Roller Coaster Week

Don’t know ’bout you, but I feel like I’ve been on a roller coaster this week. Work’s been utterly ridiculous. The damn stock market’s in a nasty correction and who knows how many 401K’s are being impacted negatively by the housing derivatives market (I tried to find out if mine is, but so far my call has not been returned). And the weather has been too, too soggy.

I’m now in a really bad frame of mood (my term), so I greet the political news this week like a grouch. I continue to be unhappy with the SOS status quo. (This would also include non-political events such as Lindsey and Brittney and Nicole. I’m getting very frustrated with all the special treatment given these little brats. Is this just me, or what?)

I asked my bff Aimesy this morning if she was feeling like me, and she replied, yup, kinda. But she is in a lot of physical pain lately due to her arthritises. Her neck and lower back are both killing her. That’s a distraction. That got me to thinking about it and I don’t feel that great either. So, Life is just sucking a little at present, and nothing to be done about it but for me to ‘weather’ through.

So, I will direct my frustrations where it’s usually generically deserved, LOL. I’m pretty ticked at Fox News today. I’ve finally gotten enough of Hannity while surfing to know that he’s begun dredging up all the Clinton Whitewater/Vince Foster/Travelgate crap now that Hillary’s running, but I can’t forget that the last person admitting to seeing Foster alive was one Linda Tripp, so don’t bother trying to convince me that Hillary killed him, ok? I ask, what are the odds anyway of Linda Tripp seeing Foster alive last and also being Monica’s bff and audio tapist? What are the odds on that? Hannity, bring that crap up enough, and even Kool-Aid drinkers and Faux Fans may begin to conclude that {{{gasp!}}} the Clintons could have been entrapped, set up…..and that maybe Foster was just damn suicidally depressed.

If everyone was knowledgeable enough to dismiss that tripe as the crap it is, I’d be able to laugh heartily, but it just amazes me how many swallow it all hook, line and sinker. It just makes me wonder how far the dredging up of old mythical right wing poppycock will go with over a year of campaigning until the election.

I guess I should explain my thoughts. Bush’s behavior usually pisses me off these days, but it’s because of his style. He’s too damn stubborn and frankly, probably would not compromise at this time if his own life depended on it, no matter what. I haven’t been too terribly upset with his ‘King George’ authoritarianism, because of my basic belief that the American people know very little about what it takes to play ball over in the Middle East. And we won’t ever know, perhaps, because that’s what is required of diplomacy these days. I could be all righteous and a stickler for my principles, and I’d feel better being that way (ie, no internal conflict). It would be easier for me to be all up with a Ron Paul or a Kucinich position on our involvement over there. But, what if there are important national interests being served by King George and Rasputan Cheney? Seems a bit simplistic to me to believe their behaviors are only self-interested (ie, money-grabbing and deal-making for personal gain). Surely not, even from them. I have doubts both ways, but at some point a decision must be made.

So, with my position explained above, my logical pick for President in 2008 has to be Hillary, as it has been for a while now. If you are concluding that I think she is likely to continue a lot of what Bush is doing over there, you are correct. Obama? Totally not ready for primetime yet, IMO. Edwards? I really like a lot of what he’s saying, but to me it’s kind of like watching a train wreck in slow motion with his wife’s cancer. I have to believe we are watching her die. And it’s super admirable and inspiring that John’s running, but I’m thinking he will be not much more than a hollow shell if and when she dies. I have to wonder if the presidential ambition is coming mostly from her. Guilianni? Hell, no. He was a fantastic 9/11 Mayor, but where is his global experience? Non-existent. And if Rudy is lacking, then that goes double for Romney. And if Thompson enters the race, I won’t be able to get past his Watergate committee ties. I’m sorry, but two Watergate committee staffers going head to head is just too weird for me. I was 13 years old when that happened, for Christsakes; I’m 46 now. Some seem to still want to be fighting that war. Let’s move on, shall we?

In a quote, it’s like Joe Scarborough opined earlier this summer:

“Clinton is wise to remain strong on terror. Obama may excite you, Edwards may have won your hearts, but we need a president who is going to be strong on terror.”

This says it all pretty much for me right now. I just want someone other than Bush or Cheney.

THIS BLOG

is my way of celebrating, criticizing, ridiculing, condoning, analyzing and evaluating all things political in my world view. I see it this way: think Current Events Soup (Soup like on E!), except I won’t have well-paid writers, k? LOL

I’m Vanessa, a hot chick living and working in an upper-middle-class bedroom community of Houston, Texas. NASA is right down the road…there’s your hint. I’m divorced with 2 grown children and a boyfriend, and I manage a staff for a company that does marketing and advertising for several local medical practices. I’m paid well, but the work is not that challenging or interesting any more after 23 years at it. I’m sort of marking time to get in 25 or 30 years, which number I have not decided yet. I pull my weight and earn my keep, but the old earth-shattering ambition no longer burns within me.

Politically, my positions are such that I’d probably rank as a moderate or centrist. But I am defintely issue-oriented, as opposed to party-oriented. My middle-road label is not because I belief moderately on all issues; rather, my extremes toward right and left issues usually even out to centrist on those popular quizzes. I am opposed to privatization of Social Security, and I think most de-regulation is a scam to make someone else a tidy sum at my expense. I was an accountant before I was a graphic designer, and my old “debits equal credits” brain does not wrap well around destroying societal economic levelers such as regulation of our utilities and other necessities. I don’t believe there’s any way we can round up all the immigrants here illegally, and even if we could, it would cost way too much and be so poorly administered. So my pragmatic mind says there must be some kind of amnesty. (Plus, contrary to what most anti-amnesty folks would tell you, I know several people who became citizens during Reagan’s amnesty program and it worked beautifully for them and us for they are successful and productive taxpayers today, many with American children who will continue to contribute to our society.) But, how to stop the influx if amnesty if offered again? Build the damn wall, now. I believe in doing both amnesty and building the wall; in fact, I don’t think it will work unless we do both. I believe in America being an English-speaking country and so I support the English First movement. Speak duck-quack in your home if you wish, but be proficient in English to live here.

I could continue on and on espousing my views, but that was just a taste to show I’m not all right or left. It all depends on the issue with me. What I want to do in this blog is to vent and let off steam about what frustrates me about our politics in America, because I basically believe we are all just tools of the political Man — hence, my blog’s title. Wikipedia defines the word “tool” used in this context as:

creature: a person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant
or dishonest tasks for someone else; the word “tool” may be used as an insult,
describing someone who is being manipulated without their knowledge - implying
they are naïve and ignorant.

Now, some of us may recognize the manipulation and see the control, but we live in an era now that does not favor our “everyman” power. It will come again, as all things do in a cycle. But now, we are often tools used to build the dreams of a precious few. Yeah. Sometimes one’s position in history just sucks. What to do?