Elizabeth502's blog: "My rants"

Before you vote for the president/vice president of the U.S. on November 4th this year, please take the time to actually learn each candidates' stance on issues important to you.

If you go to OnTheIssues, you can look at both national and local candidates and what they have to say about topics such as Foreign Policy, Gun Control, Budget & Economy, Education, Homeland Security, Crime, Government Reform, Health Care, War & Peace, Drugs, Tax Reform, Abortion, Free Trade, Civil Rights, Social Security, Families & Children, Immigration, Jobs, Welfare & Poverty, Corporations, Energy & Oil, Environment, Technology & Infrastructure, and Principles & Values. OnTheIssues mission is to provide non-partisan information for voters in the Presidential election, so that votes can be based on issues rather than on personalities and popularity.

The reason I posted this on my blog is because I'm tired of hearing people in my age group say that they don't care about politics or that they'll vote for whoever their parents vote for (even if that person doesn't believe the same as the candidate). If you think politics doesn't affect you, think again. Political decisions made today will affect our future. And it definitely affects our present.

I found this on the Frequency 2004: Youth Vote Research Inventory website:

The National Association of Secretaries of State gives five reasons for why young adults are not engaged in traditional politics:

1. Parents, as displayed by the overall decline in voting among all age groups, are not voting and thus, parental influence on youth regarding voting has also declined.
2. There is very little youth-oriented political communication from politicians.
3. Aspects of the political process such as voter registration, absentee votes, etc. can be confusing or simply unknown to youth.
4. Youth believe their interests and those of politicians are incompatible and that politicians are motivated by selfish reasons (such as money).
5. Many young adults view the process as flawed and do not want to take part in it.

Other factors (among many) include the beliefs that politics rarely achieve any results and that the results of elections will have negligible impact on youth, and a simple lack of political knowledge (candidates, issues, etc.).

If OnTheIssues isn't enough, check out RockTheVote. You can register to vote online (if you aren't already registered) and RockTheVote has the tools to help you identify, learn about, and take action on the issues that affect your lives.

Politics doesn't begin and end on one day every four years. It's about being a part of your community, dealing with issues both local and global, empowering yourself and caring about the future. (Farai Chideya, In These Times, November 18, 2004)

So I urge each one of you to be aware of what's going on in the world and what's happening in your own backyard. Don't just vote based on anything else BUT the issues. But do vote because it DOES affect you. So on November 4th, please remember to claim your voice and make it heard!

This is on my profile but I just wanted to put it in my blog as well: I'm definitely not looking to hook-up. If that's what you're looking for, please move on. I'm not on this site to look at naked people. So please don't offer to show me your NSFW pictures as a conversation starter. I'm not interested. And if you have a picture posted of someone who isn't you, but you claim it is, don't get pissed if people call you out on it. You are not Keira Knightley or Orlando Bloom. Don't perpetrate. I only downrate dumbasses who downrate me. So thanks for playing.

I get tired of people always saying that there's no such thing as "normal." I happen to disagree. I think normal is all based on perspective (one's own). What may be normal to me isn't what's normal to someone else. It's all has to do with what you're used to. Just about all my friends are weird and wild and crazy - that's normal to me. Some average Joe - that's weird. That's not normal to me. We all have our issues - some people are just more able to deal with them than others.

