Laughed out loud, I did.

Who is Joan Baez?

more music charts

Just a few more words on the political front

So, when you talk with someone about your point of view, what sort of tact do you (does one) take? Well, if you're intent on having them see your point of view, possibly even adopt your point of view, you would first demonstrate on what points the two of you agree. You'd build rapport, lay some groundwork. If you're really smart, and you truly care about the person to whom you're speaking, you'll maintain respect throughout the entire discourse. And, if you happen to be talking to me personally, you will not show up with hate. You won't show up to the party with a nice, heaping, steaming pile of bitter. Or better, either.

I fail to understand how anyone expects ANYONE to "come over to their side" by belittling, declaring another's point of view stupid/greedy/self-serving, or presuming that you're are better than someone else because you're more, oh, I don't know, enlightened. . . evolved. . . superior?

I'm very lucky to have had almost all of my political discussions of late start and continue with respect and love. Some of them have not. Personal attacks on human beings that WE DON'T EVEN KNOW are fantastically ridiculous. Breathing fire about some woman from Alaska makes as much sense as hating the guy behind the counter at Subway. I'm not stupid, I get that her choices may turn out to have much more impact than do his; however, they're equally human. And equally fallible.

To be clear, I'm not trying to take the enlightened/evolved/superior path. (Hee!) I'm just pointing out that discussing choices, leadership styles, decisions, and philosophies creates an entirely different thing than tearing at the fiber of a person. Tearing people down, even those you believe to be against you personally, does not create anything worth having.

Just some thoughts on how we might move forward talking about politics. Or, you know, whatever.

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P.S., If you're reading this, I didn't write this in reaction to anything we've discussed.

One More Taboo Topic: Politics

I'm not a Senator McCain hater in any way. Truly. I don't think he's Satan or Satan's Puppet (those are the ones I've heard that make me laugh,) or anything less inflammatory, either. But I do have one very important question, and it goes like this: WHAT THE F*&%?!

Whether Sarah Palin is qualified for a national office -- particularly this one -- is not what is most disturbing to me. What's disturbing (for the sake of this particular blog entry) is how it appears. The selection of a little-known, inexperienced, female person comes off like this to your random woman voter:

"You didn't get Hillary, so here's another vagina for you."

To be clear, I'm NOT saying anything about Ms. Palin with this statement -- she could, indeed, make a good VP -- I'm saying it about the people who selected her for the candidacy. If the GOP felt they truly needed a female candidate for the ticket, how about Sen. Elizabeth Dole? She's an educated, nationally-eperienced, charismatic woman. How about Kay Bailey Hutchison, the senior female senator? How about anyone, regardless of anatomy, with leadership experience and qualities that makes her or him an acceptable choice for president, should anything happen to McCain?

This entire frame of selection pisses me directly off. I remember feeling exactly the same way about President Clinton's selection of Janet Reno. Both of the president's previous nominees, Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood, had confirmation problems; by the time he selected Reno, it appeared that he was searching for a woman to do the job much more urgently than he was searching for the most-qualified person to do the job. Yes, of course there's always the chance that the three most qualified candidates were all female, but I doubt it.

It's this sort of gymnastics (among other things, naturally) that makes me wonder how we'll rise above the game of politics and move forward, and upward with concern and love for people living in this country.

Yes, I'm idealistic. Yes, I had a visceral reaction. I offer no apologies for either.