politics

When I started this blog, it had heavy political leanings. I used it as a place to speak my mind about politics and current events, because, at the time, I loved politics.

But since then I’ve decided I just can’t handle it anymore. I can’t watch network news, read an opinion column, or even enter a simple political debate with a friend without wanting to scream, cry, or throw up. I skip over the “Politics” folder in my RSS reader, because sometimes I just can’t stand reading it.

It used to be that one of my favorite activities was to talk about politics. I grew up having long winded political debates with my father, and I loved it. My ex-girlfriend and I used to go to the local pizza joint and argue for hours over pitchers of beer, and I couldn’t have had more fun. We had nothing in common politically, and that was exactly why it was so enjoyable. I could go on for hours and hours about politics and never tire of it. I had strong opinions and I loved talking about them.

But now everything seems to have changed. My father, who used to share many of the same Libertarian ideals as me, has been driven further to the right, I feel, in response to the liberals’ continuing march to the left. On fundamental things I’m beginning to disagree with him. My ex-girlfriend has moved to Germany and I don’t talk to her anymore. I can’t have a political debate with a friend without fearing that it will break down into personal attacks. I once had a friend tell me that voting for Bush was a “personality flaw” and he couldn’t be seen with somebody who had. I never discussed politics with him again.

The personal has become political and politics itself has become personal. We’re no longer just people who happen to have positions and opinions, we are our positions and opinions. Politics has taken over our homes and our relationships and I’m afraid we’ll never be able to get it out again.

And in the process I’ve been driven further into my own ideals. I don’t identify with either major political party anymore. When people ask me what political party I stand with, I tell them I’m a Libertarian. And then I shut up, because to continue elaborating on my political opinions would be an invitation to personal attacks from my friends on both sides of the aisle.

I want to be able to be proud of my opinions again. I want to be able to stand tall and fight for them without being afraid that I will be alienated for them. I want politics to be fun again.

So I didn’t watch the State of the Union tonight. Because the only thing that would make me more frustrated than the State of the Union itself would be watching the rebuttal after it.

Sky on Fire

We had a nice big thunderstorm today in Pittsburgh, and just after the thunderheads moved by the sky opened up a little and you could see the sunset.

I sprinted out of my apartment up the street to where I could see more of the sky. It only lasted a few minutes, but I managed to get it.

This photo is 100% Photoshop-free…

I know everybody else will be doing it, but I figured I’d post some thoughts as well.

The nice thing about doing this on a Tivo is you can pause, rewind, and catch up with the live broadcast.

9:07PM - If only Tivo could fast forward through all the clapping…

9:10PM - Elections in Iraq/Afganistan = good

9:11PM - Its like a Blue & Gold Dinner, everyone has to clap for everything (come on you ex-Cub Scouts, you know what I’m talking about).

9:13PM - Fiscal responsibility… Right side of the aisle stands and claps, left side grumbles. Any surprises yet?

9:16PM - I think the Democrats must have hurt their hands clapping at the beginning. They look unhappy.

9:18PM - Ooh… Hydrogen cars are back!

Read the rest of this entry »

I thought I’d relate a story about something that happened to me today that I don’t think you’d find it outside a culture like metro Detroit (which has the largest Muslim population in the US).

Today when I was getting my hair cut, the 20-something man to my right was getting his hair done because he was having an impromptu wedding this weekend. He was getting married early because he was being shipped off to Iraq on the 27th of December. He was enlisted as a medic in an Army engineering regiment and was looking forward to his assignment.

The woman cutting his hair was born in Iraq, and grew up in Mosul. He was asking her questions about what to expect when he got over there, and she was telling him stories about what it was like growing up in Iraq under Saddam’s rule.

The woman cutting my hair was Jordanian, and was telling me about her Chaldean husband who worked construction. Chaldeans in Iraq were heavily persecuted for their Catholic faith under the Ba’ath party and many of them fled to the west to escape. Her husband was thinking about returning to Iraq to work on its reconstruction. Apparently you can make $100,000 US for a six-month tour as a construction worker - more than enough to buy a house in Detroit.

On my way out I wished him the best of luck and told him to take care of himself. I don’t think there was a soul in the room that wasn’t proud to have him there.

With the recent shooting of an injured insurgent in Iraq by an American marine, the usual shouts of American war crimes are returning to the media. And if it is true that the insurgent really was injured, and really was unarmed, and really was a prisoner of war, then what he did was very wrong and he should be punished as such.

However, has anybody ever thought about judging our enemy by the same rules that we are judged?

I pulled the following from the handy website GenevaConventions.org, an indexed, plain-English guide to the Geneva Conventions:

• The insurgents have been using mosques and other places of worship as a base of operations, and often launch attacks out of them. According to the Geneva Conventions, places of worship cannot be used as a base of military operatons.
• One of the toughest problems our soldiers have been struggling with is differentiating civilians from combatants. The insurgents are operating from within the civilian population and are attempting to blend in to conceal themselves. Feigning civilian status is tantamount to false surrender, a prohibited action. At the very least, they would be acting as guerillas yet not openly displaying their arms, which is also forbidden.
• While we’re on the subject, insurgents have started luring American soldiers with false surrender and then attacking. This, of course, is also forbidden.
• It is belived that many of the insurgents are actually foreign fighters being paid to come to Iraq and fight the Americans. In this case, they would be mercenaries, who, surprise surprise, are not allowed protection under the Genevea Conventions.
• The day before the shooting of the injured insurgent, a soldier in the same unit was killed by a booby-trapped body of a dead insurgent. Under the Geneva Conventions, the dead are to be respected (i.e. not used as booby traps).
• And the biggest, ugliest, nastiest Geneva Convention violation of all? The systematic slaughter of innocent civilians by the insurgents. A war crime, according to the conventions.

I’m not saying that this means we should ignore any war crimes committed by Americans. If we’re all going to follow the rules, we all need to stand up and admit that we are guilty if we really were wrong. Those individuals committing war crimes should be punished for their actions.

However, I feel that it is extremely important that if we are going to be judged by the rules of war, our enemy should be as well.