March 12, 2009
I have been cognizant of the workings of politics for a relatively short amount of time. Nevertheless, it doesn't take long for one to figure out that politics is very easy to predict, since the topic is very cyclical in nature (some might replace the word cyclical with "hypocritical").
With this in mind, I wondered for several years before the last election, what would happen if a democrat were elected president? For nearly two years, conservatives complained and complained about an evil media machine that would bend over backwards to get Barack Obama elected; the same media were a huge enemy to President George W. Bush for eight years.
I literally had conversations with people who told me with the utmost conviction that if Obama got elected, we would be screwed, but that the media would actually make us think everything was wonderful, being the democratic whipping children that the media were.
So, given the premise that the media are hopelessly biased, it was no surprise how Obama practically cleaned John McCain's clock in the election. There then followed the transition period, after which Barack actually became President Obama.
Not much later, I was absolutely astounded to see storys about layoffs, crashing stock markets, forclosures, and all other sorts of economic turmoil. I was surprised to see actual criticisms of President Obama - his stimulus plan, his failure to forge bipartisan inroads, not vetoing the $410 billion spending bill, failing to bring ALL troops home from Iraq like he said he would, etc. Not only was I surprised, I was incredibly dumbfounded to see that such criticisms came from conservative AND liberal writers.
And now, conservatives who spouted off for at least the last eight years that a person was unpatriotic to criticize the president, have gotten out the clubs, and are going to town, now that the president isn't a republican anymore.
While everything has changed - the Democrats have considerable majorities in both houses of Congress, and control the presidency - nothing has really changed. Liberals who bashed Bush incessantly are now critical of people who can't stand Obama, and conservatives who justified every move President Bush (because you have to respect him, he's our president for crying out loud) made, are now venomously on the prowl to attack Obama.
And the biased, far-left media machine have disappointed me tremendously. An obviously biased media would not allow so many conservatives to publish disparaging opinions toward Obama. They reported job losses and facts about a faltering economy to make Bush look bad, because they simply hated the man. So why would they report negative press about the economy now that Bush is gone? How are Rush Limbaugh and his conservative clones on the radio not being silenced?
Of course, the only answer I seem to get from conservatives is a fake, theoretical argument: sure, the press still report the negative things, but if John McCain (or any other republican name) were in charge, the press would be out for blood, blaming everything on him, and calling for his impeachment, yada, yada.
My favorite response: theoretically, pigs could fly, but I'm not sure what point that proves.
I guess the most predictable fact about politics: those ideologues on both sides will continue to see what they want to see, and turn a blind eye to anything else, all the while decrying the biases of others, remaining hopelessly entrenched in their own biased worldview.
If nothing else, I suppose it gives me the right to call myself a prophet. And that ain't so bad.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Was God Wrong?
March 4, 2009
I was cleaning out my inbox yesterday when I stumbled across a pre-election gem in the form of a story about Sarah Palin. I know, most of you have probably already forgotten her, but I'm sure there's a few staunch conservatives who still want to canonize her, or at least adopt her in place of their real mother.
Anyway, the article quotes Palin as saying to James Dobson of “Focus on the Family” (soon to be "formerly of") that she was confident God would do the right thing on election day.
I would love to have a follow up on that statement. If Palin was right, then God
obviously wanted Barack Obama to be president. However, cutting through the shrubery to arrive at the obvious, Palin was saying no more, no less than "John McCain will be president because that is what's best for the country, and God will do what is best for the country."
Here's an exact quote: “And it also strengthens my faith because I know at the end of the day putting this in God’s hands, the right thing for America will be done, at the end of the day on Nov. 4.”
Which is exactly why I am now going to go search for information about Sarah Palin changing her faith, since it seems very unlikely she would want to continue worshipping a God that is not even wise enough to pick the right president of the United States.
If that is too much of a stretch, I'm sure I will find loads of evidence that Palin is firmly behind Obama as president, since I assume she is just as confident God did the right thing on Nov. 4 as she was that he would do the right thing prior to the actual election.
If you find anything on either subject, please inform me. I'm not optimistic about the endeavor. But I'm sure God will do the right thing.
I was cleaning out my inbox yesterday when I stumbled across a pre-election gem in the form of a story about Sarah Palin. I know, most of you have probably already forgotten her, but I'm sure there's a few staunch conservatives who still want to canonize her, or at least adopt her in place of their real mother.
Anyway, the article quotes Palin as saying to James Dobson of “Focus on the Family” (soon to be "formerly of") that she was confident God would do the right thing on election day.
