What's Wrong with Muslims?

Seriously, what's wrong with Muslims? Campbell Brown of CNN has a commentary on the McCain supporter who called Obama an Arab. And I agree with her. So what if Obama was an Arab or Muslim? What would it matter? When did being an Arab or a Muslim become an insult? If I said I wouldn't vote for someone because he was black or because he was Christian, people would think I was some kind of crazy racist. But apparently some people think it's legitimate to not vote for someone because they're an Arab or a Muslim.

First of all, most Muslims are not Arab, they're South/Southeast Asian. Secondly, not all Muslims or Arabs are terrorists! Calling all Arabs terrorists is like saying all Hispanics are drug-dealers because of the cocaine coming from Columbia (I think that's decreased a lot recently). It's a stupid stereotype that has become pervasive in America since 9-11. After Timothy McVeigh blew up the Murrah building in Oklahoma City, people didn't say that all white former military men were crazy sociopaths. When wacko Christians blow up abortion clinics and murder doctors and patients, no one says that all Christians are terrorists. But if someone with darker skin does something wrong, it seems to tap into this crazy white-person fear of people who are different. Let's hope a black president can change this shit.

McCain is an Idiot

Again, he's talking about Ahmadinejad attacking Israel. First of all, Ahmadinejad is the president of Iran, but he does NOT run Iran. The clerics run Iran, and the leader is Ayatollah Khamenei. In layman's terms, Khamenei has his finger on the button NOT Ahmadinejad. Secondly, Ahmadinejad is a blow-hard. He's specifically antagonizing the US and Israel with his talk about a "stinking corpse." It's a great distraction for the Iranian people so he can rally them and keep them from seeing their internal problems. To put it another way: it gives him street cred; he's standing up to the man (the US).

Next, the entire purpose of diplomacy is to sit down and talk to each other so that you don't go to war! So what the hell is wrong with talking to Iran? McCain keeps harping on Obama sitting down without preconditions. Personally, I think it makes McCain look like an idiot to keep repeating this phrase that most Americans probably don't even understand. And yes, in the interests of disclosure, I am in favor of Obama (if you couldn't tell by now).

US Politics

I've tried to stay out of this and continue with Middle East topics, but I'm a bit annoyed now. I'm watching the vice-presidential debate and Sarah Palin just said that the central area of the War on Terror is Iraq. She's wrong. Let me start at the beginning. Saddam Hussein had absolutely nothing to do with 9-11. NOTHING. There was no Al-Qaeda in Iraq until AFTER we invaded. And we didn't get rid of al-Qaeda in Iraq - it was the people of Iraq who had been supporting them who finally decided that al-Qaeda was the greater evil and at that point we started making headway against al-Qaeda. Most of the terrorists seem to be in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area, but Sarah Palin thinks Iraq is where the terrorist battlefield is located.

Kuwaiti Elections

Kuwait had elections over the weekend. Yes, an Arab country with elections - they do exist. This is a relatively recent phenomenon and it's still pretty new to them. The conservatives won a bunch of seats, but no woman won a seat. That is a problem in a lot of countries - men thinking women should stay at home and take care of the kids and not get involved. And before I get anyone telling me "that's the problem with Islam" I would like to point that it's also "the problem" with Christianity. There are a number of US politicians (male) who think that their wives should stay at home and take care of the kids and not get involved. The US has had a parliament (Congress) since before the US was a country - and yet, today, we still have only a handful of
women in office. But we expect countries that have never had a parliament to suddenly allow voting and elect women overnight.

SOTU con't II

Okay, one more thing. Now Bush says they stopped Al-Qaida from flying a plane into the tallest building on the West Coast. As well as several other things, like the Brits stopping Al-Qaida from blowing up airplanes. I like the way he says "America is at war" while there are terrorists. I guess we'll never be at peace ever again. And I hadn't realized that Osama and his group were totalitarian either.

Bush is also talking about Hizbollah. He says they're only 2nd to Al-Qaida in the American lives they have taken. Which is probably true. However, the number of American lives they have claimed is a hell of a lot smaller than Al-Qaida, and is mainly made up of the US Marines killed in Lebanon in the attack on the marine barracks in the early 1980s. Hizbollah is not a regular terrorist organization - they were started as a liberation/resistance organization in Lebanon, against Israel. Don't take that to mean that I'm defending them. I just want you to understand how Bush is twisting some of the facts. For the most part Hizbollah has not been a threat to America, only a threat to Israel (and innocent bystanders). We've ignored them for years. I guess we need more terrorist threats so we can live in fear again.

Apparently everyone in Iraq is evil. If a civil war starts, the Shiites will be aided by Iran, and the Sunnis by Al-Qaida. More likely the Sunnis would be aided by our buddy Saudi Arabia, that bastion of Sunnism and guardian of the 2 holy cities of Islam.

Bush wants to increase the army and marines by 92,000 over the next 5 years. He also wants a new civilian reserve corps for people with critical skills.

If I hear freaking "nukular" one more time I will have to start drinking. Okay, Bush is now going into his little talking points about stopping Aids, no nukes, etc. so I will sign off for now.

SOTU con't

Hmm...Now he wants to change the tax code to help people get medical insurance. Or so he says. It sounds kind of fishy. I'll have to check this out. I don't see how a tax break would help the poor buy insurance.

I should be playing the SOTU drinking game. This is the longest I've made it through a SOTU since Bush took office. Usually I'm too disgusted by now to watch any more of it.

It's fun to watch this and see when Pelosi is not clapping. I wonder if someone is keeping track of standing ovations started by Pelosi. I've seen at least 2 so far. And, of course, the expression on Cheney's face is his general grumpy look. Why does he always look like he's sucking on a persimmon? Oh wait - now he's smirking! This is like freaking musical chairs with all the sitting and standing of the audience. It's especially fun to watch only about a third of the audience stand up for an ovation :)

Well, I'm out. I've got too much stuff to do to watch anymore right now.

SOTU: State of the Union

Well, Pelosi got a standing ovation and had to take several bows. I cannot tell you how excited I am that there is now a female Speaker of the House. Gee, maybe one day we'll actually get a black president or something! What a concept!

Bush just got an ovation for talking about balancing the budget - of course, from this angle it looked like Pelosi started it. It's funny how now that Dems are in charge, Bush all of a sudden wants to balance the budget. Where the hell was this shit for the last 6 years! Now that he doesn't have a conservative congress he's changed his mind about many things. Maybe he figures if he says it before the Democrats do it, then people will think it's his idea? And it will probably work. I don't have much faith in the ability of most Americans to discern what is going on in the government or how they're being manipulated.

I will say this: he isn't getting as much applause as usual. There have been some big applauses (like for balancing the budge) but most of the time it's only part of the crowd applauding.