Wednesday, June 02, 2004

America's Bipolar Disorder

Has anyone noticed that American voters are becoming more polarized in their voting habits? I certainly remember encountering a few (mostly Republicans) over the years who proudly proclaimed that they voted strictly party line. However, these days, the numbers seem to be growing and I am now even hearing Democrats unashamed of the same mistake.

What could make a society more polarized? During the early days of the "New World", survival required a society willing and ready to pitch in and help its neighbors. Leniency was taught just as if it was a fundamental commandment.

Today, though, more of the media is pushing non-lenient agendas. Rush and his cronies are treating "liberals" as if it was a dirty word and many are proud to be caught in a lie just to prove how "patriotic" they are. Somewhere along the line, they've gotten the impression that lying to advance their own agenda is patriotic, whereas just the opposite is true.

Look at some of the most hateful societies in the world and you will find strong leaders that find their strength in preaching hate and intolerance of others. Gee, sounds like Bush's campaign strategy to me. Next time you watch a Bush ad, count the number of times he says Kerry. It's all about Kerry because there's not enough good-about-Bush to put in a 30-second ad. Then count the number of times Kerry ads smear Bush -- never [that I've seen, any way].

On the other hand, there are left-leaning reporters and authors who are just as anxious to advance their perspectives through negativisms. Some even go so far as to encourage anger and disgust at both the major political parties.

However, we don't find the level of hate and the extent of lies from the popular liberal sources like we see from the popular conservative media.

The bottom line is that societies need to discourage the preachers of hate. The bumper sticker is wrong, it's not Rush is Right, but Rush is Hate and must be stopped.

Tuesday, June 01, 2004

Day After Tomorrow Movie

What does Bush have to do with Day After Tomorrow?

I was listening to NPR do an article on the new movie as I was on my way to watch it. In question was the scientific likelihood of the show actually coming true. With that for a preface, the move was quite intense.

I had to laugh at the end, though, as the president appeared on TV and admitted that he had made a terrible mistake in not addressing the problems when there was still time. The words of our own great American president were ringing in my ears "it's not my fault", "It's Clinton's fault", "It's the CIA's fault", "I haven't made any mistakes."

Even before Bush trashed what good-will there was left for America in the world community, we were all beginning to realize that it was going to take us many years to recover from this presidential fiasco. Since then, it's only gotten worse, with worsening economy, worsening environmental problems, worsening anti-American sentiment across the world. Now we have to worry about worsening police state tactics, loss of civil liberties, loss of our constitutional freedoms of presumption of innocence, undue search and seizure, and countless more.

It's frightening to think what our world will be like on the Day After Bush's Tomorrow.