Just like warm apple legislation

I really don't want to make politics a regular subject on this blog. But I have been thinking about it for the past week, and I feel compelled to comment just this once, upon the loss of our president's veto-ginity.

Now, I am not going to discuss the absurdity of the fact that it took him six years to break out the veto pen. I do not have the energy, time, or space to deal with that topic. I want to discuss the issue involved with this momentous occasion.

Stem cell research. Let me make a few disclaimers first. First, I don't understand the science. At all. And that doesn't really bother me. Second, because I don't really understand the science, I am not going to choose a side of the issue of stem cell research.

So what am I writing about? I don't necessarily disagree with the president's decision. Nor would I have disagreed had he approved the bill and been wholeheartedly in favor of stem cell research.

I was watching the video clip they have for the news shows, and it shows President Bush holding and kissing and playing with a bunch of kids that were originally frozen stem cells or something. They were called "snowflakes." And then during the press conference, his press secretary answered a question with a dissmisive comment something along the lines of "the president will not sign a bill that endorses murder."

I wonder what the tone of the video clip would have been if, instead of frozen stem cells, he had been kissing the foreheads of children with Parkinson's disease. I wonder if children born without kidneys would have made a good photo shoot. Maybe a heartwarming nickname for them would have looked just as good in the newspapers. And I'm sure the staff at Fox News could have found something to say about the president "unwilling to allow an opportunity to cure terminal diseases pass us by."

There are valid points on both sides of this argument. This is not a black and white issue. But then again, very few issues are. What bothers me about this whole situation is that the president isn't acknowledging the moral ambiguities that are inherent in any discusion of science's interaction with the span of a human life.

I think that the closer you get to an issue, the more gray you see. If you only want to look at the surface of an issue, it may appear black and white. But I promise if you look closer, little shades of gray will begin to appear. I just wish our government wasn't so monochromatic.

Explosions and burnt flesh

I have been sitting here for the past 20 minutes listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd trying to come up with something appropriate to say about Independence day. You know, stars and stripes and loving America and President Bush and SUVs and Jesus in that order--like any good American vet.

I just don't have it. The only thing I can think of writing about the holiday is a quote from the movie Dazed and Confused. Just as the kids are leaving class for the summer, you hear the hippie feminist teacher say, "Okay guys, one more thing, this summer when you're being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth Of July brouhaha, don't forget what you're celebrating, and that's the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic, white males didn't want to pay their taxes."

I know I should focus on the freedoms and oppportunites. On a heritage that we should be proud of. But something changed in Iraq. I just got sick of looking only at American past and present in only positive terms. I want to be honest. I don't want to praise our manifest destiny when we eradicated entire nations of indigenous people with our alcohol, smallpox, and racism. I want to be honest about our manipulation of foreign politics for our economic gain, whether it is Mexico, Columbia, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, or Iraq. I want to recognize and condemn when a president uses foriegn conflict to distract the American public from the real issues happening within his administration.

And I don't think that makes me less patriotic. I don't think that makes me love my country any less. I want to be honest about my dissillusionment and distrust, and I want to find a leader that is worthy of my support. I have looked into the eyes of men that have sacrificed everything for their country--careers, family, money, home, limbs, and life. And I want to believe that their sacrifices are worth it. I want to believe that they sacrificed for an ideal and a better life, not for Halliburton.

You might say that this post is a little cynical. I agree. I think cynicism is the result of mixing idealism with honest evaluation. If you don't truly believe in ideals, it won't bother you when the harsh realities of life are laid bare. But when you truly believe in freedoom and truth and peace, that is when you struggle to deal with the fact that money, sex, and power are the motivations of our leaders.

I want to be able to stand behind the path that my country is choosing. But I want to be open to dialogue about what path it is that we should choose. And I don't think that makes me un-American.

I don't know. Maybe '70's hillbilly rawk isn't patriotic enough. Maybe I should go find some Toby Keith. He will save me from my pinko commie thoughts.