Bonsai Blog

So they both participated in a religious debate with the author of ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ at some church called Saddlebags or something similar.  What exactly makes that ok?

Did we NOT just reform Iraq’s government because it was based on religion?  Do we NOT have seperation of church and state?  We’re throwing out our OWN RULES and showing our utter hypocrisy.  Both McCain and Obama showed how they really don’t understand our government by appearing in the debate.

America no longer even keeps its own values straight.  Maybe that’s why our citizens no longer do either.  I don’t know, but it was terribly irresponsible and an anti-patriotic sentiment for the church to even SUGGEST hosting, let alone go through with it…and grand finale…for the candidates to PARTICIPATE.  All around bad behavior.  Mike Gravel really still does have my heart <3

PS- Don Werner of Northfield has to be one of the most ignorant neo-conservative religious right members that I have ever heard.  If anyone reads the Northfield News, you know you can count on him to be there to not only screw up American politics, but also the religion he claims to be a part of.  Two for two Don, keep ‘er up!

ASome people believe that our country is a single religion nation. It is not.  We were built on the basis of freedom, a term we toss around at every turn yet seldom admit what it really means.  To some we’re only free when it suits their religious psuedo-political ideals.  Just because something is against your religion doesn’t mean you have to ban everything outright.  Why is it that right wing neo conservatives feel the need to buckle down the whole country to a certain religion’s standards?

Lack of religion is causing our country to lose their morals. Nope, wrong again.  There’s a lot of factors that play into this, including bad parenting, misguided government control, etc etc.  I think a lot of what happened here is that people started to take advantage of our ‘freedom’ without fully taking on the included responsibilities.  We’re supposed to WATCH THE NEWS.  We’re supposed to FOLLOW CAMPAIGNS.  We’re supposed to be ACTIVE IN OUR COMMUNITY.  But of course as long as we GET WHAT WE WANT as SOON AS WE WANT IT, we’re happy.  We’re a fat culture, in more ways than ever.

Our government cannot be trusted. That actually sounds like something someone on the right wing would say.  The fact is, it’s Bush that can’t be trusted.  I am so gung ho about people getting their faith restored in our government it’s not even funny.  I want people to see tangible effects of the government doing positive things here and abroad.  We don’t need to help anyone else right now (Iraq), what we need is to clean up our own country and take the initiative to help out.

There will be change once a new president is elected. This one I’m really worried about.  I’m not so much against a conservative president, but McCain?  No.  People…how has Bush helped us?  Really?  It’s ridiculous that we’d even consider a presidential conidate that has so much in common with our current caricature of a president.  Obama at least should’ve gotten a decent rival.  One that wouldn’t make me want to leave the country if he were to be elected.

As a closing thought, do we really exist?  There has yet to be proof.  One day at a time.  Live and then die.  Let’s not squander our time making artificial rules that mean nothing in the grand scheme of time.

In perspective, I can’t get married.  Why?  Because the religious right thinks it’s an abomination.  I didn’t choose to be gay.  To put it bluntly, I do not want to procreate.  As in I have no interest in doing what is required.  That is definitely a genetic trait that is abnormal, seeing as how most males want to get as much tail as they can, but it’s not something to cry witch over either.

I will die.  Whether or not I die happy in the arms of my husband does not seem like a choice that is fair to make by another person.  I hate how people choose these witch hunt topics that never have anything to do with what’s really going on.  Love is biological, it’s not religious.  Don’t make it something it’s not.  And last time I checked, love was not offensive.

Obama is not progressive.  It seems he thinks FISA is a fine bill to pass.  Because we should give Telecoms immunity because they chose to just hand over the information even though they should have used the court system to protect us.  And the bill is going through, even worse, to give retroactive immunity to Bush and his cronies.  It’s already passed the House, expected to go through the Senate.  It’s disgusting.

I think I was too optimistic.  I don’t think America will last much longer frankly as the world super power.  This post actually has 5 good points.  We can’t cooperate with each other, we’re dedicated to holding our own beliefs and not budging.  Why?  Probably because just like the Middle East we have hugely religious backing in most areas which leads to people believing something without knowing why they are or how to actually understand what they believe in.  Whatever.

Also there are now rumors that Congress met in March to discuss the imminent collapse of our economy in late 2008.  Right now I’m not going to vouch for the authenticity of the news article…but that’s scary.  It was apparently a closed door meeting (which would be the 4th in our 200 year history) which discussed the possiblity of a civil war breaking out as a result.

