Stand, Sit...Be Free!

If we live in a country where respect is compulsory, is it really respect?

If we live in a country of free expression, can you really force someone to show respect to something?

Rather than attacking someone for not standing for the National Anthem, show you grasp what this country stands for and support their choice even if you don't support their reasons.

Whatever happened to "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it?"

Have we really divided so much as a nation that we will put aside the values that make us so love this country in the name of finger-pointing and high-horse riding?

Our politicians often hide behind rhetoric which suggests not doing something means the terrorists win, but if we are so willing to put aside our values, haven't they already won?   What exactly are we defending if we are going to force someone to stand for a song?    That isn't Patriotism; that's Nationalism.

How to Change the Subject

So there is a serious issue with the Clinton Foundation and people giving money to it in exchange for access to the State Department during Clinton's tenure.   There is an obvious pattern that has emerged and it is a serious issue that we must talk about, so what are we talking about?   What the Foundation does with the money...but that is not the question.

Let me say this upfront: yes the Clinton Foundation has done some great work.   Yes, the Clinton Foundation has used the money it makes for really great things.   There, I said it.   Now can we talk about the real issue?   Can we talk about countries like Saudi Arabia giving millions for "women's rights issues" and then getting billions in arms sales?   Do you really think Saudi Arabia cares two shits about women's rights issues?  

Why don't we get the complete meeting schedule?   They were quick to point out what we had was incomplete, but hesitant to correct the record.   Do they think their credibility is THAT good that all they have to do is say it is wrong?

Did Russia hack the Clinton's server?  Maybe.  Possibly.  Probably.   Does that change the information?  Nobody has denied any of it, but they changed the subject to Russia.   I thought Clinton said her server was never hacked.    What about all those classified emails she said didn't exist that are coming out?  What about the fact more emails have been discovered than she turned in?    Let's not talk about any of that- Trump might be a Russian agent.

BULLSHIT!  TRUMP IS A DEMOCRAT AGENT!  Trump does a great job of both destroying the GOP while constantly saying something stupid to distract the media from Clinton's problems.   It happens every single time Clinton faces bad news.   Any real candidate would seize these negative Clinton stories, not make themselves the news.

This election is, in the words of Woody Allen, this election "is a travesty.  It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham."

Ever Feel Like You've Been Had?- Johnny Rotten

Babbling Again

The other day humanity farted and out emerged another political thought
Drafted out of feces' odor and a health helping of opinions bought
It spread out like a fart does do and slowly filled the room
Everyone smelled it, nobody  dealt it, and and finger pointing began too soon
The discussion soon changed from changing the odor to finding the person to blame
The odor became secondary to the attempts at winning the game
Everyone said it was impossible for their fart to smell that way
It has to be from someone who hates us, farted on purpose, then ran away
"If it were me" one person said, "you would know it before it smelt
Because my farts are loud and they leave no doubts as to from whom it was dealt."
"I think it came from a woman" another said " as it has a perfumery smell."
"YOU ARE A SEXIST!" another one screamed and condemned the speaker to Hell.
"I think it was a foreigner who passed this gas as it has an ethnic feel"
"We have to fart over there so they don't fart over here!  That is the obvious deal!"
And so it went on and it went on and on and never did it end
They blame you and you blame them; it's easier to pretend
That the fart was always with us and we can't do a thing about it
Just hold your nose, with eyes tightly closed, and pretend it isn't shit.

Election Year Simple Addition If you Dare

There was a lot of press surrounding the endorsement of Hillary Clinton by Dubya-appointed former CIA deputy director Michael Morel, but no real questions such as "why?"

He said:   "I worked with her for four years very closely when she was secretary of state and I was at the CIA. I provided her -- personally provided her some of the most sensitive information that the Central Intelligence Agency has," he said. "She never misused it. She always protected it."He added: "I would trust her with the crown jewels of the United States government. And, more importantly, I would trust her with the future security of the country and the future security of my kids."

http://www.cnn.com/

 Interesting.  He trusts her...to do what exactly?

 "When we were in Iraq, the Iranians were giving weapons to the Shi'a militia, who were killing American soldiers," Morell told "CBS This Morning" co-host Charlie Rose.    

"The Iranians were making us pay a price. We need to make the Iranians pay a price in Syria. We need to make the Russians pay a price."

www.cbsnews.com


Combine this with Kissinger's endorsement and Condi "Historical Document" Rice's endorsement and the math is quite simple: A vote for Hillary is a vote for War.   Period.  End of debate.   If you care more about stopping Trump than you do us killing more and more innocent people around the world, vote for her.

Tell him about your clean conscious-

"His name is Omran Daqneesh...He and his family were injured when their house was destroyed by an airstrike Wednesday. "

www.cnn.com/

Stopping Trump and electing Clinton is a moot point to many around the world.   It is a moot point to anyone who opposes our 16 year never ending always expanding mission creep war.

