Political BS.

This morning my alarm went off at 7:30, right on schedule, to the unnerving tones of Bush Lite. With all the money that is being spent by our government you’d think that someone could work up a few thousand dollars and get this man some public speaking lessons. I know we were spoiled with President Clinton’s speeches because he was one smooth speaker that was easy to listen to. I’ve completely given up Bush Lite, because he always has this “I can’t believe I’m president” look on his face, sort of like a bewildered child fascinated by all the bright lights and loud noises in the middle of Wal*mart. Listening to him speak isn’t any better and quite frankly whomever writes his speeches should be fired because they’re obviously using words that are entirely beyond his comprehension. I’ve never heard a public speaker mangle so many consecutive polysyllabic words in my life.

I’d like to think that I was able to shrug off the effects of my alarm clock this morning, but it’s lingered with me throughout the day. Working with a customer over the phone, the customer kept firing off question after question while I kept saying “Please bear with me as I look up that information” to no avail. He asked one question right after another without hesitation, in this whiny, completely unbecoming fake-Italian accent until I finally said, “SIR. Please give me a moment while I look up this information for you.” I thought I was quite reasonable because I really wanted to say “Would you please shut the fuck up for a moment and let me do my job?!?”. His chattering finally ceased and I was able to help him a little bit.

Now I’ve just realized that I’m going on and on so I’m going to take my own advice and just sit and think for a moment.

I’m becoming increasingly fired up about this second round of gay marriage debate that is taking a hold of the capital. It’s very obvious to many why this is being bandied about again; the current administration is failing miserably and know they are going to pay the price for it in the next round of elections, so they are doing everything they can to secure the ultra-conservative vote in November. Senseless deaths in Iraq, a failing economy and international concerns be damned, we need to make sure that Bruce and Bruce don’t get married. In their eyes, it’s blasphemy.

What a crock of bullshit.

The issue of separation of church and state aside, one of the arguments we hear is that marriage is for the purpose of building a family. I wish someone had told my 80-year old grandfather that back in July ’95. He was marrying for the second time to a woman he wanted to spend his final years with. I have no doubt that he loved her very much. I also have no doubt that they wouldn’t be having children any time soon. By the whackos’ rules, they shouldn’t have been getting married. But they lived in marital bliss right up until his death. No houses fell, no fires engulfed them, but horror of horrors, they were married but weren’t having children.

It really is amazing when you see two people in love. It’s truly a sight to behold. Oh, there are many that say they’re in love, and they fake it really well, but I believe you can tell when you see two people united as one. They’re best friends, they’re two parts of a whole and their relationship transcends this mortal concept of “marriage”.

If by the slim chance that this waste of time amendment somehow becomes part of the U.S. Constitution, then I propose this: All “normal” couples getting married be submitted to fertility tests. I mean, if they can’t procreate, then there really isn’t a need for them to get married, right? Can you see it now? “I’m sorry Tim, but this test shows you’re unable to have kids. I know you’re 23 years old. I understand that you love Jenna very much and have been together for a long time, but no, you can’t get married.” Why, if that happened to an affluent family in Texas, they’d be jumpin’ higher than the mother’s hairdo to get the situation corrected.

I have news for anyone opposed to gay marriage. Hear me and hear me well. Earl and I were married on December 26, 1996. I have had a wedding ring on my left finger since that blessed event. Nothing, and I mean _nothing_ is going to take our marriage away from us and nothing is going to make it any less sacred. We will do everything in our power to protect our marriage. You can tax us, you can ban us, you can tell us we’re going to hell (and that is such a stupid thing to say as I think it’s quite evident that _this_ is hell), but it’s not going to weaken our union. Hardly. It’s not going to make us stop loving each other. It’s going to make us stronger and bring us closer.

Every citizen has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. No ifs, no ands, no buts. Period.

So Dubya is speaking about the importance of banning gay marriage at a federal level by way of a constitutional amendment. This would be the first constitutional amendment that would deny rights of U.S. citizens instead of granting them. It has little chance of passing the proper channels to become an amendment. But he’s going to go ahead and talk about it and what not, to prove to the religious right that he’s still on board with their crusade.

What a bunch of heartless ghouls.