Oh yeah, and in addition, the news source above discussed an advance round up of insurgent US citizens.  Sounds like we’re headed towards a Police State.

Well, good luck.  It’s not like anyone would rescue us anyways because we’ve stocked up on so many weapons.  So basically we beefed up our defenses, but turns out we were only locking ourselves in.  Haha.  In a way I kind of like the irony of this possible situation.

<3 Paul

PS- Bush has ruined our country.  I want to send out a special thank you for those of you who voted for him.  Twice.

I wrote kind of a free verse / prose poetry piece that addresses my view of the current administration’s handling of government. I know not everyone is trained in decrypting poetry, so I’ll just point out that in pieces I am addressing the president, but in some cases I’m addressing the role of government in general. It also contains punctuation but is purposefully not separated by any periods. If you want to know how to read it it goes at a continually faster rate and increasingly frantic from the narrator’s perspective.

Is it my faith you seek, because you already had it, or was it just my simple starry eyed admiration that you wanted to keep with your propaganda machines constantly telling me over and over what my ideals are and what my beliefs are and who I should hate and who I should love and who deserves the war that we bring to them, only because they have brought it unto themselves in the first place, is it that or did you just want me content as you went on your little rampage taking me for granted, trying to keep me in a coma as the chaos ensued around my hospital bed but you kept my ears plugged and my eyes covered, well, you tried but somehow I got the remote and turned on the TV, and even with the poor reception I saw what you never intended me to see and what you never wanted me to hear, and I saw how you deceived me and I heard the illegitimacy of your lies and suddenly my mind was clearer than it had ever been before and I was simply a slave and you were my master and the whole situation was no longer something innocent it was a rape of my innocence and you were over me panting and I still had it in my head that no meant no but there comes a point when your voice just stops working because you’ve been screaming so much and through it all you never heard me you covered my head and did you work and somehow everyone else looks past me and looks to you and supports you and I shout out again for help but people tell me to be quiet and I look in your eyes and wonder how I could’ve been one of those people who told others to hold their tongues when they cried for help and I wondered how I was the one who saw your bloody hands and somehow managed to be silent when mothers screamed that their children were being slaughtered and after all I’ve been through who am I to ask for anyone else’s help, who am I to expect anyone else to listen and suddenly the responsibility is falling on my shoulders because now I sit back and do nothing as your followers bow and bow again, defend you as the blood pools around your feet, fight for you as the blood pools around the world, and they just keep on chanting in time with you and I can’t for the life of me understand this madness that everyone is caught up over, I can’t understand why I’m no longer in the land of the free, I can’t understand why people are holding guns up to their heads and pulling the trigger when they could swear to god they’re pointing it at the enemy.

And Conservatives are already preparing a counter case to strike it down.

Honestly though, what does it hurt?  This is just about as moronic as men striking down women’s rights in recent history, or looking back, the South supporting segregation.  Or just look at any idiotic motion to support any sort of discrimination at all throughout history.

Gay marriage does NOT affect straight marriages AT ALL.  The biggest complaint I’VE heard is that people will just do it for tax breaks.  Well you know what?  There are a great deal of white (majority) straight (majority) couples popping out kids for welfare money.  There are a great deal of straight couples that can stay married just to get tax breaks.  Is this a game of who can outsmart the government and who can’t suddenly?  Frankly people who would do this sort of thing are going to find a way no matter what.

Seriously.  These people look like monsters.  “Ok, yes, this is the land of the free.  But what about FAMILY VALUES?!”  Yeah?  What about them?  Last time I checked this was not a country that was supposed to have a government influenced by a SINGLE religion, let alone any religion at all.  The founding fathers did NOT approve of that model and that is what we ESCAPED from in England.  He who fights the monster must becareful lest he become one.  America, observe said proverb.  In fact we make a big deal about the Muslim government in middle eastern countries…yet we’re fine with being hypocrits.

I think at some point during my travels abroad I saw how backwards Americans really are.  No wonder almost every other country in the world hates us.  There’s a reason folks.  I’m not even sure if we can reverse the pervasive ignorance around us.

Grow up folks.  Intolerance was so 1800s.  We’ve made it through slavery, we’ve survived through women suddenly wearing pants (GASP- THE HORROR!), we’ve stumbled through Japanese internment, now we just need to jump through the recent immigration discrimination and the treatment of homosexuals.  I still think love is love and people are people.

From the beacon:

To the editor:

I just want to say a BIG thank you to Representative Steve Drazkowski and his work on health care.