I received an email from a friend who sent me one of those patriotic chain letters that said that I shouldn't be so selfish as to always worry about my little problems when there are soldiers fighting in Iraq. Here is my reply: It's not that I don't support the troops, but I hate these type of emails. Those Americans soldiers weren't forced into the military. They voluntarily signed their life away. And if we didn't have such a screw-up as a president, they wouldn't be over in Iraq. So many self-righteous hypocrites act like if we don't think about the soldiers "protecting our freedoms" (uh, more like "killing Iraqis") every single day, we aren't patriots and are somehow committing some sin. I think it's more patriotic to question our government, to make sure that it's doing what it's supposed to do, and hold it accountable when it doesn't, than to just blindly trust it and fall in line. I just hate any chain letters, including stuff like this or "my 6 year old daughter has leukemia, please send this email to all your friends." crap. It may be true, but how's an email going to help a little girl survive leukemia? *end* I'm not trying to come across as uncaring. I've done community service since I was in high school. I love volunteering, signing petitions for a cause, or sending letters concerning the environment to my congressman/woman. I feel that it's really important to help my fellow man... but I'm still going to complain about some driver who cut me off on the freeway or tailgates me when I'm going over the speed limit, I'm still going to bitch about not finding a close parking spot, and I'm still going to feel like my problems are overwhelming. No one is so self-sacrificing to always think about how others are before themselves (except maybe my momma! lol). I've always considered myself very political. My views are very strong and opinionated. And my politics are definitely influenced by my cultural and ethnic background. I feel as though people who preach about supporting the troops, "never forgetting," and blindly following are just using patriotism as a way to be prejudice and ignorant. I understand being proud of what you are and where you come from. I think that the United States is one of the best countries in the world. We have freedoms that most countries have never had. But we shouldn't use our "superpower" as a way to bully countries into converting into our beliefs and ways of life. It seems as if anyone who disagrees with our present government is unpatriotic. Like slapping a bumper sticker or attaching a plastic flag to your car makes you patriotic. I'm sick of people pulling out the patriot card whenever I voice an opinion different from theirs and our dimwitted president. This country was built on conflicting ideas and opinions. In fact, that's how this country works. If everyone in power agreed, we'd have no sense of accountability or a balance in power. Ever since its creation, the United States has never had to deal with being a dictatorship or theocracy. We are one of the few countries who have succeeded with democracy. Americans have freedoms we take for granted, freedoms some countries could only dream about having. And as for Iraq being better off, what we must remember is that you can't force democracy or freedom. Spending so much money (that we don't even have) on a war that was fought for all the wrong reasons seems so crazy and foolish. Try as I might not to feed into the conspiracy that Bush was involved in some way with the 9/11 attacks, I must say that they couldn't have been timed better. Bush was losing popularity even among his supporters at the time. Afterwards, he was held as the champion of the American people. Again, when he was fairing poorly due to failure in capturing Bin Laden, just like that, Americans were in fear of being attacked by a country who doesn't even have nuclear weapons. So the US jumped on Bush's bandwagon to crush our enemies to dust. It's a simple fact that we should try to use our power and influence to help and not hinder other countries. We put the Taliban into power when Russia invaded Afghanistan and not help them rebuild and stabilize their country, we befriended Saddam and supplied him with the means to create biochemical weapons to defeat Iran and even kill his own people, we allied ourselves with Russia to defeat the Nazis and closed our eyes to Stalin killing more innocent people than Hitler did. The "keep your friends close but your enemies closer" idea has been taken to the extreme by our country time and time again. No one thinks about the fact that the United States almost holds a monopoly on nuclear weapons. We have more WMD than all other countries in the world combined. Not to mention that we're the only country to ever drop nuclear bombs on another country. And we wonder why we're hated? Why is it that the US tries so hard to keep other countries from having nuclear weapons when no other country seems to protest against us having them? I mean, shouldn't there be sanctions keeping us from building over 11,000 nuclear weapons? No other country has dropped nuclear bombs on another country. No other country mass produces nuclear bombs like we do. The word "terrorist" is linked with racial, ethnic, and religious groups. Just watching movies (example, Executive Decision) or the news brings to mind some Allah-praying, turban-wearing, ratty-bearded Muslim. But what you must remember is that there are anywhere from 30 to 50 extremist groups in the world, and most are not Muslim, nor Middle Eastern. Hunting down and killing terrorists makes them martyrs to their supporters, portrays us as the evil "infidels" those terrorists would have the world to believe we are, and incites even more hatred towards Western Civilization and Americanization. Most of us can agree that the United States is not very well-liked in the world. Instead of using our political and military clout to overthrow those negative perspectives, we should first figure out why we are hated so. I believe it is because we help the wrong people at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. We always fight our friends and befriend our enemies. Alliances change as our political goals do. But when we help our enemies fight us (Bin Laden's CIA training, the US supplying Iraq with weapons to fight against Iran, secretly selling Iran weapons to fight Iraq, etc.), we have to question where our loyalties should lay. There is no question that Saddam or Bin Laden were anything other than extremist dictators who should never have wielded so much power over people. However, the methods Bush and his administration used to remove (and not succeeding on Bin Laden's capture) them were not the wisest possible scheme. Ugh, I just get so frustrated when people just don't question shit that's handed to them. They just take it and ask for more. Okay, I'm stepping off the soapbox now.