I’m not a big fan of statistics. I usually don’t run around quoting averages and poll results to people because after all, what’s really in a number? I like to think that I’m much more colorful with wording when it comes to dealing with statistics and what not, for example, if six out of 10 people liked salt on their popcorn, I’d say that a majority of people like salt on their popcorn. If I notice that 85 of 100 cars in the carpool lane are hybrids, I’d say “there’s a lot of hybrid cars in the car pool lane.” When we were younger working at the family hardware store, my cousins and I once counted the number of people that picked their nose while waiting for the traffic light up the street. My cousins did a scientific study determining how many people, what time and their sex. I rounded it off to “most”.

CBS came out with a poll this week indicating that Bush Lite’s approval rating is at an all-time low of 34% and Duck and Cover Dick’s approval rating is at 18%. I don’t think it’s fair to taunt the current administration on their approval ratings. After all, it’s apparent that only “a smattering” of the American people approve of the president’s performance and “a few” approve of the veep. Why get all worked up with actual numbers.

So much for that big mandate they were crowing about.

I think the United States is gearing up for some changes. It’s just the start, but there’s a feeling of restless mounting among our citizens. Perhaps big changes here will go hand-in-hand with the civil war brewing in Iraq. Or maybe even the homecoming of our troops.

I could go on about some things, like the fact that there are over 11,000 (“a shitload”) mobile homes sitting in Arkansas intended for Katrina victims, except the for the fact that mobile homes aren’t allowed in flood-prone areas per zoning laws. So they just sit there.

Or how about this Dubai ports agreement thing we have going on.

Hold on tight, it just keeps getting interesting.

They certainly know how to take the zing out of your holidays/Christmas shopping dollar around here, don’t they?

In these parts, tax is applied to anything that can’t be consumed, and only if it hasn’t been prepared. Clothing, underwear, shoes, blankets, hats, gloves, pop, candy, potato chips, hamburgers – all of it taxable in the Empire State.

I downloaded the latest greatest hits album from The Human League on iTunes yesterday. This collection is entitled, “The Very Best of the Human League” and contains all remastered versions of their classics, including the track that never made it to the states in ’01, “All I Ever Wanted”, which by the way is an awesome track.

Anyways, back in 1989 they came out with a song called “Heart Like A Wheel”. It barely made the Top 30, but it was pretty big in the clubs. I find some of the lyrics very interesting.

Interesting that this track was written when there was a Bush in office.

While I’m on a political rant today, I stumbled across another gem from the Bush clan on Andymatic’s blog. This one is from Barbara Bush apparently she feels the folks from New Orleans that live in the Astrodome have moved on up to a de-luxe apartment in the sky.

“”What I’m hearing which is sort of
scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is
so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

“And so many of the people in the arena here, you
know, were underprivileged anyway, so this–this (she
chuckles slightly) is working very well for them.”

Cold.

I stumbled across this article on many, many, many, many news sites and blogs over the weekend. It’s unfortunate that my immediate response was a shrug of the shoulders and muttering “typical”.

If you don’t feel like clicking the link, here’s the short version. While New Orleans and surrounding area is under several feet of water with thousands of people literally starving, dehydrating and dying in the streets, Condoleeza Rice maintained her vacation schedule and went shoe shopping up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. One woman approached her and said “Shame on you!” along with other assorted rants. Condy didn’t like the verbal attack, so she had the woman physically removed from the store.

After her exhausting trip up Fifth Avenue, Condy then took in the new Broadway comedy, “Spamalot”. Reports say she was laughed heartily during the show but was booed after the lights came up at the end.

And to think I feel guilty for using internet bandwidth for bitching about my pool being green or feeling cranky this morning when thousands upon thousands of people are starving, suffering or worse in the South. And I don’t even like the South.

Shame on you Condoleeza Rice for showing disinterest in the plight of thousands of human beings in the gulf states.

Shame on you Condoleeza Rice for having a woman physically taken away by security for expressing her opinion. (Perhaps she was a terrorist that encouraged bad fashion or something).

Shame on you Condoleeza Rice for spending $7,000 for a pair of shoes. Note to American people – this woman is paid WAY too much money.

When all is said and done, this administration will go down as the laughing stock of American history.

But fear not because last year the American voters did stop a few gay men and lesbians from getting married in a few states. After all, that’s what was most important. I’m glad we still know where our priorities are.