America has the greatest health care system in the world and if anyone has their doubts, go to Canada or England and they will tell you how they have to stand in line to get to a doctor. When a friend of mine from Canada told me that she had a problem with hemorrhaging and the doctors told her to get in line and she said she was so “thankful” she could come to the states to get help. How much blood can you lose before you are dead?

Well, it seems under government controlled health care you can die and that’s just too bad! I am so thankful for people like Representative Drazkowski who has some common sense and really cares about people and not just an agenda like so many do today in government.

E. Salzman

Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  Nope.

Then also also a Mr. Ed Nobach has again proven that some conservative people have their heads screwed on backwards.  He constantly assaults Democrats for the country’s problems, completely ignoring the fact that Bush started a useless war or decimated our economy or destroyed public relations, etc.  It’s irrelevent who caused the problems right now because we have to remedy.  I would GLADLY vote for whatever party has the most comprehensive plan to restore America to what it should be.

Democrats vs Republicans is not what is supposed to be going on.  We have parties in this country so that citizens have more choices in a democratic process and the party not holding office has the responsiblity of being ‘watchdog’ in government.  They were never meant to be good vs evil or, even worse, actually HINDER the political process because they cannot agree.  We’re all here to work for the betterment of our country so I would say people should start acting like it.  Both parties may have different ideas, but that’s part of the process and how things become refined throughout the process with input coming in from both sides.  And hopefully the end result is a more balanced piece of legistlation that represents the most people possible.

It is completely irresponsible to start mudslinging from any party to any party.  That makes YOU part of the problem and can only delay a solution.  If people stopped and took time to actually use their brains to construct something together then perhaps our world would not be facing so many crisises.  Instead we all see to like to get what we want and we all want to be right.  But what’s right for us may be wrong for everyone else.

COMPROMISE.  It’s a bipartisan term.

Right now we are facing a crisis in our country.  A political crisis.  At this point I have to honestly wonder how our populace can simply go along with out government.  It has never been our responsibility to unquestioningly follow our government and their decision.  It has never been our duty to be the sheep that unquestioningly follow a sheperd.  It has never been our patriotic obligation to unquestioningly accept what is fed to us through our media and political outlets.  If you think that’s what being a citizen entails then that is a grave miscalculation of political duties.

We’re essentially at a crossroads now with our country.  We can follow the lead of previous political leaders and run the United States of America into the ground or we can forge a new path and try to fix what has been broken.  This is a crucial point for us, that point cannot be stressed enough.  This isn’t to advocate Obama or Clinton or Democrats, this is to tell you that if we make a mistake at this point we may be beyond saving.  I’m sick of the political tug of war that our country has been going through.  America is facing the biggest defecit in its history, we are continuing to fund a war that has not been won and will not be won, and finally we are facing domestic threats to our freedom, the most prized American value, straight from our President’s desk.  This is not time to debate conservative or liberal, this is time for positive change for the country.  Whoever can bring this ship back on course is the person who deserves to lead our country.

We suffer from global hate right now for past military actions.  We suffer from domestic unrest in the wake of decisions made by our politicians.  We suffer grave abuse of power in the forms of our own terrorism and illegal spying, not on terrorists, but of our own citizens by our elected officials.  What has our media done about this?  Nothing.  They have decided to go after a monetary goal instead of doing their duty to report what is going on to the American public.  What is most important to us right now is not what is going to give the highest ratings.  CNN has failed us.  Fox has failed us.  MSNBC has failed us.  It’s downright sickening honestly.  If the media cannot get its own priorities straight, how are even the most dedicated people to get any useful and unbiased information about the wrongs being committed right here in our own country?  What’s the solution to that?

It’s time for citizens to actually get together and voice their unrest.  This isn’t something that is entirely Bush’s fault.  Our Congress has lead us astray, our media has negelected it’s duties, and finally much responsibility falls on our own shoulders for being so passive about the events that have transpired.  If we stay silent we are simply accomplices to our own demise.  And if it were simply America slowly caving in on itself, fine.  We have other countries to go to or we could simply be blissful in our simple American ignorance.  But no, that’s not the situation right now.  America is falling apart at the seams…but it is affecting the global balance of things to boot.  The Middle East has already been punished for our own stupidity, countries have had to send their sons to fight our war which was from the start misguided.  And there are 4,000 families and counting that will not have a son or daughter come back from overseas alive.  Can you fathom the pain they must be in?  I don’t think so, because if you did, you would not be content doing nothing.  That is 4,000 families that will only have memories of a 1st grade painting or a craft made in 5th grade to remember their precious child by.  That is 4,000 families that will not get to see one of their children have a family of their own.  And that is 4,000 too many.  Get a fucking clue America, this is not ok.  I am also not ignoring the loss of countless- COUNTLESS innocent Iraqi families that face the same tradegy on even a larger scale.  They are just like us.  Just. Like. Us.  And if you can fool yourself into thinking that they aren’t, that they’re simply a faceless enemy, you have dehumanized them and have disrespected humanity at large.  We are people, they are people, and on either side…it is a tradgedy.