Why can't these Bible-toting Jesus freaks leave me alone?? I. Am. An. Atheist. And I'm happy being one. You don't need to try to shove your faith down my throat. Because I have a God gag reflex. It just won't take. I respect people's right to their religion. The more power to them. As for me, respect my right to a lack of religion. It seems like Christians are the only ones who ever try to "convert" non-Christians. I've never heard of any kind of Jewish Inquisition or Buddhist Crusade... I've never been told by a Muslim or Jewish person I'd go to hell if I didn't believe in God. And another thing, freaks - don't threaten an atheist with hell. WE DON'T BELIEVE IN IT!! So how could it be a deterrent? And why is it the most holy of holy Christians, who spew their beliefs out of their mouths, are always the ones who are pro-capital punishment, but pro-life? Why is life only precious when it's microscopic and not staring at you in the face (like death row inmates or the homeless)? How about "thou shall not kill" ?? Yet you think it's okay for people to receive the death penalty? An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth makes the whole world blind and toothless. Christianity is supposed to teach its followers about tolerance for other religions, beliefs, practices, etc. And yet they don't. You think it's okay to own an AK-47 for "personal protection" ? What are you protecting yourself from?? To me, Christian is just another word for HYPOCRITE.

This topic reminds me of something a friend's mom said back in high school: "I have black friends, but I think races should stick to themselves when it comes to relationships." Gay marriage is in the same spotlight as interracial marriage once was (and sometimes still is). If you are friends with someone who is gay, but you don't believe they should have the same rights as you, you are against gays. My lesbian friend Joey said it like this: "I don't want to get married, I just want the right to." If you don't believe that a group of people should have equal rights, the same rights you have and probably take for granted, then yeah, you're prejudice. If I said something like, "I have white friends, but they shouldn't have the right to vote like I do," people would think I was a racist. This is the same concept. If you have gay friends, but you believe that they shouldn't have the right to get married like straight people do, then you're a homophobe. I've gotten plenty of arguments for being against gay marriage: Because marriage is and has always been simply defined as between a man and a woman. That is a Christian concept. But marriage predates Christianity. Plus, in the United States, there is supposed to be a separation of church and state. Which means keep the Bible out of the law. If any straight couple can get married at a drive-thru wedding chapel in Las Vegas, what is it about gay marriage that supposedly destroys some religious freak's sense of the sanctity of marriage?? Marriage is not based on religion. Or at least it shouldn't be. If you want to get married in a church or a synagogue or a park, that is your prerogative. If you want to be married by a priest, a minister, a justice, or an Elvis impersonator, that is also your choice. But don't fucking preach your shit to everyone else like it was some divine mandate that everyone must follow.

I'm very glad that there are so many different music (as well as other things) choices in this world. Because if we all liked the same things, life would be pretty boring. So if you like Insane Clown Posse, that's cool. BUT STOP USING YOUR MUSIC PREFERENCE AS A DISPLAY NAME AND STOP TRYING TO SHOVE IT DOWN OUR THROATS. WE GET IT - YOU LIKE ICP. NOW SHUT UP ABOUT IT! I never said the music you listen to makes you the person you are. And I'm not saying that everyone who listens to ICP is should get shot/die. I've been known to listen to some of their music and I definitely don't feed into their fan stereotype. But I just happen to see almost every ICP/Twiztid/Dark Lotus/etc. fan with a display name like QueenJuggalette4Life or TwiztidPyschopathBoy. All you HatchedFreaks or LetteGirls are annoying.