conservative? really?
04/13/2009
there’s something that’s been irritating me about the republican party ever since the election. since the defeat of arizona senator john mccain last november, and the subsequent swearing in of barack obama as this nation’s 44th president. all of a sudden the republicans became something that they hadn’t been in the better part of a decade…fiscally conservative.
for the past 8 years republicans in washington have done nothing but spend, spend, spend. american taxpayers have been used like a big money tree. now a democrat is in office and the spending is irresponsible? i’ve been trying to wrap my brain around that. tarp spending, wars, spending for faith based initiatives, no child left behind…under george bush we spent more money than i can count.
the difference must come down to what the left wants to spend money on. traditionally this has been social programs and education while cutting spending for the military. its a difference of philosophy, and not one that i’m willing to debate here at this time. my point here is really that if you’re paying any attention at all to what’s been going on in dc, the republicans are coming of a giant hypocrites.
so let’s set the record straight. republicans, you, along with your democrat brethren have spent us into such a giant pile of debt that mathematics is running out of zeroes. the only difference has been where you’ve decided to spend it. there is no denying that fact. you as a party are not fiscally conservative. the fact that members of your party speaking on behalf of the whole party are saying otherwise makes your entire message a lie. people like me have paid attention. a spade is a spade, or in this case a big spender is a big spender.
maybe we should teabag all of washington dc, not just the democrats.
publicly funded senatorial “jesus things”
04/09/2009
just another reason not to vote for jim inhofe:
Jim Inhofe visiting Africa this week
BY CHRIS CASTEEL
Published: April 8, 2009
WASHINGTON — Sen. Jim Inhofe is scheduled to visit five African countries this week, including ones he’s been to numerous times in the past 10 years.
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Inhofe, R-Tulsa, was in Afghanistan earlier this week and is scheduled to go to Ghana, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Djibouti and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Inhofe has been to Africa at least 20 times in the past 10 years.
He has described his trips to Africa as “a Jesus thing,” in which he meets with African leaders in a spiritual context, although he told The Oklahoman he also pursues humanitarian and national security causes on his taxpayer-funded visits. He last went to Africa in December. That trip also included a stop in Ethiopia.
Inhofe spokesman Matt Dempsey said Inhofe “is once again focused on his work as a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.”
ahhhhhhhhhrrrrrggggggggggg! let me get this straight…my tax dollars are funding his little “jesus thing” excursions to africa. i hate this guy.
a couple of years ago i had to go to florida for a conference. i actually like going, because the discussions are usually informative, and it nearly always takes place in a pretty cool place. one evening after a particularly long day of sessions i decided to go have a drink. i walked into the lounge, which was quite crowded with conference attendees, and took the only seat available at the bar. i ordered a beer from the bartender, and asked to see a menu. i ordered a sandwich and another beer, then proceeded to mind my own business…sort of.
see, the thing about bars is that no matter how much you try and keep to yourself, you always end up either eavesdropping or getting involved in a conversation with a complete stranger. the guy sitting next to me noticed my conference tag, and asked me where i was from. “oklahoma city,” i told him. we talked a bit…mostly small talk about the conference…but there was something i wanted to ask the guy…and it was killing me.
this guy was about my age. he lived out on the west coast and was working at a small university in san francisco. he had a nice wedding band on his left ring finger…which is about par for the course for a 30 something male. but i was certain that this guy was gay. i know it sounds like a stereotype, but he sounded gay…i had to get him to confirm it because i really wanted to ask him about the ring…i’m a huge proponent of equal rights for everyone, and in the last several years i’ve really picked up the pro-gay marriage torch.
i’m not sure how i got him to confirm it, but he did say something about a “partner” which is usually a dead giveaway. finally! the questions just poured out of me. how did he get married? how did he feel about it not being recognize legally? he was really cool about my probing, and more than happy to answer all of my questions. we talked for a couple of hours about this stuff. i ranted on and on about how despicable it was that a country that professes to believe in equality and offer everyone protection under the law could so blatantly spit in the face of the homosexual community.
