I believe

I am a centralist lesbian who is liberal in social views and fiscally conservative.

I believe that if you work hard, you can achieve the American Dream.  

I believe that we were lied to at the start of the War In Iraq and I believe that now we're in a huge mess over there that will end up causing more terrorism in the world.  

I believe that the huge tax cuts for the rich and corporations, that started until Ronald Reagan in the 1980's, proved to be ultimately bad for our economy.  I believe that we need to make our borders tighter and work on keeping out both illegal immigrants and legal ones.  In this economic crisis, we can't afford foreign workers to take the few jobs available for American workers.

I believe that without the unions, we would all be working six days a week, without healthcare and without vacations.  

I believe that large companies only care about their bottom line and not the people that work for them.  I believe that without high tariffs and high taxes on companies that close American plants to move them overseas, we will remain in this recession and it will only get worse, not better.

I believe that people who only watch Fox News are missing half the story.

I believe that people who only watch MSNBC are missing half the story.

I believe that we could be a better nation if we all just spent more time watching what happens in Washington and our state legislatures and less time watching the train wreck that is Lindsey Lohan's life and stop paying attention to Sarah Palin.

Speaking of Sarah Palin, I believe she is a "big deal" because the media tells us that she is.  She sells papers, so the couple of million followers she has, appears to be greater.  Fox News having no one else pretty puts her on and the rest of the media goes wild.  I believe her fifteen minutes of fame are up and her base will let her down in November when the tea party Republicans run against mostly centralist democrats.

I believe that the majority of the country are centralists and if they vote in an election, the polarizing ends will lose.  I, also, believe that a lot of people in this nation don't know what a centralist is.

I believe that if we don't educate our children in technology and science at a young age, we will remain 4th for technology and probably fall farther still.  We need to educate our people or we will lose this country and no one will have to fire a shot.

I believe that the First Amendment still is and always will be the most important Amendment.  I don't believe that the Second Amendment really means it is okay for the average person to wear a side arm.  I don't believe that it makes us any safer.

Speaking of Amendments, I believe that if you asked anyone on the street to name the ten that makes up the Bill of Rights, most people probably couldn't name more than five.  (I could only name 9 a few days ago.) 

I believe that the NRA is one of the worse organizations in this nation.  I was a member back in the 80's, so I should know.  Any organization that supports armor piercing bullets really only cares about their own agenda and not what is best for the nation.

I believe that if we keep listening to the fringe wingnuts on the right and left, we will fight ourselves into oblivion.

I believe that people who believe the world will end in 2012 need to be pitied. We've had a lot of end times and they haven't happened yet.

I believe that gay people should have the right to marry whomever they want and the country will not collapse.

I believe that people should have the right to make their own decisions about end of life decisions.  I don't believe anyone has the right to tell them what the decision should be.  I believe that when I'm old, in pain and become incontinent, that I will want to be put down.   I believe that it is too bad doctors can't just give you a shot, like we do with animals.

I believe that God loves me, but He doesn't give a rat's ass about who is president and, He certainly doesn't give a damn about this country.

Speaking of God, I believe that one nation under God was only added to the pledge in the 1950's to combat the godless communists.  I believe that it doesn't matter to most Americans that it is there or not. I believe that if you don't want to say it, you shouldn't have to say it.  I, also, love to tell right-wing Christians that it should be removed, just to watch those veins pop out of their neck and their faces to turn red.  I believe that I can be a little shit every once in a while.

I believe that we waste a lot of money on our nation's drug war.  I believe we should legalize pot and, possibly, legalize cocaine.  I believe that would cause the drug lords south of the border to financially collapse.  I believe it would cause Americans who weren't good for much anyone to do themselves in (the coke users).  I believe we could tax the hell out of these drugs and pay for healthcare.

Speaking of taxes, I believe that President Obama should allow the tax cuts for the rich to expire next year.  I'm not that rich, so they won't affect me and they won't affect most Americans.

I believe that we have a lot of problems in this country and they won't be solved overnight.  We have a long way to go and we need to work together.

But, despite our differences and our problems, I believe that we still live in the greatest country on earth.

And, I believe I'd like to hear what you believe.  That's what the comments section is for.

Birthers? Can Obama Be President According to the Constitution? And, is Joe Biden anti-Christian?

Headline One:

Birthers? Can Obama Be President According to the Constitution?

Have you heard the big fuss being made over just where President Obama was born? I thought this was all resolved during the elections, but I was WRONG wasn't I? Apparently, 28% or 50% (depending on which blogger you wish to believe) of Republicans believe that President Obama isn't a natural born American citizen and, therefore, not eligible to be President.

But, I saw this blog post over at the Huffinginton Post written by Chris Kelly and I WISH I had thought of this! The man is brilliant and a bit of a smart aleck. So, check out his post.

Headline Two:

Is Joe Biden anti-Christian?

Saw this over at Huffinginton Post, too. I cannot believe that there is really a "Christian" group who thinks for one iota of a second that saying "Jesus Christ" is hate speech. Now, I know that I try my darnedest to not take the Lord's name in vain and I know that sometimes I fail. I say silly things like son of a biscuit and Holy Crap. But, that's getting me off track.

In reality, taking Jesus' name in vain isn't a sin. The Ten Commandments only says that you cannot take the Lord's name in vain and Jesus isn't God now is He? He is the Son of God, so taking His name in vain is not the samething as taking His Father's name in vain. Actually, since Jesus considered all of us His brothers and sisters, perhaps, we could take each other's names in vain. Like, the next time I get mad, I could yell JULIE MARIE! (like my father often did when I was a kid) instead of JESUS CHRIST and then I'd be off the hook for any sinning in that grey area of whether or not taking Jesus' name in vain is a sin, which I think it isn't, so it really doesn't matter and I just made you waste five minutes of your life you'll never get back.

JULIE MARIE!!!

Hmmm, kind of catchy, isn't it?

God Bless

Now, this scares me...

I love my country, but I fear my government.

No saying is more true today than that one.   There is a provision in the poorly named Patriot Act that allows the United States Attorney General to appoint Federal Prosecutors without Senate confirmation.

According to a CNN article (see article here), the Bush administration is forcing prosecutors out so that they can replace them with Republican allies.  Now, the article only offers speculation and no substantive proof, but it still worries me.

Eleven Federal Prosecutors have resigned since the Patriot Act went into effect.  That means 11 people have left their jobs and been replaced -- probably quietly -- by Alberto Gonzales.  Now, I can't imagine him appointing people as political favors or appointing people who really aren't qualified for the job, but shouldn't Federal Prosecutors have to go through the confirmation process?  Why would Congress leave themselves out of this process?

This gives the Attorney General the power to choose his own buddies as prosecutors.  Can this be a good thing?  Gonzales claims that the Administration has no pull or say in this matter, but we all know that the Bush administration doesn't keep it's nose out of any business -- they're reading our mail for Pete's sake!

God Help us all if the Patriot Act doesn't get repealed soon!

God Bless