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Speed,
Spelling and Sport Bitching
-- Posted by The_Duke on Tuesday, November 9, 2004
What have
we become?
Every time
I read the news, someone is protesting. Maybe against
the President and his "war for oil," or global
warming, NAFTA, The World Bank, on and on and on, etc.
I even got harassed outside of a dog show by a small
group claiming that the show's sponsor, Eukanuba pet
foods, tested on animals and that I should be ashamed
for supporting them. Like a good activist, they brought
their children along for maximum impact. The sad thing
is that this type of activism is taught in our schools
and on our college campus' - places that have become
more about ideology than academics.
These activists
should spend as much time helping the homeless as they
do marching around identifying the problem. In my house
we call it, "sport bitching." Where are the
Mother Teresas of the world who are too busy caring
for those who truly need it to spend their days chanting
trendy slogans? Let's face it, modern day activism is
a fashion show with idealistic neo-hippies shouting
well thought out slogans like, "Dairy is Slavery."
Real change comes from hard work, not hard words, but
it's more fun to be a protester than it is to volunteer
in a soup kitchen.
There's nothing
like a good debate about social and fiscal issues to
make a long road trip between gigs seem more enjoyable.
Politics used to be something that really got me excited.
It’s a mixture of history, values, philosophy,
economics and core beliefs. Now, the concept of a friendly
debate is a thing of the past as today's politics are
less about the issues and more about choosing sides.
The whole process has turned into two groups standing
on opposite sides of the road, throwing rocks at each
other.
Keying and
slashing the tires of cars displaying campaign bumper
stickers is a common practice. Driveways have had swastikas
spray painted on them and houses with campaign yard
signs have been vandalized. Over the last month there
were 38 campaign headquarters ransacked, vandalized
and robbed all across the country. In Ohio, they registered
Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jimi Hendrix, which helped
to explain why there were 10,000 more registered voters
than residents of voting age living in several Ohio
counties. In South Carolina, Emily's List (a self-proclaimed
"non-partisan" organization) called households
and gave them incorrect information about the location
of polling places. Executives at MTV were hawking "Rock
the Vote" to entice the most uninformed young people
not just to vote, but to vote the same way that Bruce
Springsteen, Dave Matthews and Eminem would.
Now here's
my favorite. The NAACP get out the vote organizers traded
voter registrations for crack cocaine. That's right
my friends, Chad Staton of Defiance, Ohio, who is currently
charged with filing 124 false voter registration forms,
said he committed the felonies in exchange for crack
cocaine from Georgianne Pitts of Toledo. Ms. Pitts was
working for the NAACP National Voter Fund. During a
police search of Pitts' apartment, in which drugs and
stacks of voter registration forms were found, she admitted
that she gave the man crack to register voters! CRACK!
All of this, to make sure "the right" candidate
is elected. We stopped focusing on right and wrong and
became what we despised the most about our political
rivals. Kerry supporters call Bush a liar and yet will
lie to get him elected. Bush supporters call Kerry a
flip-flopper and yet will ignore Bush's flip-flops.
But why sweat the small stuff like "integrity and
honesty" when all we can think about is who we
don't want to win. Sadly, most of us just pick a side,
stand on one side of the road and throw rocks at the
other.
Now, here’s the latest grumbling from a name that
once stood for integrity and working hard to promote
real change in America. The widow of Martin Luther King
Jr. said the right to vote should be open to everyone
in a democracy, including those who have been convicted
of crimes. Ending the "disenfranchisement"
of convicted felons is part of the unfinished business
of the civil rights movement. What!? The world is going
to hell when the wife of the greatest civil rights leader
of our time focuses her energy on adding criminals to
the voting rolls instead of trying to improve inner
cities schools or focusing on a way to improve the 70%
illegitimacy rate amongst black Americas. Don't praise
the achievements of millions of hard working and successful
minorities in America and encourage the youth to follow
in their footsteps. Instead, we need to pull our resources
together and move towards some real meaningful change,
like restoring the right to vote to rapists, murderers
and drug dealers.
Is this is
what it has comes down to? EVERYONE SHOULD VOTE? If
I said that everyone should hunt, regardless of having
any knowledge of how to handle a firearm, you'd say
I was insane. Is the privilege to vote any less powerful
(or in the wrong hands dangerous) than handing a loaded
weapon to someone who has no training in it's use. But
hey, P-Diddy said "vote or die" and he's one
of the great thinkers of our time. In fact, P-Diddy
is such a good spokesman for his "Vote or Die"
program that he couldn't even light a flame under his
own collaborators. "Vote or Die" shills including
50 Cent, Ludacris and Internet porn starlet Paris Hilton
did not bother to vote themselves ... and weren't even
registered, according to the New York Daily News.
Over half
(54%) percent of America's adult citizens can't tell
you the name of our Vice President. Are these the people
who should select the leaders who create our policies?
Good Lord.
Some Random
thoughts...
I somehow
fail to get all worked up about the medical condition
of Yasser Arafat. The man is a murderer. He directed
terrorist attacks on schoolchildren. Over the last few
decades he has made sure that there would be no agreement
for lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
He was and is a thug and a thief. It appears that soon
he will face the much-deserved music, and it won't be
a pleasant melody.
A county
school system in Georgia is considering requiring high
school students to actually pass English and math or
risk being held back. Imagine that! Requiring students
to learn basic high school math and English. And we
wonder why Georgia ranks last in education.
After weeks
at trial, Scott Peterson's defense attorney tries to
convince the jury that some homeless person abducted
Laci, murdered her, and then dumped her body miles away
at the very same place where Scott was fishing? How
in the world does a homeless person carry a body miles
and miles without an automobile?
** Special
thanks to Kerry Gilbert for an awesome weekend at the
Atlanta Motor Speedway. If you've read my previous Duke's
views posts then you know that I am a huge racing fan.
Well, Kerry works for the company that does promotions
for Lowe's racing. More specifically, he is the PR guy
for Kyle Bush's Number 5 Lowe's Chevrolet. He emailed
me and asked if I would like to be his guest for the
Atlanta race over the Halloween weekend. He got me pit
and garage passes, which got me complete access to the
cars and drivers and a true behind the scenes racing
experience. As you can imagine, I was in heaven and
you'd think it couldn't get any better. WRONG! Kerry
got me into the pre-race drivers meeting and I stood
in the freakin' pits during the race! Just to clarify,
I stood next to the pit-crew, less than 3 feet away
from the car, when it came in for its stops. I thought
my Marshalls had balls! Cheers Kerry!
Albums in
my CD player
*Genesis,
Genesis
*Black Hawk Down, Soundtrack
*Zakk Wylde, Book Of Shadows
*Machine Head, Burn My Eyes
*Super Tramp, Breakfast In America
Movies of
the month
*Shawn Of
The Dead
*Super Size Me
*Band of Brothers box set
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