Blog of Bermanism

Since it seems that I’ve only been posting about Sasha lately, I’ve decided to interject a little real world diatribe into this post. The topic of choice? Politics.

I’m usually really careful not to post my political views in my blog, for several reasons. Since my blog is pretty obviously tied to me personally (and not some anonymous web-junky who can spout any opinion have it not come back to bite them), I have to watch what I say. You never know who could be reading your blog, could be future employers who don’t share your political views, and we know that according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, not sharing your potential employers’ political views is clear grounds for denial of employment. So, I usually keep this stuff out of here. But, a few things have really struck me as completely ridiculous in this round of presidential primaries and I wanted to share my thoughts on the subject.

First, the media has done their best to spin the most ridiculous side possible of the candidates that are running. It makes me feel like I’m watching a bad satire on Saturday Night Live or something. The best example I can think of is the debate between Clinton and Obama on April 16, 2008. The whole thing was really screwed up, both by design and by the moderators, notably Charlie Gibson. But, the thing that really got me were the totally irrelevant topics that were “hotly” debated. I realize I’m a little slow on the uptake on this issue, but there was a significant amount of time spent during that debate on the fact that Senator Obama doesn’t always wear an American flag pin. (!!!!!). Here’s an excerpt from the transcript:

NASH MCCABE, VOTER: Senator Obama, I have a question, and I want to know if you believe in the American flag. I am not questioning your patriotism, but all our servicemen, policemen and EMS wear the flag. I want to know why you don’t.

GIBSON: Just to add to that, I noticed you put one on yesterday. But you’ve talked about this before, but it comes up again and again when we talk to voters. And, as you may know, it is all over the Internet.

And it’s something of a theme that Senators Clinton and McCain’s advisers agree could give you a major vulnerability if you’re the candidate in November.

How do you convince Democrats that this would not be a vulnerability?

OBAMA: Well, look, I revere the American flag. And I would not be running for president if I did not revere this country.

….

And let me just make one last point on this issue of the flag pin. As you’ve noted, I wore one yesterday when a veteran handed it to me, who himself was disabled and works on behalf of disabled veterans.

I have never said that I don’t wear flag pins or refuse to wear flag pins. This is the kind of manufactured issue that our politics has become obsessed with and, once again, distracts us from what should be my job when I’m commander-in-chief, which is going to be figuring out how we get our troops out of Iraq and how we actually make our economy better for the American people.

Not much more that I can add to that. The point is that the American public, driven by their obsession with reality television and meaningless issues, such a flag pins, are missing the point of why this is such an important election to our country and the rest of the world, and that is to make our country a good neighbor again, put us back on the economical map, and stop bullying the rest of the world with power that we don’t have. Just to reiterate, Obama said, “This is the kind of manufactured issue that our politics has become obsessed with.” The truth is that politics has not become obsessed with flag pins, it is the American people that has become obsessed with these things. It is as if they don’t even care that hundreds of thousands of innocent people are dying in Iraq, that our government is squandering our hard fought tax dollars on frivolous and manufactured conflicts in the middle east for political and monetary gain, that our country’s reputation as a world power has been dropped in the dirt, and that our economy is in the sharpest decline it has seen since the great depression. Of course, in light of all of these issues, the clear and most important issue is whether or not Senator Obama chooses to wear a flag pin, obviously. If he loses the democratic nomination because he doesn’t wear a flag pin, I’m going to throw up in your shoe, then move out of this bass-ackwards country.

