So, having a blog doesn’t really do much good if you have nothing to focus on.
I was intending to focus on books, but as I’ve been re-reading a lot lately, it doesn’t help me much.
I did finish reading the Twilight series again. Say what you will, I think we’re all a bit jealous of Stephanie Meyer. She’s making a fortune off a dream.
I will not lie, I have not been following politics as closely as I used to. Somewhere along the presidential campaign trail, I dropped out of the game. I only watched one presidential debate between McCain and Obama and finally stopped watching the news on a constant basis due to frustration, over analysis of minute detail and repeated promises I could not bring myself to believe.
When the election finally rolled around, I took a few hours, did a bit of research and decided my vote on the issues that mattered to me, being primarily education and same-sex marriage. I feel I made an enlightened vote, not casting my ballot based primarily on what flag the candidate stood under, Democrat or Republican. But now, the elections are over, the country under a heavy economic shadow and the political mud is being slung.
Blagojevich was impeached, Mark Sanford went abroad for something most politicians find in their own state, and Sarah Palin is, well, Sarah Palin.
I will not lie. When Palin was added to the ticket, I was a supporter. She was not only a candidate that stood for hardcore conservative family values, but also seemed to be the perfect spokeswoman for the disturbingly underrepresented special needs community. She was, in short, an example of what most people view as the Republican Woman, an overworked soccer mom with something to say.
Unfortunately, she opened her mouth and we learned what she had to say.
I will not go into the whole thing, as I am sure all saw the one speech she made (or the other versions of it she repeated). Something about hockey moms, dogs and the great state of Alaska, I have no idea as, like I said, I stopped watching.
But what has been going on between Sarah Palin and Levi Johnston is outright ridiculous.
I won’t go into detail as the story can be found on a number of websites, some whose credibility I find suspect, with a simple Google search. Suffice to say that Johnston is a fame-seeking, money hungry liar while Palin is a fame-seeking, money hungry snob. Or at least that is what they accuse each other of being.
Their situation, if you take out the politics of it all, is one that I’m sure many people have encountered. The young couple that, probably through the sweet stupidity of youth, conceived and the parents that were, to put it mildly, very upset with them. I do think that the engagement between Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin was primarily fueled by the fact that the Palin family was on the stage for the world to see. Young Bristol and Levi were paraded in front of the cameras as the perfect vision of young love and the difficulties it can overcome. It was, in a way, the Palins saying to the world, “See, it happens to us, too. We fix it like good God fearing Christians should.” Whether they meant it this way or not, that’s how it came across.
It would have been prudent of them to slide quietly out of the limelight after the election and keep the minutiae of their story out of the media. Yet here we are, watching the soap opera unfold.
Bristol Palin, it seems, has wisely taken a backseat in the drama, letting her mother sort out the press. Johnston, whether from the lack of PR men or plain idiocy, has sparked a fire no one really wishes to watch burn.
For a time, I did feel badly for Johnston. A nineteen year old, small town boy that had been put in front of the world as an example of good family values when he probably would have been better staying out of the light. Those feelings are gone.
Whether his engagement to the then-pregnant Bristol had been forced by the Palin camp or if he truly did wish to marry the girl has become a moot point. I don’t care how much he was offered or what reasons drove him to it, discussing his sex life with Bristol on national television was inappropriate. As are the GQ pictures of him, shirtless with his three month old son naked in his arms. Pat Buchanan’s comment that Todd Palin “ought to take Levi down to the creek and hold his head underwater until the thrashing stops” may be a comical and disturbing way of summing it up, but it does do justice to how ludicrous the whole thing has become.
Sarah Palin and Levi Johnston are adults and can have at it until the rest of the nation thinks they are a joke, if anyone does not think so already, but what about Tripp? That poor boy, all of three months old, will have to grow up with this story hanging over his head. All in all, Levi Johnston is doing a great job proving himself an unfit father and is making a mockery of himself and his family. I do not believe anyone does not understand Bristol Palin’s point of view when Johnston complains that she does not seem to want him around Tripp.
Putting aside the Palins for a moment, let us venture forth into another area of ridiculous right-wing mudslinging.
Malia Obama.
Yes, the eleven year old first daughter is causing quite a stir. How? By wearing a shirt that sports the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament logo, the peace sign, in Italy while her father attended the G8 conference last week. The shirt was more than likely not simply a decision of what she wanted to wear that day, a decision I doubt the girl has as she is the President’s daughter. While eleven, she undoubtedly has a much better education than most Americans did at her age, not to mention a whole slew of people whose sole function is to control the image of the First Family. If she herself is in fact a supporter of nuclear disarmament, I take my hat off to her. To be so young and standing for a cause like that is commendable as most people twice her age are more interested in movies and what is the best keg party to attend on weekends.
The biggest surprise is not Malia’s choice of apparel but the hardcore conservative response. That they even have a response to an eleven year olds’ shirt is ridiculous to me but they even began to attack her for it! A forum on the Free Republic website, which has now been pulled due to the outrage that many expressed at it, not only berated her for the shirt but also found it necessary to lob insults at the girl.
It is well known that the children of politicians, especially the younger children, are out of bounds for the media. Apparently this did not apply to the common man utilizing the internet. As I read earlier on another blog concerning this issue, the blogs and forums that now populate the internet are a great way to start informed, enlightened arguments about issues that come up in daily life. Freedom of speech is great, but should be curbed when it comes to the children of world leaders. I do applaud Free Republic for pulling the forum, even if some of its members do not show Malia respect. The child’s life has to be insane enough without waking up and learning that something so small as a shirt has made her the target of bitter conservatives. Unfortunately, I believe that this is a case in which a very small number of a population makes the whole hang their heads a bit.
The Republicans are trying to get their act back together and issues such as these are not helping. After the eight years of Bush, Americans are tired of watching the party become a joke and the growing number of Independents shows that bi-partisanship and political dramas are creating more and more problems. The mudslinging will never cease as political beliefs are a large part of the way people define themselves. I hope that the mud will eventually be confined to debates instead of feuds and between voters that can make a difference and the leaders they elect to office and not children and those simply out for blood.
Random factoid of the day : It is, July 1st, 2009, the 147th anniversary of the beginning of the three day Battle of Gettysburg.
As I’m in class waiting for our break to end, I cannot write much. I just wanted to update as I haven’t yet and I’ve had the blog for something like a month (most of my time spent on the title image).
About two weeks ago, I met Richard Baas at my bar, St Michael’s Pub in Tallahassee. At first he was silent, watching the people that sat at our table and immersed themselves in drink and conversation. I, being myself and deeply ingrained in my habits, decided to force him to talk. I was, over the next while, was continually blown away by the insight he has on society (he had very quickly labelled himself as a “people watcher”). He told me about how he spends his free time as a wildlife photographer and is active in St. Marks, Florida with wildlife appreciation. We talked about wildlife conservation, the necessity of depression in writing (he stopped writing after he got married, he’s too happy ^_^) and the way to raise children (based on the idea that children in this area are hellions). Basically, after a few hours spent in his company, Richard proved to be an engaging, intellegent person with a whole lot of great ideas and an exceptionally gifted photographer. So, as I warned him, I’m sharing his pictures with my readers (the few that I have so far). Here’s the link to his site and, please, if you choose to borrow his photos, be sure to get in contact with him and then give credit where credit is due.
http://botany.journalspace.com/
Thanks a million, Richard. I was hoping to give you a better introduction than that but I’m a little distracted.
