What They Say; What They Mean

And now, for something completely different . . .

With political ads and debates and all that stuff, here's my little guide to what is really being said:

INDEPENDENT: Both sides will be using this word in their ads. The flip side of this word being just not putting what party the candidate actually belongs to. Why? Both sides don't want you to know what party they belong to. Democrats know people aren't happy; republicans know that people aren't happy. And both sides know that it's going to be close.

TOLERANCE: When this word is used, it means, "I accept everyone except those people who don't think like I do."

FAITH: In other words, "Hey, religious people, I have faith just like you." This IS used by people who actually do ACT like they have faith in God. But it's also used by people who just want votes.

TEABAGGER: Whenever you see someone use this phrase, what they are saying is, "I'm going use this word that is also used to describe a sex act, so I can call people in the Tea Party a totally derogatory name right in public and nobody will care." This is incredibly clever and subversive. It's entered the popular lexicon, and there are many uninformed people who unsuspectingly use the phrase now. In other words, people who should know better (politicians, who have at least had the phrase explained to them) are using the phrase, and causing people who don't know better to use it as well. (EDIT: I should have put this in earlier, but a friendly e-mail from a friend reminded me that I should have given you this warning: don't Google the meaning of the word. It is a work that has been given a pretty nasty meaning -- which is WHY Tea Party opponents are more than happy to use it.) 

"IT'S ALL (STILL) BUSH'S FAULT"/"IT'S ALL OBAMA'S FAULT": Nothing is all anybody's fault. Or maybe I should say it's all everybody's fault. First, I can't believe how hard it's been for Obama to get anything done, considering his party pretty much has control over everything in Washington. His inability to get much done has two by-products: 1. It gives the Democrats an easily identifiable enemy for the people to rally against -- Republicans; 2. The Republicans have really rallied together to obstruct almost everything. But here's the real truth -- nothing is really getting done because no one is willing to work beyond party affiliation. Still trying to decide if this is a good thing or not. On one hand, it COULD mean that people are sticking to their principles . . . except when they vote FOR their party AGAINST their principles. On the other hand, this whole two party thing just means there's only two voices in Washington, and I don't think either voice accurately reflects the average American.

Personally, I'm getting tired of "the lesser of two evils".

~ Ben

History in the Making . . . and . . .

I'm watching the inauguration on Hulu. I love Hulu.

They're streaming Fox News' coverage, ad free, online.

"Ad free"? Well, sort of. I had to watch a 30 second commercial for Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

And with each moment, beneath the image of former presidents greeting each other, beneath the image of the cheering crowds, beneath the commentators speaking about how an African American is going to be sworn in as president, beneath the color guard bringing in the flags, is this banner:

Classy, Hulu. Classy, Fox.

Question: Is nothing sacred? Answer: Yes. Nothing is sacred.

I watching history. I'm being watched back by Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

~ Ben

To Rev. Jesse Jackson -- an open letter

Dear Rev. Jackson,

"Character is what you do when you think no one else is watching."

Sincerely,

Ben Avery

Holy Cash Cow, Batman!

Wow.

I just read this article about the money that has been raised and spent by the presidential candidates.

And I feel just a little bit sick.

Maybe I'm just some sort of pinko Commie.

"Between January 2007 and February, the candidates raised a record $814 million. By the end of this month, analysts expect the total taken in and spent by the candidates and interest groups will reach $1 billion."

$1 billion dollars.

That's a "1" with nine zeros behind it. (Right?)

$1 billion dollars.

"While they were careful not to criticize the American political process, people in some aid organizations mentioned other possible uses for so much money."

May I ask why the heck they weren't being critical?

Good grief!

"'An additional $150 million could ensure that 10 million girls could receive a quality education. An additional $150 million could help make pregnancy and safe delivery available for 30 million women in 10 countries,' said Deborah Neuman, senior vice president for resource development at CARE."

I'm a Communist pig. I know.

I'm just amazed.

Oh, here's some worthy causes to send your money to, if you feel led:

Compassion International

Feed My Starving Children

Salvation Army

Yes, I appreciate the American political situation. It's one of the, if not THE, best in the world.

But I see numbers like that and I just start thinking like, well, the people they interviewed for the article.

Imagine if that kind of money was applied to organizations like the above.

~ Ben

"Fair and Balanced"

Hrm.

In my two posts about politics (I Said I Wouldn't Get into Politics and Best Quote of the Election Season), both were picking on Senator Clinton.

I hereby promise that if I post about politics again, it will be to pick on someone else. Maybe McCain. He's GOT to do SOMETHING to pick on. Besides being old. I mean, really Letterman? Leno? Your writers have got to get tired of that bit soon, right?

~ Ben

I Said I Wouldn't Get into Politics . . .

. . . but . . .

There are some things that have been frustrating me about the political situation here in the States right now.

I'm not going to talk about those things.

It's "politics as usual."

But I found this funny. So this I'm going to talk about. Because it's funny to me.

During a speech about Iraq, Ms. Clinton said about a trip to Bosnia: "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

Now, the video I'm posting here contains graphic footage of that landing in Bosnia.

It is not for the faint of heart. Nor for those who value things like honesty or, at the least, good memory.



Okay, okay. I know. I know. While she was giving that speech she found herself exaggerating to make her point, whatever that point may have been. Her campaign people later said she misspoke and she said: "I went to 80 countries, you know. I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. You know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things — millions of words a day — so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement."

While the Obama people said it was a deliberate exaggeration.

I just find it very amusing how different the exaggeration and the video footage actually were:



It's politics. Use your words to manipulate/persuade the people. If you can show me a politician who has never done this, I'll be amazed. So there's no surprise. This one just happened to be caught on tape.

~ Ben

Bests Quote of the Election Season

I don't want this blog to become one about politics. This blog is supposed to be about faith and art and stuff like that. But I couldn't resist after reading this today.

From Hillary Clinton:

"I want to make change, but I've already made change. I will continue to make change. I'm not just running on a promise of change. I'm running on 35 years of change."

I mean, they're all saying it, but this is the most spot-on, hit the nail on the head expression of it that I've seen.

Incidentally, they told me the same exact thing when I tried to pay with cash at Arby's the other day.

Ba-dum-ching!

~ Ben