the 4000 mark in Iraq - nothing special

i tried, i really tried to feel something at the 4000 mark. i couldn't and didn't. And i am outraged by that.

One life for a this Iraq war, is as sinful as the 4000th. I am outraged that the media talks in 1 minute sound bites about the war, i am outraged that before it can settle in your stomach, the horror, that these are dead and broken people, and families destroyed for ever. families that will feel the effects of death and suffering for generations to come - a lost mother, or father in the war, no steady income, poverty and homelessness and depression, an that's just in America.

I'm still stuck in the part where i realised that we went in there for nought - and the outrage i feel over the fact that every time an American soldier dies, and every time they have to kill Iraqis that it's a piece of them that stays in that country forever. they come back broken, or in pieces and in boxes. Their families over here who have sleepless nights waiting for that phone call that they hope will never come.

I am angry that the only responsible t.v source is PBS, which most Americans don't watch, is the only place i've found that takes the time to honor the memory of our troops by showing the faces of the dead every night, that reports on the war in more than 1 minute sound bites, brings a panel together of "regular" Americans to discuss the war in it's entirety, to broadcast documentary on how we got here, and where we are now - just the facts. I am sorry, that the MSM is only concerned about what THEY think we want to hear - and despite more people having died in a lie of a war, than 9/11 the steady stream has numbed them too, and they've dumbed it down along with the rest of us, and now are only concerned with their own bottom line - money-making a profit off of shit like the Wright and Ferraro soap opera.

It is mind numbing.

Black against Black

I never realised how "black" i was until this: I was NOT exposed to racial tensions, obvious or subtle growing up, I am an American raised outside the U.S, my husband is white, we have two children and i have black and white friends, and i think i came to America lacking this sort of "black pride" as a result of experience, or prejudice towards whites because i have no historical context from which to fear them. but i for days i couldn't understand why it was so painful watching Bob Johnson and Charlie Rangal try to kneecap Barack Obama on behalf of the Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband.
And then i had it; I finally realised that it was NOT about whites versus blacks.
This is what MLK and all the other pioneers and soldiers of justice fought for, so black Americans would have an equal place in this great country, and to see a black man trying to tear down his own brother, it brought tears to my eyes. I felt like a parent watching a child of mine stabbing his brother in the back. That is what i felt.

Down with Martin Luther King, Up with Hillary Rodham Clinton

Barack,
I'm gad you lost NH. I mean after that "crying" session, and the debate where YOu supposedly attacked HRC, can you imagine if you had won? You would have won NH, but would have lost every female vote in America after that, and your presidency would have lost it's legitimacy. Now you know! that Clinton will stoop to anything to win, even saying in her own words that even though Martin Luther King had a dream, it took a president (Johnson) to make things happen"!

And somebody PLEASE tell me why "Obama girl" is giving interviews?! I like "Obama girl" but when she starts appearing on cable news, being seriously interviewed then it demeans the seriousness of the seriousness of Obama's campaign for the presidency. Girl, keep the mystic and don't give any more interviews if you want to help Obama, and yourself (you don't need to be overexposed).
Then, I don't know if Obama smells this, but there is a subtle race thing being played by the Clintons. We know that most of America is NOT racist, but the Clintons are trying to subtly push buttons to create discussion where pundits are questioning if Barack is being racially discriminated against. Thus, causing voters to be disgusted by the implication that Obama is crying foul against whites.
YUCK!
The media has gone to Africa and interviewed his grandmother, but they can't seem to find his white mother's relatives in Kansas! Africa, i guess is a more interesting story, so we forget that his mother is white! Stop playing the race card, it's embarassing to us black folks.
Obma is not running to be president of the NAACP, he is running to be president of the UNITED STATES, that means every color, every race, every religion. This is not a race woman against man, or white versus black - thanks to all the people before us who made it possible for us to be in this America where we have a better chance to be judged not by the color of out skin, but by the content of our character. And that is what Barack Obama is asking you to do.

Bhutto dies, Hillary asks for votes

yes, i know it sounds crass and tactless to consider how it will affect or own politics; but let's not pretend.
it sure is a shocker, my stomach and my heart aches.
if you find considering the election disgusting, check out Hillary Clinton's response, asking for votes on the dead body of Bhutto; that even on a sad day in Pakistan's history, and a tragic day for Bhutto's family, we get this: (Yahoo)

At a high school in Lawton, Iowa, on Thursday, Clinton said she had come to know Bhutto during the former prime minister's years in office and her time in exile and was "profoundly saddened and outraged" by the assassination.
In a world of such violence and threats, Clinton said, "it certainly raises the stakes high for what we expect from our next president. I know from a lifetime of working to make change."

Thanks Hillary, we are glad that you play into the stereotype that the rest of the world has of Americans, that we only think of ourselves!

experience vs inexperience

speaking of ...
if George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton is what experience means, then give me Obama's "inexperience", quick before he becomes experienced!

