(no subject)

[terrorlynn]

Okay, kids, I dont talk politics very much at all because I know that I am friends with a good deal of people all over the political spectrum and I dont feel articulate enough to argue my viewpoints most of the time. Today, however, Im pissed off and willing to argue.

For those of you that read fark, you know how common it is to see a tagline that starts with "Having solved all other problems." That, in fact, is my favorite tagline, and so I will use it here. Having solved all other problems in America, our President decides to request a $2.9 trillion dollar budget, $258 billion of which will be spent in Iraq and Afghanistan in the next two years."

Now, I know that we are one of the richest nations, if not the richest nation in the world. I believe that as a country that has more than others, we are socially obligated to help less fortunate countries when they have some natural disaster. I believe that we should work with the U.N. to strive for fair labor practices and a living wage that allows people to work a reasonable number of hours a week, put food on the table, a roof over their head, and clothes on their back. Other than that, I think that our damn money should be spent at home. We have kids in our country that arent getting an education that will even allow them to perform basic math and reading skills. We have a large percentage of our population living without health insurance, some with serious chronic illnesses. We have parents that work hard, but have to make the choice to feed their kids or feed themselves. Choose between the gas to drive to work or keeping your heat on in the bitter February cold.

Now maybe this sounds a little Pollyanna of me, but damn it, I'd be a lot happier to spend money to improve the country in which I live before my government goes shoving its nose places it doesnt belong, fighting in wars that arent any of our damn business. Im sick to death of hearing the death reports every day on the news, American and Iraqi and Afghani. Im sick of a lot of things in this country...and while I know money doesnt fix everything, it sure is a damn good place to start.

/rant.

PS - Im driving to Roseville to see a doctor today. Arent you all proud?

Comments

[farawaypoints.livejournal.com]

You know, I completely agree with you. I think it's interesting that we give so much foreign aid and yet do so little to help our own children. If a child grows up in a disadvantaged family here in America, chances are good that they will go on to have their own disadvantaged family down the line.

Poverty is a cycle, not a choice, and yet so many people in this country treat the poor as "idiots who made a lot of stupid choices". Poor people are lazy - if they wanted more money, wouldn't they work harder? They want insurance - shouldn't they get a better job that provides it for them? They want a better quality of education for their kids - can't they just move to a district with better schools? They want to afford for their kids to go to college - hey, they should have saved up their money for that.

Everyone knows that the cost of the average college education has skyrocketed while the average earnings of a family of four have stagnated. So people are being put into more debt. The catch-22 is that everyone knows that it's nearly impossible to get a good job - any good job - without a college education. Hell, that's why I'm going this fall. I can't wipe someone's ass for a living without a B.A. in buttwiping.

I don't know where I'm going with this angry ranting, but I could go on like this for a while. Bottom line, I agree with you.

I can sum this up in a tiny sentence:

[autumnsfire.livejournal.com]

Bush is a fucking idiot.

[anam-chara.livejournal.com]

Im driving to Roseville to see a doctor today. Arent you all proud?

Yes.

it like lieing

[spirit-of-zen.livejournal.com]

you know how when you tell one lie, you have to lie again to make up for the first lie, then you have to lie to cover the cover up lie and so on and so on..... well politics sort of runs in a similar fashion, lets review the tape.

despite the majority vote, the electoral college put Bush in office.... thats mistake number 1

mistake 2 - we failed to catch Osama, so now we see mistakes number 1 and 2 lead to many many more

mistake 3 - we went to Ira

auugh i hate it when that happens

[spirit-of-zen.livejournal.com]

i cut myself off... damn you keyboard of doom!

so mistake 3 - went to Iraq, blew it up

so the mistakes of today and the overbudgeting of funds to rebuild those nations we invaded and dismantled are simply the latest in a long line of mistakes and are likely not the end of the chain. I am quite sure two or three Presidents into the future, we will still be trying to correct the mistakes of this President.

only time will tell.