Aug 21, 2014

Shut My Mouth



I don't feel qualified to speak about what is going on in Ferguson.  I don't know what it's like to be targeted as suspicious simply because of the color of my skin.  I don't know what it's like to be pulled over by a police officer for no other reason than being who I am.

I don't like the police.  I don't know why.  I just know that they raise in me an instinctual distrust, a drawing in and at the same time a whole lot of defiance.  A luxury I'm afforded as a white female.  Wonder how brave I'd be if they pulled out their guns on me as I gave them my stoic, evil eyed stare and my smartass mouthiness.  Probably not very.

Saw a post of a friend of a facebook friend about Ferguson that made me just shake my head.  "Unlike them, we're civilized.  Get your gun and be prepared to shoot to kill those who would harm your life, family and property."  Oh the irony.

Aug 5, 2014

Couldn't Do It



Deleted my last post.  I'm actually ashamed of how sappy it was.  I can't explain why I lost the desire to blog.  At some point the ideas seemed forced and the entries dwindled.  Has my life become boring, over-examined, have I said all I have to say?  Maybe.

I know that part of it is I lost interest in posting anything related to my political viewpoint.  The more deep the divide between left and right has become the less sway I feel anything I have to say will hold.  The political discourse these days is brutal.  I read the comments of any story posted to any internet news source and it doesn't take long for me to be both sad and scared.  Sad that it to deteriorates into name calling almost immediately.  Scared of the extreme opinions of the right who seem to truly believe that our world is about to collapse because of our President's actions.  And there's no reasoning with them.  Facts are immaterial.  So in the face of that I guess I ended up at "Why bother?"

Well, I know why.  Because every single voice that stands in opposition of the madness will eventually drown them out, I hope.  So, you know what.  Don't send me your campaign literature where you call yourself a "Job creator."  To me that means you oppose raising the minimum wage, something that is long overdue.  Don't proudly proclaim that you support "Protecting Life."  That means you want to control what women do with their bodies.  And your 2nd amendment mantra about the right to protect yourself must surely have some boundaries.  Why not just let everybody have tanks, and missiles and grenades.   Hell, let's arm everyone to the teeth and let it all play out however it goes.  The innocents killed along the way are just the necessary collateral damage offered at the altar of "freedom".  Do you people hear yourselves?

Today I voted in the primary election.  Every Democrat ran uncontested because they have slim chance of being elected in this gerrymandered district.  They'll all be on the ballot in November, I'll vote for them then.  Today I hoped to vote for two Republicans to get them on the ballot.  The Republicans spots all had at least two candidates for each spot (except Governor and Senator).  Some of them are real crackpots.   My plan was to vote for two Republicans today.  Normally this is done to bring the nut job to the ballot in November and increase the Democrats' chances.  No, I wanted to keep the far right fringe as far away from the real ballot as I can.  A "normal" Republican would be refreshing for a change.  Sadly, in Michigan you can only vote all Republican or all Democrat and I couldn't bring myself to vote for Rick Snyder and Terry Lynn Land.  I'm keeping the faith that the Republicans in this district have some sense and don't vote for Kerry Bentovolio or Matthew Edwards.