George Bush: Only capable and competent president from "day one"

Letter to Obama campaign:
Dear Barack,
i know you're busy reading carl rove's advice ...
but i have some of my own.
i'm a little annoyed with you actually, but i'll chalk it up to lack of sleep that you have not thought of a smart, but funny address to Hillary's ridiculous "from day one" and "on the job" training" talk. Now, i don't have time to be eloquent, that's your job, but here goes -
It's very simple really: Hillary Clinton is basically saying that every other president, who has been elected thus far, including her husband, has been incompetent, and handicap because they were not like her and George Bush who received 'on the job training' by being the son of or wife of a president.
Make it pretty, and run with it, because we voters like to have things spelled out for us.

Settling for and lowering expectaions to match media punditry

The media has worn us down to the point where we're trying to force ourselves to envision "the inevitable" - well, NEVER! for me.
i will not fall for the headlines and the punditary. i'm a democrat, and a woman and i WILL NOT vote for this eloquent version of George Bush, that is Hillary Clinton. I get an estrogen rush from the idea of intelligent policy, not from just the idea of a woman in the White House. We demand equality and fairness, and i'm holding us women to the same standards, and i will not be blind and deaf to what her policies are just because she's a woman. That's pathetic and an insult to intelligent women.
The days of sleeping with lobbyists and pretending to be on the side of the American people have to go!
I want alternative energy policy, instead of an expert at delivering one liners, rhetoric and republican demonization.
And as for Bill Clinton being the first black president, i think i see more black people in President Bush's administration, in a position of more influence and power than i ever saw from Bill Clinton, whom i loved. And are you trying to tell me, black people, that Bill and Hillary Clinton know as much as we do about the black experience? Women and black, don't make it so easy for people to take out votes for granted.

What do we want? A great politician or a great president?

A few weeks ago, it's hard to keep my time around here, i happened upon President Vicente Fox, the
former President of Mexico (2000-2006) while on his book tour.
He was easy on the ears, had a sense of humor, sounded like a great businessman, and he was handsome. What more could we ask of our politicians?! He is for an open border between Mexico and the United States, but all we could think to ask him is about Bush's swagger.
I appreciated the fact that he kept conversation light so I didn't have to think about complex issues, he derred any questions about the U.S - Mexican relationship by humorously making disparaging about President Bush's, and he lauded his personal financial disclosure on his website, i mean really how much more honest could a politician be!
Now that is a magnificent politician and businessman.
Vicente Fox defeated the one party that ruled Mexico for 71 years, and how was he able to accomplish this? Well, he must have learned well from being supervisor of CocaCola operations in Mexico. Supposedly, he was responsible for improving sales 50% and ousting rival Pepsi. I wonder if the Mexican people gained anything significant from this significant accomplishment? But i digress.
Forgive me, while i make another small point. What's with President Bush's choice of friends - first it was Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, of whom Bush said he looked into Putin's heart and could tell he was a good man, now we see where that relationship is going. And Vicente Fox, who makes disparaging comments about Bush, even though the U.S president tried to push through Fox's agendas like the guest worker plan, that would allow for a free trade of sorts of workers between the U.S and Mexico. President Bush and then President Fox socialised at Bush's ranch, i guess he thught they were buddies, until Fox, always counting the bottome line, and looking out for numero uno, strategically decided to promote his book by attacking President Bush personally, not even his policy. With a friend like that -
If he loved Mexico, he would try to build a bridge, not tear one down, for the future president and all of Mexico - i don't care for personal attacks on my much disparaged President. Much like calling the republicans restless, and calling Cheney Darth Vader. How could we unite this country with Senator Clinton running for president on talk like that? The future president will need to work with those restless republicans .
Well, I suppose an attack of a president that Fox knows is unpopular is one way to distract from his failure to unite his home country. And it turns out that it was a successful way of avoiding answering all questions relating to his accomplishments as president of Mexico. His one great accomplishment, he could stop talking about on all the talkshows, was that his financial records were online for all to see - a first in Mexico's history. Really, that's it?! Are we supposed to think that the presidency is about the salary? If it was about the money, he would have remained at CocaCola.
Which begs the question, do we want a politically savvy campaigner or or do we want a president who will lead us into the future together? I see the political pundits clapping like monkeys when there is screaming and mudslinging and who shouts the loudest, who was best at dodging questions, who had the perfect laugh, who was able to dine infront of photographers without breaking a sweat. What happens when the show is over? The campaign is short lived, but the presidency is not and directly affects our lives - do we want a show infront a camera, or do we want someone who can bring white, black, red yellow and blue together?
Compliments of other sources like http://www.Mexidate.info and http://www.pbs.org i learned that his promises are in sharp contrast to his accomplishments, and includes leaving a division within the country, and fostered an openly contentious relationship with other Spanish speaking neighbors.
And speaking of division, who does he endorse for U.S president? His efforts at pretending to be coy fell short on Larry King: Hillary Clinton.