I would love to have a follow up on that statement. If Palin was right, then God
obviously wanted Barack Obama to be president. However, cutting through the shrubery to arrive at the obvious, Palin was saying no more, no less than "John McCain will be president because that is what's best for the country, and God will do what is best for the country."Here's an exact quote: “And it also strengthens my faith because I know at the end of the day putting this in God’s hands, the right thing for America will be done, at the end of the day on Nov. 4.”
Which is exactly why I am now going to go search for information about Sarah Palin changing her faith, since it seems very unlikely she would want to continue worshipping a God that is not even wise enough to pick the right president of the United States.
If that is too much of a stretch, I'm sure I will find loads of evidence that Palin is firmly behind Obama as president, since I assume she is just as confident God did the right thing on Nov. 4 as she was that he would do the right thing prior to the actual election.
If you find anything on either subject, please inform me. I'm not optimistic about the endeavor. But I'm sure God will do the right thing.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Jon Stewart/Media Matters make my day
March 3, 2009
I already watched episodes 11 and 12 of this season of 24, so I needed something to pass the time. I watched thankfully as Jon Stewart made fun of Rush Limbaugh and people who use Twitter in the same hilarious episode. Then I found an all new page on Media Matters for America's website dedicated exclusively to Limbaugh. If Limbaugh is the new leader of conservatives, then I am definitely not a conservative.
How has this happened? How have I allowed the lying, biased, partisan media to deceive me and brainwash me? Well, I guess because of the massive conspiracy that won't allow funny conservative guys on TV.
Update 3/4/09
Just a thought about Rush saying he wants President Obama to fail. I am reluctant to admit that many years ago, I impersonated Limbaugh for a 7th grade project on the person I most admired.
It is impressive to me how so many have such a poor memory of history. Aside from the fact that Rush regularly resorts to five-year-old playground behavior - name-calling and using childish voices to mock his detractors - he has spent at least the last eight years shouting that people who hate George W. Bush were unpatriotic for not supporting the ex-president. Now he opens right up and admits he is waiting for Obama to fail. I know he's a smart guy. I am not even kidding. It is just shameful that he has a hold on so many dittoheads who don't even seem to understand pompous, repulsive, hypocrisy, even when it's playing on the radio three hours a day.
I already watched episodes 11 and 12 of this season of 24, so I needed something to pass the time. I watched thankfully as Jon Stewart made fun of Rush Limbaugh and people who use Twitter in the same hilarious episode. Then I found an all new page on Media Matters for America's website dedicated exclusively to Limbaugh. If Limbaugh is the new leader of conservatives, then I am definitely not a conservative.
How has this happened? How have I allowed the lying, biased, partisan media to deceive me and brainwash me? Well, I guess because of the massive conspiracy that won't allow funny conservative guys on TV.
Update 3/4/09
Just a thought about Rush saying he wants President Obama to fail. I am reluctant to admit that many years ago, I impersonated Limbaugh for a 7th grade project on the person I most admired.
It is impressive to me how so many have such a poor memory of history. Aside from the fact that Rush regularly resorts to five-year-old playground behavior - name-calling and using childish voices to mock his detractors - he has spent at least the last eight years shouting that people who hate George W. Bush were unpatriotic for not supporting the ex-president. Now he opens right up and admits he is waiting for Obama to fail. I know he's a smart guy. I am not even kidding. It is just shameful that he has a hold on so many dittoheads who don't even seem to understand pompous, repulsive, hypocrisy, even when it's playing on the radio three hours a day.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Mercy and the Manipulative, Merciless Media
February 19, 2009
"How great a thing is mercy. Most often it is quiet and unassuming. It receives few headlines. It is the antithesis of vengeance and hatred, of greed and offensive egotism...
"If cultivated among all men, it would put an end to the atrocities of war...
"Our generation is afflicted with critics in the media who think they do a great and clever thing in mercilessly attacking men and women in public office and in other positions of leadership. They are prone to take a line or a paragraph out of context and pursue their prey like a swarm of killer bees. They lash out with invective and snide innuendo against those who have no effective way of fighting back or who, in the spirit of the teachings of the Master, prefer to turn the other cheek and go forward with their lives." (Gordon B. Hinckley, “Blessed Are the Merciful,” Ensign, May 1990, 68)
I have given a couple talks in sacrament meeting at church in the past year - one on love, and one on tolerance. Both times I came across this majestic talk by President Hinckley. I may have referred to it previously. However, it illustrates exactly my journey over the past several years. Maybe I've been deceived and indoctrinated unknowingly with evil liberal invective, and I am hopelessly wandering in the wilderness of relativity.
That's one way to look at it. I tend to see it as I am trying to implement the virtues of mercy and tolerance into my daily actions. I think it's a worthy pursuit. I would rather be merciful than vengeful, hateful, egotistical, and greedy.
