A Brief Rant

I don't post about politics nearly as much as I think or talk about it- mostly because I find it difficult to express my fury and disgust with this administration in an eloquent manner. Every headline and news article I read just makes me more cynical about politicians in general and this administration in particular. I shudder to think of all the behind-the-scenes, unconstitutional crap that is going on (interesting how Cheney always seems to be involved where basic rights have been trampled on, yet he's never accountable and he's pretty much in control of Bush, yet he's always wrong). I was raised Christian and am still very much a believer in my religion, but it drives me crazy that religion has so captured the national government- things like science, constitutional rights/truths, and law should not be at the mercy of right wing evangelists. Which brings me to what prompted this post. In an article on cnn.com, the most recent surgeon general of the US (Dr. Carmona) talks about how the government actively interfered with his work. He wasn't allowed to publish a paper about global health challenges and his speeches were edited to remove any mention of sex education beyond purely advocating abstinence. The article talks about a SG under Raegan, Dr. Koop, who "is probably the most recognized former surgeon general. He talked about AIDS as a public health issue rather than a moral issue, which won him many admirers and some critics. He said President Reagan was pressed to fire him every day, but Reagan would not interfere." I think if the AIDS outbreak occurred during Bush's presidency, the SG would never have been able to talk about it as a health issue- and that is really sad (and scary).

JP's blog, The Rational Republican, has a lot of the ranting I would be doing if I had the energy. We're on different ends of the political spectrum, but the Bush presidency has done a lot to push us together since he's as disgusted as I am. Someday, if there's a good Republican president (i.e. one who believes in the Republican ideals we learned in high school government and not one bent on taking over the world, squashing civil liberties, pardoning his buddies, and being the nation's religious leader), we'll have a lot more debating going on at home- now there's just agreement and sad shaking of the head.