Friday, August 21, 2015

Under the Bridge

You'd think I would be smart enough, and savvy enough, to stay away from people who post political crap on Facebook.

Normally I do.

Usually, I post almost nothing political. I don't see what good can come of it. But 2016 - hell, 2015 !!! - is a contentious battle for the Oval Office.  More so than usual.

So every little thing is being put up on social media - bet it FB or blogs. I'm assuming Twitter too, though I do try to stay far away from that shit.

I do blog about politics now and again, but you really have to search this out to find it - and not open to FB "friends". Most of the people who follow me here are like-minded, or at least based in rational, logical thought.

Hey - I said "most of".

I'm amazed at how people so easily post the most inane stuff. And the most untruthful stuff too - things that can easily be discounted as false, or not even in existence, with a quick Goooooogle search. So I try to stay away from hitting 'reply'.

Sometimes, however, I can't help myself but to respond.

It started with a cousin of mine. Ex-military, dyed in the far right GOP - yet still one of the only family members to congratulate me on the SCOTUS ruling. But he FB'd something about Ann Coulter. I chided him about how vile the woman was and how could he even reference her for anything.  He at least copped to knowing she was a twat, but that she was right on this one issue (some 14th amendment thing she was saying on FOX).

Another was on John Kasich, who said he wanted to abolish all teacher's lounges at all schools. Don't even get me started on that statement. But I was wise enough to pose my comment because I knew the originator of the thread and felt on safe ground.

Then there was the one about how Trump is chipping away at Hillary's lead.

I couldn't help myself.  I said - you mean a lead in that election thingy that is 14 months away. The one where neither person has their own parties nomination? 

It got good responses, but some nasty ones too. I mean, just don't post stuff just to post stuff. Anyone with half a brain knows a poll that far out with that many unknowns is meaningless. And it is meaningless, but the media helps choose the winner of an election much more than the actual candidate does. To anyone with that half a brain it probably doesn't - it's the less brainiacs that you need to worry about.

Then I edged into a debate about this.......


Read it.  Think about it. And let me know what the inference is - if any.   Go on.  I'll wait.






I first started off saying that the VA problem has been around for decades. This is nothing new. But really started off saying that GOP is cutting funding for any veteran programs - including health care, so they really shouldn't be talking about it.

I got a reprimand that it doesn't matter if the VA issue was 5 years or 50 - it's unacceptable. I don't discount that, but once you are behind starting unnecessary wars and creating hundreds of thousands of veterans - many of them wounded, physically and mentally - you better have the resources to support that back and front.

I also said, that one of these issues of which Donny speaks are not related in any way, shape or form.

Now, when you read this - don't you think that is what he was inferring?

My friend thought they were two separate issues, but the way the sentence is constructed, there is nothing to make me think this. And that is what is wrong with politics - especially the GOP.

Maybe it was meant as two items, but the way it was said, would lead a lesser voter to think:  HEY! Veterans can't catch a break because of those Hispanics who come into our country illegally!!!!!

Yes, those immigrants who are 'taking our jobs'. You know the ones we are all clamoring for - picking tomatoes for 13 hours a day at $4 an hour with zero benefits. But that's another post.

Trumps comments have zero to do with each other. Immigrants aren't walking into VA hospitals. And if they have no insurance, they are self-pay and after a while a hospital writes off these charges as 'charity care'. All hospitals do this. And most not for profit hospitals are usually required to provide charity care.

But the crux is - the mixed rhetoric that politicians say. I'm a semi-smart man, I know those two things have nothing to do with one another. So did my friend. BUT, he thought it was clear they weren't conjoined. I think your average Joe would think the exact opposite.

Am I wrong here?



Song by: Red Hot Chili Peppers

5 comments:

Fearsome Beard said...

All I'll say is this, it's pretty freakin sobering that Donny has such a following.

Bob said...

I, too, am amazed by how much stock people are putting in polls today when the election is o far off.

At this point in 2011, Michele Bachmann was the GOP front-runner. Let that sink in, and then think about [t]Rump.

Anonymous said...

I am a Brit so what do I know about American politics ? But you're a voter so you have views. Anyway it feels good to let rip once in a while! By the way on a less contentious note, can I just say that lemon pie looked delicious.
Jean-Paul
itsmyhusbandandme.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Allow me to appear as one of the less rational posters.
This presidential election, like the rest, is mind control for the masses.

The large bulk of a person’s political viewpoints are generated by the echo chamber of our controlled media. A media that has little regard for the facts and is instead constructed to lead you around by the nose and hide reality from you. They get away with this by convincing the public that “oh they do this stuff for money” - or “They are giving Trump all the headlines because he sells papers”.

Of course this is not true. You are being distracted from the actual important issues by tyrannical wealth who filter their mind control through their media.

You can recognize this in Fox news because you are under the influence of the “other side”.

What if there really isn’t an other side? What if both sides really are in on it together in the back room. Where do you find your objective facts…where do you find the truth? Do you find it in all the noise that in the end signifies nothing? It’s very easy to generate beliefs and make people fight over them.

Donald Trump exists to drive republicans towards Jeb Bush and in the end he will drop out and “throw his support” and followers behind him. Jeb Bush will be our next President regardless of if we like it or not. The grand game is afoot. The media could pump up Carrot Top and do the same thing. It’s just that easy.

Should Jeb slip in some major way (caught snorting coke with a 13 year old prostitute or something) – no worries. Hillary is in the back room with the same group. Those that rule you will continue ruling you as will their children rule your children - should you adopt. Divide and conquer – keep them distracted and fighting about nonsense. One of the great accomplishments of the Regan era was completing the task of getting feudalism to masquerade as democracy. All they needed was complete control of the media and religion which he delivered.

The left in this country died with John Kennedy. You had one real democrat who was handpicked and neutered while they set up for Ronnie – the actor whose only job was to give great speeches. Presidents are middle managers now. We are governed by bankers, defense contractors and their corporate lacky’s who will do anything to increase their stock price by a half penny. All the phony noise of our pretend election exists to create the illusion of participation and representation. And our pretend media is their vehicle to convince you its real. Including “your side”…as if anyone could ever be fully on one side. Fully on one side becomes a cult. Partisan politics are nothing more than two cults bickering now.

Accepting what I just outlined is the job of the modern American patriot. It’s no easy but patriotism was never supposed to be easy.
See who you attract when you post politics. ;)
Much love to you and yours.

Erik Rubright said...

The less young I get, the more I believe Idiocracy is becoming more true.