I take President Hinckley at his word: mercy has the potential to end war completely.
Mercy is not weakness, and war is not a way to demonstrate strength. War is a demonstration of the barbarity and primitiveness to which mankind is often willing to sink.
But I am not writing to talk about war. I am writing to reiterate, with the help of President Hinckley, one of the largest problems we have in society today. Read it again. Our generation is afflicted with critics in the media. These people divide, enrage, and manipulate so many. They mock those with whom they disagree. They attack differences, and spit on virtues like mercy.
I don't need to name names for you to know of whom I speak. They frame the debate on everything from abortion, to stimulus spending, to war. They deceive many, and they enrich themselves through encouraging contention and dissension among society as a whole. I know politicians are just as guilty, but with the level of trust the average person has for politicians being extremely low, I don't think said figures have nearly as as much influence on the general populace as media personalities.
I declared "war" on them by decided I would not let them manipulate me. I will not listen to them. I will not read their blogs or columns in the newspaper, online, or anywhere else. Whether on the right or on the left, they do not deserve one second of my attention, whether it is for simple entertainment, or for any other reason.
I wish more people would do the same. I wish the absolutist mentality that rules so many, on the right and left, would be extinguished. I wish we would stop characterizing people with whom we disagree as stupid, lazy, less intelligent, dishonest, or whatever other condescending adjective we can spew. I wish we could reason with each other without getting angry and that we could put ourselves in one another's place.
Sounds idealistic, I know. Yes, I'm a dreamer, and fantasize a lot about a better world. A world where people don't get put in concentration camps or camps for refugees. A world where people don't get imprisoned in secret locations without cause. A world where people aren't persecuted for their beliefs, however different they may be. Maybe it's not realistic. But not listening to the manipulators in the media is a great first step. Yes, we need to be informed, but we need a lot less of the type of information that is often portrayed on the radio, and especially on television.
In my mind, this is what motivates my line of thinking. It is what colors my opinion on the current debate about stimulating the economy. I know very little about economics. I don't have time to read the 1000+ page stimulus bill. I only know people are losing their jobs. People are losing their retirement. People are losing their health care. People don't have enough money to pay the mortgage. These people often times have families. They have children probably not so different from my own. It breaks my heart to even imagine my children going hungry. I wouldn't wish it on anyone else.
There are probably a multitude of flaws in the bill that I have no idea about. But I believe it is going to help a lot of people, as well. And there are a lot of people who need help. Not because they are lazy. Because they are in the midst of tough times, and they are scared, and don't know when things are going to get better, or when they will find a job that will cover their needs.
You can call it socialism. I call it mercy. And President Hinckley said it: the voices I speak of in the media are merciless.
A few more lines from the Prophet:
~Mercy is of the very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The degree to which each of us is able to extend it becomes an expression of the reality of our discipleship under Him who is our Lord and Master.
~It was He who said to the woman taken in sin:
"How great a thing is mercy. Most often it is quiet and unassuming. It receives few headlines. It is the antithesis of vengeance and hatred, of greed and offensive egotism...
"If cultivated among all men, it would put an end to the atrocities of war...
"Our generation is afflicted with critics in the media who think they do a great and clever thing in mercilessly attacking men and women in public office and in other positions of leadership. They are prone to take a line or a paragraph out of context and pursue their prey like a swarm of killer bees. They lash out with invective and snide innuendo against those who have no effective way of fighting back or who, in the spirit of the teachings of the Master, prefer to turn the other cheek and go forward with their lives." (Gordon B. Hinckley, “Blessed Are the Merciful,” Ensign, May 1990, 68)
I have given a couple talks in sacrament meeting at church in the past year - one on love, and one on tolerance. Both times I came across this majestic talk by President Hinckley. I may have referred to it previously. However, it illustrates exactly my journey over the past several years. Maybe I've been deceived and indoctrinated unknowingly with evil liberal invective, and I am hopelessly wandering in the wilderness of relativity.
That's one way to look at it. I tend to see it as I am trying to implement the virtues of mercy and tolerance into my daily actions. I think it's a worthy pursuit. I would rather be merciful than vengeful, hateful, egotistical, and greedy.
I take President Hinckley at his word: mercy has the potential to end war completely.
Mercy is not weakness, and war is not a way to demonstrate strength. War is a demonstration of the barbarity and primitiveness to which mankind is often willing to sink.
But I am not writing to talk about war. I am writing to reiterate, with the help of President Hinckley, one of the largest problems we have in society today. Read it again. Our generation is afflicted with critics in the media. These people divide, enrage, and manipulate so many. They mock those with whom they disagree. They attack differences, and spit on virtues like mercy.
