I don't usually get all political on this blog, but I'm scared. Yes, I'm truly frightened by Sarah Palin, to my core. I know that I am not saying anything new here, but I can remember clearly back in 2004 thinking...There's NO WAY that idiot is going to get re-elected, and here we are. Our country is in the worst shape it's been in since the depression.
Palin made an interesting statement the other day about how everyone who wanted to vote for Hilary could vote for her now, and they'd still be voting for a woman. My God! Glenda and the Wicked Witch of the West were both women too. Interchangeable? I don't think so.
I also have a fondness for the statement, "We're fighting God's war!" A religious zealot is a zealot no matter what religion! You've got to be joking me. Are we seriously considering putting this puppy eating, Bambi shooting, ex-beauty queen into a powerful political office? An office second to the presidency, with a crusty old guy about to keel over any minute? Do it, and watch all the gays who so quickly registered for marriage licenses and domestic partnerships get herded up and sent of to the gas chamber as another part of "God's war". Yes, I'm talking to you, Gay Republicans!!! Wake up! Before it's too late.
For more of my opinions on this subject, given in a funnier way, by a more intelligent and better looking woman, click Susan Norfleet's link there on the right of my page.
Don't forget to vote, like your life depended on it!
If you are unfamiliar with Sarah Palin, let me introduce you:
Important, wise words...Subject: Eve Ensler on Sarah Palin
Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and activist best known for 'The Vagina Monologues', wrote the following about Sarah Palin.
Drill, Drill, Drill
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.
I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.
But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.
I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.
Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, 'It was a task from God.'
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.
She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.
Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.
Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.
I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, 'Drill Drill Drill.' I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.
Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?
Eve Ensler
September 5, 2008
17 comments:
HA! Well said. Couldn't have said it better myself. Oh, and thank you for my new bit of Flair - I love it!
I love Sarah Palin. I am also joining the NRA! I would rather have poked my eye with a needle than vote for Hillary. As for voting for Obama, I would rather extract my own wisdom tooth without anesthesia. :)Tsup!!!
tsduff, thank you and you're welcome!
ces, I love you, but your politics leave me cold as they are an afront to me personally. Your Sarah Palin thinks I am an abominaton who will burn in hell, and if you support that...I am speechless and hurt. tsup!
I watched John McCain on telly the other night and he can hardly stand up he's so decrepit. This worries me as Palin would be 'president' should he fall off his creaky knees! As for Ms McCain . . very scary woman and her kids have funny names! There's a 'doll' manufacturer in the US who claims he can predict an election result by the number of political figurines he sells . .the Palin doll is going through the roof so you keep shouting from the rooftops!
http://www.herobuilders.com/08.htm
RM, I don't think Sarah Palin will have a say in legalizing same-sex unions. It is ratified by the people of the state. In fact you had several Republican governors and MA still passed the legalization of same sex marriage. I believe it is possible to love someone who holds different values but share the general principle of goodness. Do you mean that I have to drop all my friends who are gay or lesbians or in your view, should my homosexual and lesbian friends drop me then because I am not? I don't go around asking people whether they are heterosexual or homosexual before I decide to like or love them and share their demand or right for respect and equal treatment I certainly won't abandon someone because he or she is not heteroxual but will do so if he or she is mean or evil. And dear adorable Baino calling a 72 y.o. man decripit, heavens the decripit man's 93 y.o. mother has an opinion about that.
For heaven's sakes, why the conservative registered Republican that I am, have so many friends who I adore and on the opposite spectrum, somehow, it does not seem to matter that much until election time. Heck yes, I will vote for equal benefits and protection but you need to figure that out with your Maker regarding the issue of whether you will call another woman your wife. I cannot comprehend that and if that is the measure of loving a friend, then I better start asking. Hell no. I will love who I love. You just have to take me or leave me. And I am sorry that you are hurt by my beliefs, I learned to accept differences and made peace with my religious and moral beliefs as I struggled to maintain and keep my friend. Her sexual orientation won't be the cause of any falling out.
Ces, I did say I love you, but not your politics. I have a lot of trouble with a friendship where one friend supports a political agenda that considers me less than human, and not deserving of the same rights as everyone else based on who I sleep with.
I have a problem with anyone who doesn't consider me equal.
I have a problem with anyone who supports a candidate who believes that I am an abomination doomed to burn in hell. I cannot make peace with it.
I know that you have gay friends, but that makes no difference because when it comes time to vote you vote for someone who wants to keep "your friends" oppressed and discriminated against. In fact, they want to push through new legislation making discrimination the law!
I am surprised that after many posts, and no sign of you that you would choose this one to comment on.
I am a lesbian. I am equal. Sarah Palin is a dangerous religious zealot who has NO business in government. She should seek office in church, run for pope perhaps, oh wait...she's a woman, they don't think she's up to the task.
Baino, Thank you so much for your support! I'm sure being from another country and not biased based on which party you are loyal to, allows you to see things much more clearly and impartially.
The Republicans seem to all have their heads in the sand over how much Bush has hurt this country, and the last thing we need is more of the same. It seems like party affiliation has become a religion here. It doesn't have to make sense, it just is!
It's scary!
Ces, I haven't seen you here before, but you are very funny. Sarah doesn't have anything to do with gay marriage on the state level, except in Alaska where she fought against it. She would have a much stronger position on the federal level, which is where they have been trying to push through a constitutional amendment!