The next, and possibly stranger pattern that has emerged with this presidential race is the fact that the religious leaders who have endorsed the candidates have each shown themselves to have the moral character of a pile of crap, or at least, that’s what the media would lead us to believe. By now, everyone knows the name of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor for the last 20 years. Obama recently had to speak out carefully against the inflammatory remarks made by Rev. Wright in order to protect his reputation. Interestingly, the issue at point with Rev. Wright is whether or not he is a patriot (which goes straight back to Obama and the Flag pin that he doesn’t wear, which clearly makes him non-patriotic) and whether or not he is racist. Wright has issued many “inflammatory” statements in sermons over the last few years that defiantly put the U.S. government in the firing line for the condition of our citizens, and a few disasters that have happened in our country, like 9/11. He said, “that the United States had brought on al Qaeda’s attacks because of its own terrorism” (quoted from abcnews). I can see how much of the U.S. population would be offended by the implication of those remarks, but I actually happen to agree with them. If we had been good neighbors instead of big bullies, 9/11 might never have happened. However, the manner in which the comments were delivered during that, and other sermons, leaves an air of bitterness and racism hanging over us. Other parts of other sermons lay claim that the United States’ black citizens are both under represented and subject to inequality by our government’s actions and that the feeling from the days of slavery are still strong. I’m not sure what to make of this. I, personally, am the least racist person you will ever meet. I tend to see the character of a person before I see the color of his skin or the accent in his voice. The fact the most of my generation feels that way tells me that there’s probably not a ton of racism left in the mainstream social sect of our country, but I may be sampling from a biased group. For sure, middle America, the “Bush Camp,” tend to be more on the racist side of things, or at least lack tolerance (not only of blacks, but gays, arabs, women, basically anything not a white trash, Bud drinking man). The other side of this coin is that many African Americans feel under represented in the US, and because of that end up in a state of squalor and crime. They take up arms against each other and their fellow Americans because they feel like they are owed something, thus furthering the self-destructive stereotype that is given to them. I’m usually not one to preach conformity, but both sides of this issue need to meet in the middle. Angry African Americans need to drop their guns, get back in school, and work hard to show the less tolerant side of society that they are indeed not what the stereotype makes them out to be. At the same time, the rest of America needs to see that these people have just as much potential as any other person in this country and that they need to be given a chance to show their brilliance. As is true in population genetics, diversity leads to a stronger, more vigorous society.

OK, I digressed a little. My point is that Rev. Wright may not be far off in the point of his sermons, which speaks to the magnitude of change that needs to happen in our country, but he could stand to tone down the racist implications in his sermons so that more people will actually hear his message, rather than turning a deaf ear in shame. Now, should Obama be slammed for the remarks of someone that has endorsed his presidential campaign? I don’t think so. Sure, you’re generally judged by the company that you keep, since the type of people that you associate with speaks volumes to your moral character. But, before you judge, make sure you meet all of a person’s associates before making your judgment. Everyone knows and is friends with someone with questionable moral fiber, don’t deny it.

My last example of religious leaders gone awry is a pastor who has endorsed Senator McCain, Pastor John Hagee. Now, this guy is truly a tool. Hagee has come under fire for some of his views, most notably that he may carry strong anti-semitic beliefs. In a late 1990’s sermon, Hagee made the following statements:

John Hagee, the controversial evangelical leader and endorser of Sen. John McCain, argued in a late 1990s sermon that the Nazis had operated on God’s behalf to chase the Jews from Europe and shepherd them to Palestine. According to the Reverend, Adolph Hitler was a “hunter,” sent by God, who was tasked with expediting God’s will of having the Jews re-establish a state of Israel.

Going in and out of biblical verse, Hagee preached: “‘And they the hunters should hunt them,’ that will be the Jews. ‘From every mountain and from every hill and from out of the holes of the rocks.’ If that doesn’t describe what Hitler did in the holocaust you can’t see that.”

He goes on: “Theodore Herzl is the father of Zionism. He was a Jew who at the turn of the 19th century said, this land is our land, God wants us to live there. So he went to the Jews of Europe and said ‘I want you to come and join me in the land of Israel.’ So few went that Hertzel went into depression. Those who came founded Israel; those who did not went through the hell of the holocaust.

“Then god sent a hunter. A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. And the Bible says — Jeremiah writing — ‘They shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the holes of the rocks,’ meaning there’s no place to hide. And that might be offensive to some people but don’t let your heart be offended. I didn’t write it, Jeremiah wrote it. It was the truth and it is the truth. How did it happen? Because God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel.”

(quoted from the Huffington Post)

So, he basically believes that the Holocaust was God’s work and that Jews should all be corralled into a small country the size of Vancouver Island or die in an oven. This is an interesting view for someone who, in his most fundamental religious beliefs, has “denounced replacement theology, believing that chapters 9-11 of the book of Romans teach that the Jews have continuing favor with God by the election of grace, and as a people of the covenant do not require belief in Jesus Christ for their salvation. He believes the Bible commands Christians to support Israel and the Jewish people, even though he has made anti-semitic remarks against Jews.” (Wikipedia)

So, I’m not sure what to make of this guy. I saw an interview with him while I was in San Antonio a few months ago, and it was really weird. He is just one of those people that when you watch him, just wreaks of evil. You get the impression that he’d do nearly anything to further his own station in life. That being said, once again, all we know of this guy is what the media portrays him to be. But, I get a bad feeling about him and about John McCain in general.