I don't need to name names for you to know of whom I speak. They frame the debate on everything from abortion, to stimulus spending, to war. They deceive many, and they enrich themselves through encouraging contention and dissension among society as a whole. I know politicians are just as guilty, but with the level of trust the average person has for politicians being extremely low, I don't think said figures have nearly as as much influence on the general populace as media personalities.
I declared "war" on them by decided I would not let them manipulate me. I will not listen to them. I will not read their blogs or columns in the newspaper, online, or anywhere else. Whether on the right or on the left, they do not deserve one second of my attention, whether it is for simple entertainment, or for any other reason.
I wish more people would do the same. I wish the absolutist mentality that rules so many, on the right and left, would be extinguished. I wish we would stop characterizing people with whom we disagree as stupid, lazy, less intelligent, dishonest, or whatever other condescending adjective we can spew. I wish we could reason with each other without getting angry and that we could put ourselves in one another's place.
Sounds idealistic, I know. Yes, I'm a dreamer, and fantasize a lot about a better world. A world where people don't get put in concentration camps or camps for refugees. A world where people don't get imprisoned in secret locations without cause. A world where people aren't persecuted for their beliefs, however different they may be. Maybe it's not realistic. But not listening to the manipulators in the media is a great first step. Yes, we need to be informed, but we need a lot less of the type of information that is often portrayed on the radio, and especially on television.
In my mind, this is what motivates my line of thinking. It is what colors my opinion on the current debate about stimulating the economy. I know very little about economics. I don't have time to read the 1000+ page stimulus bill. I only know people are losing their jobs. People are losing their retirement. People are losing their health care. People don't have enough money to pay the mortgage. These people often times have families. They have children probably not so different from my own. It breaks my heart to even imagine my children going hungry. I wouldn't wish it on anyone else.
There are probably a multitude of flaws in the bill that I have no idea about. But I believe it is going to help a lot of people, as well. And there are a lot of people who need help. Not because they are lazy. Because they are in the midst of tough times, and they are scared, and don't know when things are going to get better, or when they will find a job that will cover their needs.
You can call it socialism. I call it mercy. And President Hinckley said it: the voices I speak of in the media are merciless.
A few more lines from the Prophet:
~Mercy is of the very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The degree to which each of us is able to extend it becomes an expression of the reality of our discipleship under Him who is our Lord and Master.
I remind you that it was He who said, “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matt. 5:39.)
It was He who said, “And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.” (Matt. 5:40.)
It was He who said, “And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.” (Matt. 5:41.)
It was He who said, “Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” (Matt. 5:42.)~
In other words, the Master Teacher didn't tell us to say, "Go get a job, you lazy bum, and stop begging for me to be nice to you." He didn't say it was my job to judge whether someone was working hard enough, or doing all that they could, to deserve my mercy, or my help.~It was He who said to the woman taken in sin:
“Where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? …
“Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” (John 8:10–11.)
It was He who, while hanging on the cross in dreadful agony, cried out, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34.)
He, the Son of the everlasting Father, was the epitome of mercy. His ministry was one of compassion toward the poor, the sick, the oppressed, the victims of injustice and man’s inhumanity to man. His sacrifice on the cross was an unparalleled act of mercy in behalf of all humanity.~
For those of you who consider yourself religious, which sin is greater, the sin of murder, the sin of adultery, or the sin of getting help from the government? Christ forgave the act of murder and adultery. He is the final Judge. Maybe certain people are lazy. Maybe they don't work hard enough. I'll let God judge. I will try to have mercy.
The folks in the media make me want to do just the opposite. I say it's time to listen more to Christ and stop listening to the agitators who preach against His teachings. It might make more of a difference than you think.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Truth From the Gut
February 18, 2009
Wow.
I have not watched Stephen Colbert in quite awhile. But I needed a reason to not do something productive, and I found this clip from a week ago. I know I wasn't going to post irreverently inappropriate clips on here anymore, but rules are made to be broken.
I love this video on several levels, but mostly because of how much Stephen loves Glenn Beck. Be sure to listen to the quote at the very end. I won't repeat it here, but I hope it sticks with you for years to come.
Wow.
I have not watched Stephen Colbert in quite awhile. But I needed a reason to not do something productive, and I found this clip from a week ago. I know I wasn't going to post irreverently inappropriate clips on here anymore, but rules are made to be broken.
I love this video on several levels, but mostly because of how much Stephen loves Glenn Beck. Be sure to listen to the quote at the very end. I won't repeat it here, but I hope it sticks with you for years to come.
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