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As you all know by now there was a tragic shooting here in Tucson, Arizona over the weekend, in which congressperson Gabrielle Giffords was shot and several people died including a federal judge. These people were attacked by a young man who seems to be mentally disturbed, and who acted on his own as evidence coming out seems to indicate. The evidence also indicated that Gabrielle Giffords was his intended target, but does not explain why he continued shooting after Giffords was shot. However, nowhere in the evidence does politics appear to play a part, but politics will play a part in all of this.
The politics of tragedy are often times strong and emotional responses to situations where a person or a group of people are hurt or wronged for no good reason, and there is no immediate answer as to why they were. Those people who are touched by these tragedies can be anybody who witnesses the tragedy or who has an emotional investment in those who suffered the tragedy, and sometimes they will react drastically to this kind of situation. These people will often say things that seem drastic, irrational, and even hateful while under duress, but they deserve a pass because they need the emotional release.
Then there are people who will use any opportunity to further their agenda, and they do not really care whether a given situation is even germane to their political beliefs and agendas. These are the people that you will have to watch closely and be sure to protect yourselves against, because they will attempt to take from you your civil liberties, rights, and freedoms in the name national security and your best interest. All of this is unfortunately true with regard to this past Saturday’s tragic assassination of Gabrielle Giffords and the collateral murders associated with it.
Of course, not all political moves with regards to the Tucson shooting are bad things. The House of Representatives and the Republican leadership in particular did a good thing by suspending house business in light of Saturdays shooting rampage by 22yr old Jared Loughner. However, there seems to be some renewed effort to attack both the 1st and 2nd amendments to the constitution and in that order too, and this I believe is not a good thing or good politics. Neither is the attempt to link the lunatic to the Tea Party, the Republican Party, or conservatives in general because that just is not true.
What is true is that this guy is a seriously disturbed and whom evidence says lives in his own little world. However, some now want to pass legislation against using any speech that might inflame people’s emotions and especially the emotions of those with mental problems. The problem with this is that they are crazy and no one can determine how someone like that will react to what someone says. They also are now looking to pass more gun legislation in light of the attack and that means restricting law abiding citizens gun rights even more than they already are, which is also a bad move.
What really should be taken into consideration in light of this past weekends events is how to best secure our elected officials when they are speaking in a public forum. I also agree with some that think it should be a federal offense to attack these elected officials who represent the people that put them in office. I also sincerely believe that our 1st and 2nd amendment rights should not be infringed upon simply because of the actions of one lone individual. Without free speech and free press the truth will be much harder to ferret out in the future, and without gun rights we will be one step closer to subjects rather than free citizens.
That is all I have for you today, but I will be back again although I hope it will be under lighter circumstances than this one. My prayers go out to the Giffords family and to the families of those who lost loved ones on that fateful Saturday morning. I can only hope that cooler heads will ultimately prevail when it comes time for the collective national mind to deal with this tragedy legally and legislatively and that no one has their rights to the American dream restricted even further. I hope you all have a Marvelous Monday and a wonderful week, take care my friends, CIAO4NOW!!!!!
Today instead of talking about US politics I want to talk to talk about Ireland, the UK, and the politics of colonialism. I know that this is not my usual bailiwick, but I do believe that it deserves some attention. There are many problems over there and there have been for years. These problems include British colonialism, religion, politics, and good old fashioned hate, and today we are going to take a look at all of them.
Colonialism:
Back in its day Britain was what you would call a colonial power. They fought, conquered, and colonized many different nations around the world from India, Australia, and South Africa, to Scotland, and Ireland.
The royal families that ruled Britain believed that it was their destiny to rule the whole of the world and attempted to do so very violently. With their exceptionally well trained military and navy they were very successful at colonization for hundreds of years.
Religion:
Religion was one of the tools that Britain used in its attempted conquests of the nations it sought to occupy and colonize. They supported the Protestants in Ireland against their Catholic opposition. The used the Church of England as a tool of enforcement against their own people who eventually came to the Americas and formed the colonies. They even forced people in countries like China’s Hong Kong, the Aborigines in Australia, and the African tribes to accept Christianity or be subject to ridicule and cruelty.
Politics:
Politics was often the driving force behind Britain’s war-like colonial ways. If a country or location didn’t subscribe to Britain’s political beliefs then they were more often than not the target of conquest and colonization.
The British were historically unhappy with any nation who didn’t view their geo-political beliefs and sought to beat them into submission. Just look at how long and how many times France and England have been at war for the last thousand years.
Hate:
Hate is the very basic emotion that ultimately doomed the British Colonial Empire to fail with very few exceptions. In the case of the United States it was taxation without representation that caused the war that ended English rule here, we hated it. It ultimately led to their defeat and removal from virtually all of its former colonies. Unfortunately hate is what still drives certain factions within Ireland and Northern Ireland in particular and until that issue can be resolved there will never really be a complete peace there.
