forgot about this thing

i’m now watching the documentary torturing democracy for the second time.

i was not a fan of the supreme court installing a president in the utterly farcical, unprecented, and allegedly unprecendential manner in which they acted in 2000. ( you may remember the offending language – “Our consideration is limited to the present circumstances, for the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities.”  and of course – the offending opinion ) (ironically, the decision is of course now being cited by lower courts as valid precedent, and why shouldn’t it be?).

i was dismayed, and continue to be dismayed, that the majority of people seem to think that the criminal acts carried out by less than two football squads worth of terrorists, (with boxcutters, no less) was a de facto declaration of war, which now has us spending billions of dollars a month in two different countries, fighting against regimes that had nothing to do with the hijackings and subsequent massacres.

[please don't get me wrong, they were heinous acts, political statements, and as written earlier, certainly CRIMINAL. The administration, however, used the incidents for political purposes and have left us in an ethical quagmire, (in addition to the huge financial sinkhole, and most important, the dead and injured members of the military) that must have the founding fathers doing 720s in their graves.]

i was appalled, but not at all surprised, that the administration was given another at-bat in 2004, thanks again, all you freakin brilliant voters, (and to whoever decided that John Kerry was ever going to get elected…)

and now, after the redemption of the 2008 elections, (in which nearly 60 million Americans actually voted to have Sarah Palin next in line for the most important job in the world, by the way), we find ourselves faced with financial problems that have been festering for decades, but bought to an ugly head within the last few years, environmental problems that likewise have been brewing for generations, and perhaps the most fundamental issue to be addressed by our federal government in fifty years- our moral character as a nation.

that the president-elect has made it a priority to close the facility at Guantanamo is a great first step. NYT has a little editorial about the long list of outrages and the very important first step to reclaiming our rightful place in the high grounds of the global community.

i still believe that we may have elected the more conservative presidential candidate this year, and i don’t mean it in a disparaging way at all. watching the cabinet form, even with the Clinton sideshow, we see the thoughtful and well-measured movements that were the hallmark of the Obama campaign – which also bodes well for our near as well as more distant future.