somewhere in the conversation something he said something to me that i wall never forget. he told me that he couldn’t believe such an open minded person could ever be from oklahoma, possibly the most conservative, dogmatic state in the country. i guess i had never really thought about it before. first, i realize that he has a stereotypical view of oklahomans, and this region of the country in general. there is some truth to that stereotype, as any honest individual from oklahoma will tell you, so his words did have some merit. what his statement really did was help me to realize just how different some of my views are from the majority of my oklahoma brethren. maybe i’m wrong, but pro gay marriage, pro secular government, pro evolution, etc are not your typical oklahoma political stances.
by the end of the night, we were both pretty drunk, as were the other folks that we were talking with in the bar since my new friend had been buying round after round of drinks for the entire place (if i recall, his bill was over $400). i got up to leave and told him thanks for the drinks, and wished him luck in the future. he told me thank you for opening his eyes…for showing him that not everyone out in middle america hated him for how he was born. i told him that there were more of us than he knew, and to please do what he could to change people’s minds about people from this region. i’d do the same to further the equal rights agenda back home. you see, i don’t refer to it as “gay rights” thing. it’s a human rights issue. period.
that conversation in florida changed my self image. i’m from oklahoma. i’m a proud oklahoman. i love my home state, but i’m not in lock step with the current political, dogmatic climate here. ever since that evening in florida forward i have felt a responsibility to my home to change people’s opinion of oklahomans. we are a great state, full of great people, and we’re not all the same. i’m a fiscal conservative. i don’t like frivolous government spending and happen to think that the government should get out of our way, not hinder us. on that note i fit right in. i also happen to be socially liberal, which tends to stick out in a crowd here. you’d better believe i wear that badge with pride.
to my friend from the bar, i don’t remember your name, but when california passed proposition 8, i thought of you. i’m sorry there are so many people out there that feel they have the right to pass judgement on you for something that is none of their business. i hope we both see equality for all americans become law within our lifetimes. rest assured. it will happen. the only question is when.
update!……………….
right after i posted this, i found an article about the iowa supreme court striking down a ban on gay marriage in that state. it’s a win for the good guys! small steps, but we’ll get there. here’s a link to the good news.
it’s not easy being green?
03/16/2009
be warned…i’m going to rant a bit.
i live in a neighborhood that doesn’t have a recycling service. still we collect all of our recyclables every week and drop them off at the local recycling center every (or at least every other) saturday. no big deal. instead of pitching aluminum cans in the trash, we have a little bin for them. same goes for plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, and glass. they each get their own bin instead of being thrown in the trash. by the end of the week, our trash can usually has only one bag of trash that couldn’t be recycled. not bad compared to a few years ago when we were struggling to deal with only having one poly-cart for trash. its not a hassle to sort, especially once you’re in the habit of doing so, and we usually have errands to run on saturday, so its no big deal to drop the stuff off. plus its the responsible thing to do.
so the real question is for all of you out there that don’t recycle. what’s the deal? more than likely it would be easier for you to do it than me…because its likely that you live in an area with a pick up service that you probably already pay for with your local trash service…
so i ask again…what’s your excuse? are you lazy? do you think its fun to fill up the old trash can? do you think some of your republican friends will call you a tree hugger or a enviro-socialist? maybe you just don’t give a flying $@#%…? give me one reason why you can’t be bothered to use the recycle bin that your city provides for you. i dare you to make sense.
you see, there is just no good reason not to recycle. even if you’re one of those flat-worlders that believes that climate change is a farce, recycling makes sense. not doing so is wasteful. why oh why does it make sense to make more plastic water bottles when we could be re-using the plastic from the ones that we already have? why fill up more landfill space with things that can be re-used? i just cannot fathom your way of thinking.
so before you answer my questions…let me tell you what i think your reason is…because its the only one that makes an ounce of sense…you’re all just lazy or foolish people that don’t give a crap about anything but yourselves and your little world. yeah, i think that fits nicely. do me a favor and either do your part, or go somewhere where doing your part is an impossibility…like china. we here in the united states can do better than that.