So, it looks like the original edict in the Constitution of the United States, that there should be a separation between church and state, is well founded and remains true today. As of late, far too much emphasis on religion has come into the forefront with political decisions, law making, policy making, and foreign affairs. The politicians tout religious piety to their constituents for one reason, to get votes so that they can be re-elected. The truth is that, no matter who your favorite politician is or to which party she belongs, they are likely morally ambiguous at best. The nature of politics is grounded in deceit, and is founded in law, which is contrived at best (how many truly honest lawyers do you know). Religion is from the other side of the fence and is supposed to be grounded in moral discipline and philanthropy, but is also subject to extreme corruption. My point in all of this, get as much real information as you can before deciding on your candidate. Try to get non media-spun data and judge the moral character and leadership capabilities of your candidate. Only then will get select the right one, and only then can we replace the quagmire that our government has become with a competent group of people capable of extricating us from our quickly sinking ship.

Think before you vote.

/that is all

We are all periodically faced with a responsibility to experience something that ellicits thoughts of gouging your eyes out with writing implements, simply because it would be far more enjoyable than what you are currently doing. Thus was my latest experience with a defensive driving course.

Those who know me know that I’m an insufferable lead foot. I am simply not happy in a vehicle if I’m driving less than 10 mph over the speed limit. It is also a universal fact that my car works better when the speedometer is pointing up (90mph in my car). So, one sunny January day, I was heading to a dentist appointment on the other end of town. I was naturally running quite late. So, I was going 85mph southbound on the MoPac expressway. I happened to pass a brown, highly tinted Mercury coupe of some kind and it just happened to be an unmarked police vehicle, a trick that APD has been pulling a lot recently. Well, I had ol’ smokey on my tail before I knew it, and I was getting pulled over. This was an odd experience since the officer walked up to me and exclaimed, “Hey man! How you been?” Being the typical embarrased-guy-who-just-got-pulled-over, I just sat there looking blankly at him. He went on to explain that he swore he knew me from somewhere. At this point, any reasonable person would have begun to milk this opportunity for getting out of a ticket, but I was my typical honest self and told him that I didn’t recognize him. Well, he was still pretty cool because he gave me a ticket for going 75 in and 65, instead of 85, which would have meant that he could have arrested me. Not fun! So, then I went on to the dentist apparently free of all of my bad karma for the day since I didn’t have any cavities.

About a week ago, I found the court documents that I received to be able to take defensive driving. It was, of course, buried under one of the many time-dilating piles of paper on my desk. With a start, I realized that I needed to have my course completed by April 20th, which at the time was less than 6 days away. So, I elected to go to comedy defensive driving at the Cap City Comedy Club. A lot of people told me that I should take the course online, but I thought this would be more painless. Wow, was I wrong!! The teacher guy, named John, was a hispanic guy around 5′6″, probably in his late 20’s, and he had a pretty serious case of ADD. He was actually pretty funny, but defensive driving is a tough room since no one wants to be there.

The class was scheduled to take 6 hours, four minutes repentance for every mile per hour that you were going at the time you were speeding. As is typical of any government activity, the class was required to take exactly six times as much time as it should take to complete the course. This could have been done in an hour, easily! But, instead we got to hear the same rules repeated over and over again, watch these really scarily fake early 80’s style training videos that showed you how you’re supposed to drive, and ultimately take the ridiculously easy test to get out and get your ticket dismissed. Among my favorite videos was Paths of Thunder II. This was a late 70’s-style 1993 classic that was supposed to teach you how to deal with dangerous situations involving trains. It featured a horrible actor who was wearing glasses so thick that they could probably see the future. This guy was an endless source of amusement while we watched trains hit cars stopped on railways, which of course instantly caused the cars to burst into flames. Anyway, after about 3 hours of this, the tip of my ball point pen was looking rather inviting to my right eye. I kept thinking, if I’m blind, will have to finish this course? I wonder if they actually have a rule for that; ticket dismissal due to accidental blindness while taking defensive driving. I’d look it up and put it here, but I’m too lazy today. Anyway, our 6 hours were finally up. I came home and was in a horrible mood for the rest of the day because I seriously felt like my soul had been raped or something. I will never get those six hours back, that is for sure. So, the moral of the story: be more careful not to get caught speeding, you don’t want to do defensive driving!