's position is even worse - taxing a benefit? Dick!

2 - Both can stick drilling up their asses. The environment is pretty much at the top of my list - if this year's election were not such a dire situation, that alone would keep me from voting for one of the two-party candidates and going straight to Green. "Clean Coal" is an oxymoron, a dangerous (and finite) source of energy, and "the technology" catch phrase now being used in regards to that "alternative" has only just surfaced on the campaign AFAIK in the past few weeks. Bio-fuels are a crock as the amount of necessary crops would only deprive an even larger portion of the world of food sources so our fat asses could just drive everywhere we want to go (want, not need). And nucLEAR (got that, Sarah? don't imitate Bush's pronunciation if you don't want to be compared to him) power is so incredibly offensive to me that I don't know where to start. Safe storage? Ridiculous! Here, Mother Earth, thank you for all you provide us - and how about a nice toxic enema? Beautiful!

3 - Gay marriage. It's a faith issue? Really? When my husband and I went to get our marriage license - we went to the court house. The Justice of the Peace who performed our ceremony mentioned nothing of any deity. It has a legal definition in this country and as tax payers, gay citizens of this country deserve the same rights that hetero couples get - including the word "marriage" on the license (if that's what they want). The faith issue is a bullshit cop-out and I'm completely disgusted by it - and that's BOTH parties.

4 - Abortion. I am still trying to wrap my brain around a woman being so willing and eager to take away other women's right to choose. As I've quoted - "if you can't trust a woman with a choice, how can you trust her with a baby?" Sarah chose to have her baby despite the knowledge that it would be born with a disability. That's wonderful for her - but the point is that she had the choice. Now she'd like to see other women lose their right to choose? To inflict her will on others while touting that we are a "free country"? Why is this issue so important to me? I've never had an abortion, but my great-grandmother did - an illegal back alley abortion that led to her death a few days later and left my grandfather without a mother at the age of two. Overturning Roe V Wade will not end abortion - it will force it back underground to that same dangerous place and will criminalize women for making a private decision about their own bodies.

The rest is simple. End the "war" - the funding that is going to the war can be better spent here - yes, I'm still that naive (or hopeful). Leave Iran alone - leave Venezuela alone - and Benazir Bhutto said BinLaden was dead at the same time she was predicting her own assasination so leave Pakistan and Afghanistan alone too. People before profits - stop trying to privatize everything and take back those necessary programs that have gone private - INCLUDING THE PRISONS. The cold war is over - stop trying to bring it back - you only disgrace your hero's legacy by doing so. Stop pissing off the UN and regain the lost allies.

Education - good. War - bad. Taxes - necessary. Tax loopholes - closed. Non-violent criminals - out of prison. Environment - non-negotiable. After Vietnam the returning soldier's chanted "love it or leave it" to the protestors. I'm saying the same thing about our only home.

When in doubt - look to Norway and France. Universal health care, 5 weeks of paid vacation per year, overtime after 35 hours and that is paid out in more vacation time, inexpensive quality day care, college education, careful use of finite resources (only surplus not capital), study and use of infinite resources for energy, government that fears their employers (the citizens) and works to improve the citizens' situations to keep them happy so they can keep their jobs (not the other way around as it is in this country - keep us fearful and they keep their jobs).. I could go on, but it only makes me want to cry for all that we pretend we have but don't even come close on.