Thursday, August 17, 2006
Of Late: Allen, Lieberman, Cheney & the Middle East
The news is filled with plenty to keep one busy reading these past few days.
Of late in Virginia, Senator George Allen has been caught calling an American of Indian descent a "macaca." How Allen thinks folks will take his freedom of speech as not insulting is beyond words. A quick search on the Internet shows that "macaca" means "a monkey" and the French version "macaque" means "an ugly person." In today's The Washington Post Kim Naoroz of Richmond, states in a letter to the editor that Allen's mother is a speaker of French and Arabic (she's originally from Tunisia) and would know that "macaca" is in fact derogatory.
This reminds me of when Vice-President Dick Cheney told Senator Patrick Leahy on the Senate floor on June 22, 2004 to "go fxxx yourself" and what is appalling is that Cheney then was reported by The New Times as saying that he "felt better afterwards."
What is not only insulting about these two examples is that both Allen and Cheney think of themselves as being self-righteous people, holding up religion when election time is near and then displaying actions that are not only anti-Christian but arrogant and utterly disrespectful. It appears that certain people who belong the GOP are "allowed" to do what they want, make excuses, sometimes lie about it, and then get pleasure from their actions.
Would a Democrat or an Independent get away with what the media and public allow the GOP leaders get away with? Where is fair play?
Now, with regard to defeated Senator Joe Lieberman, I believe most are overlooking that many folks are angry with Lieberman not only because he was too close to the Bush Administration for comfort but that he also did very little to help the Gore / Lieberman ticket. Lieberman has simply been caught showing his true colors, and regardless of a recent poll (the trouble is: How can one believe any poll, any convenient Red Alert, any "Be Afraid, Be Afraid' which is used to scare the drugged public into voting Republican these days?) that now puts Lieberman in a slight lead against Ned Lamont, Lieberman has lost the respect of many which he will never regain. Who knows who will win in Connecticut but what goes around comes around.
Thank God France and the United Nations pushed forward a cease fire in the Lebanon-Israel conflict. If the world would only recognize that both Israel and Palestine need to exist as sovereign nations, the Middle East would be a better place. Let's pray that the cease fire will prevail.
Of late in Virginia, Senator George Allen has been caught calling an American of Indian descent a "macaca." How Allen thinks folks will take his freedom of speech as not insulting is beyond words. A quick search on the Internet shows that "macaca" means "a monkey" and the French version "macaque" means "an ugly person." In today's The Washington Post Kim Naoroz of Richmond, states in a letter to the editor that Allen's mother is a speaker of French and Arabic (she's originally from Tunisia) and would know that "macaca" is in fact derogatory.
This reminds me of when Vice-President Dick Cheney told Senator Patrick Leahy on the Senate floor on June 22, 2004 to "go fxxx yourself" and what is appalling is that Cheney then was reported by The New Times as saying that he "felt better afterwards."
What is not only insulting about these two examples is that both Allen and Cheney think of themselves as being self-righteous people, holding up religion when election time is near and then displaying actions that are not only anti-Christian but arrogant and utterly disrespectful. It appears that certain people who belong the GOP are "allowed" to do what they want, make excuses, sometimes lie about it, and then get pleasure from their actions.
Would a Democrat or an Independent get away with what the media and public allow the GOP leaders get away with? Where is fair play?
Now, with regard to defeated Senator Joe Lieberman, I believe most are overlooking that many folks are angry with Lieberman not only because he was too close to the Bush Administration for comfort but that he also did very little to help the Gore / Lieberman ticket. Lieberman has simply been caught showing his true colors, and regardless of a recent poll (the trouble is: How can one believe any poll, any convenient Red Alert, any "Be Afraid, Be Afraid' which is used to scare the drugged public into voting Republican these days?) that now puts Lieberman in a slight lead against Ned Lamont, Lieberman has lost the respect of many which he will never regain. Who knows who will win in Connecticut but what goes around comes around.
Thank God France and the United Nations pushed forward a cease fire in the Lebanon-Israel conflict. If the world would only recognize that both Israel and Palestine need to exist as sovereign nations, the Middle East would be a better place. Let's pray that the cease fire will prevail.