A Personal Update

My ostomy is me.  I never thought I could say those words, but there you go: my ostomy is me.   I have accepted it.  I no longer am ashamed of it.  I am no longer embarrassed by it.  It no longer diminishes my value as a person.  It no longer takes away the purpose of living.   It is not an obstacle to my happiness any longer.   Wow...what a difference a year makes.

Yesterday, at work, one of my co-worker's children was in the office and we were talking when my chair squeaked.  He laughed and said "ew, you farted!"  

"Wasn't me"

"Yes it was.   You farted!"

"Wasn't me.  I can't fart.   I don't fart."

"Everyone farts."

"I don't."

"You have to fart; you go poo."

I smiled.   "No, I don't."

I showed him my bag and told him I was sick and said the bag was treating me.   I wasn't sad, embarrassed, or bothered so neither was he.  He simply said "oh" and walked off to watch cartoons.  That was when I realized I was totally OK with my bag.

I had forgotten about it for hours on end before.   At Captiva, I went shirtless on the beach with an ace bandage covering it and simply told my niece I had a "boo-boo" when she asked about it.   I am totally comfortable in the medical supply stores when I need extra bags unlike I was when I had to buy diapers.    I suppose I've been OK with my bag for quite some time, but never thought about it or realized it until I was able to show it to a seven year old and explain it in terms he could understand.   Weird.

Where was the firework show at my moment of Zen about the bag?   No choir of angels singing or a heavenly spotlight beaming upon me.   Where was that Broadway production number where random strangers break into synchronized dancing around me as I walk triumphantly down main street?   Not even a slow-motion stroll or a freeze-frame as I jump in the air Mentos commercial style.   I was gypped....

Writing the word "gypped" for the first time in my life has exposed me to the anti-Gypsy roots the word obviously came from.    Just a tangent.  I apologize to any Gypsies reading this.

Funny how life's biggest moments go by without so much as a peep and it isn't until days, weeks, or even months later that you realize something major has changed.    Life does go on while you are making other plans.

Political Rant

I am going to attempt to explain the appeal of Donald Trump.   I need to state ahead of time I am not a supporter of the man and have no intentions of voting for him.  I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat and am simply giving my non-partisan view on this race.  I wonder if the media doesn't see what I am about to say or simply doesn't want to say it because it opens up a can of worms the status quo isn't ready to deal with yet, but it is this illusion of a binary election that is making people choose Trump.

The simply truth that nobody wants to admit is that Trump is not a factor in this election at all really.   This election is the quintessential "Yellow Dog" race.    This is why Trump's popularity is never affected by the stupid things he says and does.   He doesn't matter; this election is all about Hillary Clinton.   It is about the last 16 years of this nation spent at war.   It is about things not really changing for too many people regardless of which party has been in control.  It is about broken promises, perceived selling out of those in power, and the expanding helplessness the average American feels.   And it is about fear.

Despite 16 years of constant war in the name of defending ourselves and making the world safe for life, we are not feeling safer.   We are more scared than we've ever been and frightened people make stupid choices.   They seek immediate relief rather than long term stability.   They vote based on what if instead of what is.

Hillary Clinton is not unknown to the America people.   Since 1991, we have known her and she has spent those years, in the Senate and as Sec of State, confirming our ideas of her, whatever they may be.   She is secretive while proclaiming openness.   She is a Hawk while proclaiming the Rational Dove.   She is two-faced while pretending to be honest.   The one thing we know a Clinton Presidency will bring is more of the same, for better or worse.   She offers nothing else.

Enter Trump.   He is running as the opposite of everything Clinton portrays herself to be: irrational; short-tempered; vindictive; unpredictable; a bully; a hypocrite willing to say anything to win.  He is full of shit and quite open about it.  As Carlin said, the American people will support him because Clinton pretends to be honest while Trump doesn't and America will respect how honest he is about what a horrible person he is.   Sad, right?  As Carlin put it: He may be full of shit, but at least he's honest about it.  

The binary nature of how most people see our elections leaves them with this simple formula: I know Clinton, she says she is honest, and I don't trust her vs I don't know Trump, he says horrible things, and everyone tells me he is a liar.    Clinton is inside and Trump is outside.  I don't like inside, so therefore I support Trump.

If given two choices, I can't blame them; the problem is that they are not given two choices, but four.   There are two other candidates running whom the media chooses until recently to ignore and who now are only sort of being given tongue in cheek coverage because the people are calling for it despite the media's attempts to keep things simple- one on one.    It is even easier when you have someone like Trump who embraces the villain role and makes Clinton a hero by default in the story.   Why complicate it with other possible heroes?   America doesn't like complicated stories.

This election is a mess and only going to get worse.   The worst part is that, if I am right and Trump was in the race solely to make Clinton appeal to the masses, this miscalculation is going to end in a Trump presidency neither he nor America really wants and then what?   Will he quit? Quitting isn't in his nature, but failing is; declaring bankruptcy so he can start over with a "whoops" is.    And what do we know of Mike Pence, who would become President?

If the media did their job, the fact that it is a four person race would be the focus of the news and the other candidates would be given equal time to appeal to the American people.   Let America dismiss them because they don't agree with those candidates, not because they've never heard of them.