I will tell you that parts of my family has been invested in the troubles in Ireland since they began. Members of my family resided in the north within the five counties, but mostly from Cork. They were Irish, Catholic, and extremely proud. They also wanted Ireland independent and ruled by their own.
Since then the situation has evolved and some of the more radical factions have adopted a more socialist or even fascist idea of a free Ireland. I for one can’t say that I will ever live to see an Ireland free from British occupation and rule. I also cannot say that Ireland would be better without it. The British/Irish peace that was brought about in the late 90’s was a good start, but the struggle is not over.
Until the Irish are treated fairly and equally to all the citizens of the UK, and the violent factions are rooted out and disappear or cease to wage their guerrilla war against the United Kingdom total peace is only a dream. It is still possible but until then it is still an illusion.
I hope you all have a great day my friends, CIAO4NOW!!!!!
Hello everyone, I hope everybody had a nice weekend, and is ready for the first Monday of the week. Its time for another installment of Simple Man Politics, and I’ve had a couple of people ask me when I’m going to address race in politics this political season, so that is what I’m doing today. I will try not to be to longwinded, so, let’s get started.
Race and politics have had a long history together all the way back to the beginning of civilization. They have been used together to control societies, start wars, to promote one religion over another, and to control governments, and used together can be a potent and devastating combination.
In the current election cycle the threat of race in politics has been in the back of everyone’s mind for quite some time, but until recently had only been a thought. Now it's become a reality, and from the most unlikely source Barack Obama. You may ask how Obama could play the race card - he’s not a racist because he's black. It’s simple; he played the race card as weapon against McCain and the Republicans and as a scare tactic against his own supporters. Now you want to know how he did this and I will tell you. With statements such as, “oh and by the way he’s black” and “he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills”. As far as accusing John McCain and his campaign of playing the race card against him, I can find no evidence of that any where, and I’ve done a whole bunch of research too.
Some people seem to be worried that Obama’s remarks are racist and while I wouldn’t call Obama a racist, I most certainly would not accuse McCain of being a racist either, since he has gone out of his way to keep "race" out of the presidential race. McCain has even gone out of his way to chastise those who have attempted to play the race card against Obama and has denied he supports their positions to do so. Now I said earlier that I wouldn’t call Obama a racist, but he definitely had a very close association with a racist for more than twenty years - his pastor Jeremiah Wright. He has even gone so far as to say that this man was his mentor. Of course now he says he never heard any of the things that it has been proven Wright has said, even from the pulpit. I find that hard to believe. By the way the reverend Wright and his congregation gave Louis Farrakhan an award and Wright himself accompanied Farrakhan to Libya, and Farrakhan is certainly a racist and an anti-Semite.
Well boys and girls I can honestly say I’ve addressed the politics of race in this political season. Now all I can do is go out and get the facts and report them to you. It is still up to you to look at both of these candidates and decide for yourself who will best represent you in the next four years. Until I see you all again Wednesday, have a great day.
Hi ya’ll, its time for the 2nd installment of my blogging subject of the week, immigration and border security. The target of today’s discussion is Barack Obama and his policies on the afore-mentioned subjects. Let’s see if we can make a go of understanding where he is coming from, and looking at his policy on comprehensive immigration reform.
First let’s discuss border security. Obama says he believes in the preservation of our borders though additional personnel, infrastructure, and technology at the border, and our ports of entry, as well as better real time intelligence. I really couldn’t find anything else that he has said on the subject. However, I might add that Obama has stated that he doesn’t see securing our borders as a matter of national defense.
Second is the subject of immigration, and here he seems to have a more complex plan. First of all, he believes that our current immigration system is broken and has been exploited by politicians to divide the country, rather than finding real solutions. He states that this has allowed the problem of illegal immigration to worsen. As a result he has played a leading role in crafting comprehensive immigration reform.
Some of the things in his immigration reform policy include bringing people out of hiding. He believes these people would like to become full members of our society. For those trying to play by the rules, he supports a system whereby they pay a fine, learn English, go to the back of the line to get in, and obey the laws of our nation. Another important piece of legislation he supports is a bill that would increase the speed and accuracy of F.B.I. background checks on immigrants. He also wants to go after employers that hire undocumented workers, and create an employment eligibility verification system so employers can identify legally eligible workers in the U.S.
Last but not least, and something I very much believe in, is his support for honoring our immigrant troops. Better than 69,000 foreign born people serve in our country’s military, and roughly 29,000 are not U.S. citizens, and more than 100 of these immigrant soldiers have died in combat. He believes these soldiers should have an expedited path to citizenship.
As far as I can ascertain, these are Obama’s positions on immigration and border security. Of course you can read his policy paper on this for yourself, and I recommend you do. That is all I have on Obama for this right now, but I will keep watching him to see what he says and does between now and election day, because I’m sure that if he has the opportunity he will make the Dream Act a reality, and everything I wrote will be off the table and all bets are off. Have a great day, and I’ll see you on Friday for part 3 of these subjects as it pertains to Governor Janet Napolitano of my state Arizona, and my final words on these very important subjects.