Your Outrage Is Overstated Re: Libya

The deaths of 4 Americans in Libya was a tragic and horrible thing. I don't think a single person would ever insinuate otherwise, and through just investigation and determining the facts and not a political rush to judgement, the perpetrators and the mistakes made by the US State Department will be held accountable and brought to bear.

It is understandable to launch inquiry and question the handling of the Libya attacks by the Obama Administration, as there do seem to be a lot of failings both internally and externally. I believe in due course this will be addressed. What is NOT ok is hearing people describe this as a scandal that is worse than has ever been for any sitting President.

Any scandal for any sitting President.

(none of these validate or marginalize the death of the 4 Americans in Libya, I am simply making a point)

Like.....Watergate? Where the president diverted a slush fund to pay operatives of his own staff to break into the offices of the DNC to gain an advantage and subvert the upcoming election?

Like...the Iran Contra Scandal? Selling thousands of arms by senior Administration officials to a country that there was a sitting embargo on and resulting in the deaths of countless people so they could fund a war that was prohibited from being funded?

Like...the Soviet War in Afghanistan where we armed and trained the Mujahadeen only until it served our interests and then basically left them to die creating a bitter group that ultimately became Al Qaeda that launched the worst attack on the United States since Pearl Harbor?

Like.... the 2nd Iraq War, where there were implications of the possession of weapons of mass destruction which justified the invasion of Iraq and resulted in the deaths of 100,000+ civilians (and thousands of military casualties as well) and then revealed there was no WMDs and the information had been fabricated?

Your outrage is completely unjustified. The actions taken over the past 30 years (and hey before I forget what about that NOT war Vietnam?) Yes, there was a terrible mistake made and lives were lost. But to say this is the worst actions taken by any president ever? You need to review history, not through your rose colored glasses of the perfection of the GOP but the absolute truth of what lies and deception have wrought over the past years. Recognize that what we reap is sown, and we still feel today the reverberations of the appalling actions taken by our REPUBLICAN leaders even 30 years ago. You are a party of shame, of astounding hipocrisy and your actions will also be brought to bear. And you will be held accountable.

Legitimate Fury

2012 marks a year where I've heard phrases that I could just as soon never hear for the rest of my natural life. "Legitimate rape", a baby conceived by rape is somehow "a gift from god", and various other politicians putting the most private, the most invasive and the most demoralizing and violent act that can be inflicted upon a woman on display as if it is somehow currency to win the hearts and minds of people; it is the most reprehensible thing I've ever had to endure listening to on a now daily basis.

As a man who tries his best to respect and honor women, this is a constant reminder that there are people who appear to have no such regard for their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters. More often than not, these comments stem from someone who claims to have a close relationship with God, that the honor and value and respect the sanctity of life. But what I cannot wrap my head around is how could anyone who has a close relationship with a woman ever think even for a second that the horror that rape incurs would ever somehow be something that should be politicized. 

If it happens that a woman chooses to carry a baby conceived via rape to term because that's something she has chosen and accepted into her life, that is completely her decision to make. It is not the decision of anyone outside of the woman who had her choices taken away from her. It is not something that the public should have any input or say into, that the details and consequences of something so awful and heinous should be fodder for anyone else's discussion but that woman and whomever she chooses to share in her decision making process.

That people purport to believe that the government should not infringe on the rights of the individual, that 'big government' is curtailing the ability of Americans to live the lives they are truly destined to live, would ever have the audacity to inflict their own chosen beliefs onto someone who has endured something that you would never wish on your worst enemy is yet another assault on that person. In a free society, no one should ever be forced to accept a course of action based on the will of another person's dogma or ideology. These people want to turn a secular country that is not a religious nation into a religious institution guided not by logical or intelligent decisions, but by assumptions and determinations of faith.

For the individual who is guided by that faith, who follows that path, it is a choice they are free to make because that is what makes this country beautiful. They should not subvert that beauty by taking that decision away from someone who had their soul and body violated because they opt to handle the consequences of the violence inflicted upon them in a manner that may differ from their own. This is not what makes a country free.

This is not an issue about the sanctity of life in regards to the morality of abortion. It is not just offensive, but insane to think that a woman who was raped and impregnated is immoral because she chooses to terminate the pregnancy wrought out of something that will forever scar that woman. It is not a decision that woman ever wanted to make, never thought she would have to consider, so why would anyone want to take away a choice that no one had sought in the first place?

We need to honor those who make these decisions, and understand that it is not a carefree and immoral decision but something that respects the person who makes that choice. If one cannot respect the choice another person makes on their own terms in honor with their own belief systems, you cannot possibly respect that person. This is your sister, your daughter, your girlfriend or wife, cousin, mother, friend, co-worker, teacher, nun, doctor, dentist, bus driver, waitress, judge, neighbor that has been raped and never wanted this to even be a consideration. Or even more unfortunately, maybe this is you. I know you don't want this. None of us do. Act with love and kindness and understanding. It might be the only thing we actually have left.

True Stories

TRUE STORIES

The one thing I've come to know for sure is that for every subject matter out in the world, be it politics, cinema, cuisine or how to best paint a house:

We all have our own perspective and we all believe that we are right. 

Since we are all the hero of our own stories, it is therefore impossible for anyone to be wrong. I say this without snark or bite, but as a person who believes this to be absolutely true. If I am the true lead in the movie of my life, how could it ever be that I were the antagonist or villain? How could I ever be a supporting player in my own story? The truth is, to someone else I am one or all of these things. But both can't be right, can they? 

Yet this is something we experience every day in every person that we meet, no matter the scale or setting. The scope of the story ranges from the exchange we have in a coffee shop getting our morning latte to an epic argument with your loved one in the kitchen on an idle Tuesday that can change your life in an instant. 

Everyone is right, and everyone is wrong. It's a clash of furious energy and harmony that becomes so entangled it's nearly impossible to discern sometimes which truth applies to which person. Heroes don't always look like heroes, and the villain can sometimes be deceptively kind and gentle and vice versa. It obfuscates the idea of 'absolute right' into degrees of who loses less. 

I make no assumptions that I know any better, have a stronger concept of what is morally just and acceptable. I think I just need to find the lines, define them for myself and understand the perspectives of others as they relate to how I view the world as well. There are many ways this can be addressed; through politics, through art, through common situations I find myself in every day. The best thing I can do is try to understand them one day and one situation at a time.