Perception

Are you liberal or conservative? Republican or Democrat? Are you religious or athiest? Is that song about love or loneliness? Are you bigoted or just opinionated? Is the Bible real or just another work of fiction? Are we able to be independent thinkers and realize that everything contained within the Bible is a guideline, and just as times change so does our interpretation of the contents of the Bible? Sometimes it's all a matter of perception. Even the most conservative of Republicans can be accused of being liberal...the horrors...if a more conservative person disagrees with them. Conversely, a liberal Democrat may be accused of being conservative if they say something more conservative than another liberal. It's all about perception. If you are spiritual, but not necessarily religious, are you an atheist - to the religious zealot you may be. Perception.

"Still, the Bible is like a mirror. You end up reading it not as a reflection of how it is but of how you are. If you're a bigoted, narrow person, you will find bigotry in the Bible." Daniel Tammet

What are we really debating?

It's been a rough day for me, in terms of television viewing. You might scoff, but working in the industry - there's a television in the office. I usually have MSNBC on for the news. There are days (especially with all the hyped up political coverage and BS breaking news stories) that I can't watch the news anymore so I flick around the channels to try and find a marathon (SVU, Law and Order, Tabatha, NCIS - anything to escape the news). Today there was nothing. Wait, there was a marathon of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on Bravo. So if you don't want to watch the lies and the deceit and the hypocrisy...oh wait, switching to the RHOBH would be the same thing...never mind.

The Republican debate is on tonight and it's led me to wonder - we're down to 4 candidates now vying for the nomination, but what are we debating? Are we debating which of the four is the least hypocritical? Are we debating which of them is the least racist and homophobic? Are we debating which of them is the most conservative (which in turn, makes them the most racist and homophobic - usually)? Are we debating which of them wants to go up against President Obama in the election with the most altruistic of intentions?

If we were debating any or all of those things, we would not be giving these candidates a free pass on the answers that they give. We wouldn't be giving them a pass when they stand up and at the top of their voice proclaim themselves to be a defender of the sanctity of traditional marriage when they themselves are on marriage number 3 after committing adultery twice. We wouldn't be giving them a pass when it's revealed they cheated the system and paid for non-campaign events with campaign funds. We wouldn't be giving them a pass when they lie to the public and say that they didn't call for Congressional action, when it can easily be researched, that yes, indeed you did. We wouldn't be giving them a pass when they say they have never been homophobic when, indeed, they have - repeatedly. We wouldn't be giving them a pass at all when they attack reporters because they don't like the question. Guess what - you're running for the highest office in the land, perhaps the world. You aren't always going to like the question you're being asked, and you don't get to just bully your way out of answering it.

What are we debating here folks? Blaming the other guy, blaming the incumbent and blaming the middle class is not debating...it's attacking without offering any of your own thoughts. If you'd all get your heads out of your asses long enough to formulate your own opinions and ideas instead of worrying about straying too far from your right leaning, conservative base we might be debating then, but that's hard to tell until it happens.  We can't all agree with each other, and compliment each other's ideas and not offer up any new ones other than criticisms of the current policies and call that a debate - that is just the Good Old Boys network on national television...

Family Values

Why is it that you are "sticking up for Family Values" when you rail against gays getting married or adopting, YET, when we question how you can be a Family Values candidate after 2 divorces - we are the ones on the attcak?

How come you shout and scream that Family Values are paramount, YET, when we're questioning a value you've imposed on your family, we're on the attack? You put it out there.

How come Family Values means putting value on a family, YET, you want to destroy so many loving LGBT families?

How come you can quote Family Values as a reason for denying Marriage Equality, yet when we try and point out, that it's because of Family Values that we want to get married and raise kids we're taking things out of context?

How can you say that you are for Family Values and want to "defend marriage," YET only want to keep the LGBT community from getting married? You're not doing anything to outlaw divorces. I mean, we know I'm a slick, NYC liberal, so I might have this wrong, but I think divorce is doing more harm to traditional marriage than the loving gays that want that right.

How can you say you are for Family Values, yet want to cut public assistance? You do know that military families rely on food stamps at twice the rate of civilians? You do know that that assistance is what is helping some families stay afloat during these trying economic times, right? If you cut those programs, you would be hurting those families. How is that Family Values?


How can you say your are for Family Values and not support a woman's right to chose, but then demonize and demean her if she does get an abortion OR if she keeps the child and raises it as a single parent, outside your Family Values? She's in a no win situation.

How can you say you are for Family Values, YET, you try and force YOUR religious beliefs down everyone else's throat? Don't all families have the right to determine their own religion? Or did you mean that only if they chose yours?

How can I have been the product of a traditional family, full of the Family Values you espouse, yet I'm demonized by you now as a threat to society?

How can you say you are for Family Values at all?