As far as Massachusetts governors, Mitt Romney had no choice. You may know his position on gay marriage, now that he took a run the presidency.
As far as Baino's comment, I agree. He's decrepit! Not all 72 year olds are equal, and McCain plays old. It's plain to see, if you had your eyes open, but that's asking a lot! I understand.
As far as our maker, our maker made us, and I don't think it was so everyone else would have someone to kick around! I know that's true because my wife said so.
If you like Sarah Palin, you aren't looking hard enough. Get your head out of your ass.
I hope this little difference of opinion doesn't spoil our chances at friendship.
I just want to reiterate the point that Certain Magician made. The states may get to decide whether to allow Civil Unions, but thanks to things like the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, other states and the federal government are not required to recognize any civil union or domestic partnership entered into by a gay couple.
Imagine, married straight readers, what it would be like if you lived in a state that recognized your union and then moved to one that did not. Further, imagine if your partner was from a different country. An American who marries a non-citizen in a state that allows marriage or civil unions cannot live with that person, because the federal government does not recognize the marriage.
So, no, Sarah Palin as vice president would have no say over whether states decide to allow civil unions, but she does have the power to influence how that union will be recognized at the federal level.
And one more thing, this goes way beyond marriage. As Red Mojo said, Sarah Palin thinks that gay people are abominations who do not deserve basic civil rights. It's difficult to smile and be "friends," with those who would support that kind of agenda.
It's not just political. We're not talking about taxes or a candidate's position on universal healthcare. We are talking about a candidate's position on any gay or lesbian person's basic rights as a human being.
It's so easy for straight people to sit back in their comfortable straight people lives and say that they can support politicians like Sarah Palin and still love and accept their gay "friends."
Try being gay for a day. See how it feels to be an abomination, or a second class citizen.
Try being the subject of political debate and proposed consitutional amendments.
Then come back and talk to me about loving people like Sarah Palin.
CJ
Certain Magician, Holy Minorka! How do really feel, don't hold back! Good points, all.
cj,Very well put. You swing like a heavy hitter!
It is about basic human rights! :)
RM, I never thought of you as not equal, an abomination and those gawd-awful description that you thought and typed. My goodness. We'll all burn in hell.
To your friend: Certain Magician, dahrling, I was here before you came. I hate the mention of some body parts that is why I have to go through RM's other blog. You are not going to get me on your side if you pack that much foul-mouth power, and I hope you are as cute as your avatar. You are so touchy. I hope you speak softly and don't scream. I can hear you.
RM, I don't know why I came today. Maybe the holy spirit led me back here today. I had no power and internet access for several days and was revisiting as many friends as I could.
I hear you loud and clear and I know when I am not welcome. I shall now leave you in peace. Take care RM and be good to yourself.
Ces, I apologize for Certain Magician's bad word. I hope you didn't miss the whole point because of it.
It's not about what you think, or how you feel, because once you vote for her, she represents you, and it becomes about what she thinks and how she feels. It sounds to me like she would be a poor representative of your thoughts and feelings.
I am shocked that anyone would support a candidate who believes that some people among her potential constituents are less equal than others.
If we must bring God into it, then it is inconsistent to believe in a god who would love only some of his or her creation. If God exists, God is perfect. Since some of us are gay, we must therefore assume that this was God's plan. There is no other explanation.
I agree completely with all you have said and with Eve Ensler's well-reasoned arguments, too.
I would fear and despise Sarah Palin for her shooting of wolves alone, but she offers so many other reasons that there is truly something for everybody.
Please forgive me, but I can't resist asking if anybody knows which body part in particular Ces hates to hear about. Is it vagina? Or maybe TWAT?
During the past several years, I have undergone a sort of awakening - or massive change in my beliefs. Being raised in the Presbyterian church, I was taught that along with the myriad of "sins", fornication was listed as a no no. So, when my Sweetie moved in with me after my husband died, I began to sin. I have since lost my faith so to speak, and have distanced myself from that church and the people there who judge me because of my private life's choices. I happen to believe that most of the things often described as "sins" are things which every person is guilty of committing at one time or another (from harboring lust for your neighbor to whispering rumors about somebody else, to some of the bigger, worser ones like rape, murder, etc.). So where does anyone get the right to tell anyone else that what they are doing, or in fact who they actually are is morally wrong? We have some dear friends who have a dilemma. They have been together for 18 years. One is in a branch of the military, and so they have had to strictly hide their union from everyone except close personal friends & family. The pain and suffering of not being able to openly be with each other is horrendous. They are gay - so tell me how that makes them different from me and my own Love?
I'm horrified at the way the election is going - Sarah Palin does have a place of her own in this world, but a seat in the white house next to the President isn't it. She is just not able to seperate her own self righteous beliefs from those needed to help govern a whole nation of diverse and unique people.
Palin sacres me silly, too. And it terrifies me that there are actually women who will vote for her. And through the post and th comments it has lal been said better than I can - Palin is a dangerous dangerous woman. Not smart, not skilled, not experienced but sewing the hate-filled right wing rhetoric that seems to have our country in its grip.
heartinsanfrancisco, You can do no wrong! :)
tsduff, It is extremely difficult to live a lie, and hide the most important person in life from others when they all proudly flaunt theirs.
citizenoftheworld, Hate-filled indeed! The hypocrisy never ceases to amaze me.
Sometimes I have to laugh myself at my typos. I meant spewing, not sewing.
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