Have we found any signs of weapons of mass destruction?  No.  Have we even caught the man responsible for the terrorist attacks that sparked a ‘War on Terror’?  No.  Why not?  Can we not ask that question yet, after almost 8 years?  WHAT ARE WE DOING?!  You’ve been fooled.  I’ve been fooled.  Fooled into thinking that we were safe.  Fooled into thinking that our freedom was secure.  Fooled into thinking that we were doing the right thing.

But I am not content to be fooled any longer.  I am not content to stand by and let people die.  And finally I do have the audicity to ask you.  Are you willing to stand on the side with your eyes and ears closed?  At the end of the day it will be yourself that you’ll have to live with.

Or, is that a completely outdated question?  Because to call it immoral would hinge on us having an accepted set of moral standards.  In some ways, we do.  Obviously people do not normally accept, say, murder as a moral thing to do.  In other ways though we project some of our religious beliefs on others and hold them to the same standards that we voluntarily (read: VOLUNTARILY) submit ourselves to.  it seems to interfere a disturbing amount with American politics even though we’re now in the 21st century.

Yes, most Christians believe that homosexuality is a sin.  Or at least giving into homosexual desires.  And I’m completely willing to defend their right to believe that because I believe that we live in a free society and I value individuality and free thought.  The problem arises when these Christian groups try to put their values into motion through legislation.  A perfect example would be the proposed amendment that tried to define marriage as between a man and a woman.  Why, if I do not accept a certain religion’s beliefs should I have to care or conform to them?  This is AMERICA!  Land of the FREE!!  That is the beauty of the whole situation.  If I want to tell you Satan created cats to be his spies and we should never keep them as pets because they would corrupt us, I can totally do that.  But would it be appropriate to propose an amendment outlawing cats as pets?  Does that really seem reasonable at all to you?  So while I fully respect the view that homosexuality is a sin and immoral, I don’t personally believe that.  And I refuse to follow any law that would condemn the biological process of love simply because a group would love to play ‘high and might, I’m right you’re wrong’ with America.

If we did evolve as Darwin hypothesized, there are always going to be little offshoots of a species that either survive or die off.  I would not be the one to argue that being gay is normal.  I think it’s just another human oddity such as depression, schizophrenia, genius level intelligence, or artistic ability.  It’s just something you’re born with.  The four aforementioned things can also be factors of life of course, just as being gay might be.  Does a male become gay if he sees a vagina too early ala lactose intolarents having drank milk too young?  I don’t honestly know and I think if the public is seeking an answer it’s a misguided waste of time.  You can ponder and ponder and ponder how Stephen Hawking comes up with his theories, but he’s already published his thesises.  Now it’s time to look at the information in front of you and try and make the best of it.  I think I’m simply getting at the fact that I don’t understand why a religion would want to make someone feel even worse about their life if they can’t even help something.  But, y’know, congrats anti-gays, we have the highest suicide rates.  You must be doing something right.  Show God’s love, huh?

We only get a limited amount of time on earth.  Obviously.  Because we are going to die.  So what’s the point of wasting time judging each other when we could just spend more time making the quality of life better for each other?  That is more imporant than making money.  That is more important than making sure you have a cookie cutter American Dream family.  Whatever you can do to make your life and the lives of those around you better is what you ought to be doing.  Not condemning and literally wrecking lives.  Religion is being abused and ruining lives.  That’s what it comes down to.  If you want to argue your point, look no further than the verses that explain how God gave us free will.  He did not appoint anyone to rule the earth in his stead.  In fact God made the very same point I’m making: make life better for those around you.  That doesn’t mean appealing for legistlation that goes against your beliefs, but that definitely does not call for advocating legislation that ruins lives for millions of Americans.

I don’t think half the people who call themselves Christians in this country understand the religion they think they belong to.  And you will be in no better boat if God does end up coming down from a cloud and smiting anyone who didn’t believe in him.  God doesn’t want lukewarm Christians, remember?

When I grow up, I want to be (INSERT JOB).  Isn’t that what kids tell each other?  That when they grow up they have these great plans on what they want to spend the rest of their lives doing?  Well, welcome to the real world.  Welcome to the World.  It keeps getting richer, keeps getting sadder, and suicide rates are still climbing.  Apparently kids that have come before have grown up and discovered that being an adult does not give you unlimited freedom and they may not like what the future has in store for them.

Adolescents always seem to look up to adults as well.  One day you’re a teenager drinking beer and smoking pot with a friend, the next day you’re the police officer arresting them.  What is that magical transformation that seems to take place overnight?  I’m not sure at what point kids become teenagers and then finally gain the right to adulthood.  Is it really 18?  Is there some scientific reasoning that it is a new stage in our life?  Well, I sure wish I knew a hell of a lot more about life. Is there some point later in life when you feel like having kids that makes you an adult?  Right now I know that I don’t have the patience to raise a new generation (if I adopted).  So when is the book of knowledge going to integrate itself into my brain so that I can snag that dream career, answer all of my kids’ questions and live happily ever after??

Now I think I’m starting to realize that ‘adult’ is quite an arbitrary name.  In fact the grownups we look up to are no different than us, they just have a different angle on life after more trial-and-error.  I look at my peers working together on a science project, then I look at Israel and Palestine trying to compromise together and live in peace.  So why can the latter not work for a common good when students can put their heads together to create something?  Ok, ok, students are working for a grade and their teacher’s approval.  But…wait…the other two countries would be working for world peace and the betterment of our planet.  So which is the more important goal?  And yet, is it countless grades that have been attained or a real solution in the Middle East that has been obtained?

There is no adulthood.  It’s simply degrees of experience that people have and the will behind their want.  People are selfish.  If we’re willing to sacrifice ourselves it’s news because that’s not normal behavior.  That’s why there’s no world peace right now.  That’s why there’s a general lack of community across the globe.  That’s why we’re worried about who has ‘weapons of mass destruction’.  That’s why we have wars.  That’s why we’ve effectively created Hell on earth.

If people started behaving like the ‘adults’ that children idolize, maybe the world would be a better place.  Except that when you grow up you realize that the golden image you saw was only a brightened reflection of the real tarnished personalities of the people around you.  Your eyesight and perspective on the world gets so much better, too much better possibly.  You start seeing the cracks.  And even after they’re pointed out, these ‘adults’ that we rely on can’t even manage to put their heads together and their problems down and solve something for the greater good.

Is anyone ready to be an adult nowadays?  Anyone?

The American political system is flawed.  Is it beyond salvage?  Possibly.  Why have we not heard more about Kucinich, Gravel, Paul?  Because our Media is corrupt.  Media’s job (and only job) is to advocate for the people.  They have failed in that duty.  Instead they have made news a hugely profit-based venture.  Can I even express how corrupt and sad this is?  We have conglomerates owning our news stations.  All of them.  Instead of helping us get the information we should be getting, they’re putting shit on our television.  Yes.  SHIT.  We do not give a fuck about how celebrities are doing.  We need to know what’s going around in the world around us.

It’s this sort of atmosphere that has helped create such an ignorant country, one that is willing to stand behind a war that was based on bad intelligence and muddled motives.  It is this sort of atmosphere that has provoked our public to not support our fellows, but instead seek an end result that is best for themselves.  It is this sort of atmosphere that has caused us to put misunderstood religious beliefs into a political system that should never have to contend with them.

Congratulations average American.  You’ve failed your duty to your country.  Instead of caring about your neighbor, you care about yourself.  Instead of seeking out the knowledge that you should, you have contented yourself to mindlessly indulge in entertainment.  Instead of holding your politicians accountable for the wrongs they have committed against our very world, you let them go and blindly follow.  Instead of advocating what’s good for the country, you doggedly defend your parties positions and make it an A vs B situation.

This is why we’re going into a recession.  This is why we’re losing world power.  This is why we so desperately need a president to lead us as we enter this new technological age.

It’s now gone beyond Bush’s fault, beyond Congress’s misguided legislation, beyond all government blame.  For the American public can now shoulder this guilt together.  And if you don’t understand what I’m talking about, if you’ll deny what I’m talking about, open your eyes.  I’ll admit, with your eyes shut you can’t see anything bad, but a blind man about to walk into a ditch is still going to fall, no matter how happy he appears for those last few seconds on his feet.

Wake up.