i can't help it, i can't...

1) i am trained to think critically and argue.

2) i am liberal.

3) i see the world through the lens of my experience and that's _never_ going to change.

4) all of the above are a deadly combo when politics comes into the discussion.

5) i think george w. bush is the biggest fucking moron on earth.

6) i think the economy is tanking because regulation (code word for a legal requirement that the books aren't being cooked to overvalue assets) was cast aside to allow the market to work itself out, fluctuate, and adjust according to the fluidity of a "free market". the only problem is that the element of greed was not considered, and as rich greedy assholes saw nothing but dollar signs standing in the way of the lessons of history (see 1762 when a housing bubble popped, credit crunched, and the resulting depression helped pave the road to the american revolution, for one; see the great depression, resulting from the bank failures following risky (see unregulated) investments in the railroad industry as example b), and those super-smart ivy-league educated business people ignored all signs of the inevitable end to the exorbitantly rising value of real estate, the blossoming 'burst' of the housing bubble, and the crunch for credit strangling the global market today (along with all of those grossly over-valued mortgage securities all wrapped up into tight little bundles of neatly packaged shit-pies sold to investors (ahem, us) as 'assets' (awesome!)).

7) i think the patriot act is an abomination, and i have seen the current administration spend eight years redlining the constitution to suit its agenda of greed and imperialism.

8) i think guns are neat-o, but i don't want one (for shit's sake, i can't even check the air pressure in my tires). i also don't see the problem in asking people to fill out a form, get a background check, and wait a few days before walking out of the gun store with a semi-automatic 12-guage shotgun.

9) i think education in the u.s. is _clearly_ benefiting the upper class. i think anyone who thinks otherwise is choosing blindness over sensibility. kids who go to public high school in beverly hills get better teachers, more money, better technology, better after-school and in-school programs, better books, more teachers, more electives, more safety, more opportunities. kids who go to public high school in compton, on the other hand, have to dodge bullets, peel their crack-whore moms up off the sidewalk, fight the pressure to join gangs their drug-pushing friends making an easy buck belong to, and search high and low for any support, encouragement, and opportunity to rise above all that to get an education (all of which takes place in a segment of society that does not value an education). dude, that one kid who makes it out of compton and into college has more character, strength, and maturity than all the beverly hills kids put together. for all the others who don't make it to college, is it the kids' fault for being born into compton instead of beverly hills, for not having equal access to eductation, for spending his/her formative years being woo'd to the dark side?

10) i think health care in this country is shameful as it, much like the above referenced crashing "free market", is motivated by greed. pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, manufacturers of medical technology keep prices _so_ high that only the most fortunate of americans, who work for companies with a big bank account, can actually afford to be healthy. and shit, with my six-figure salary, and company sponsored health insurance, i can still barely keep up with the bills rolling in from my twice-yearly no-issue doctor visits. so, like education, health care is really only accessible to the upper class.

11) i think legal reform is necessary to bring down the costs of medical malpractice insurance (or the entirety of the field should be scrapped in favor of socialist health care).

12) i think anyone who doesn't believe in climate change or see the urgent necessity in preserving natural resources and eliminating our addiction to fossil fuels is stupid.

13) i think our addiction to fossil fuels is the only reason we wage a war in iraq.

14) i think the claim that we fight the war to spread democracy, to free people of a tyrannical, evil leader, is gobbledygook. if that were really the reason, why aren't we waging similar wars in somalia, rwanda, or darfur where genocide is as rampant as aids? oh, yeah, cuz there's no oil to drill?

15) i think our addiction to fossil fuel is the primary reason terrorists target americans, and i agree with former CIA director Jim Woolsey who said, "we are funding the rope for hanging outselves" for our (via the dipshit in chief) refusal to do anything significant post 9/11 to reduce our gasoline consumption.

16) i think the big 3 should not get a dime of taxpayer bailout money (see #'s 12-15).

17) i think if someone is against gay marriage, they should not get one and shut the fuck up.

18) i think religions' greatest contribution to the world is the spread of hate.

19) i think sean hannity should take a long walk off a short cliff.

20) i think i can be intolerant of the views of others. and while i probably don't really stand on the moral high ground from which i find myself looking down at the world, it is where i perch. and i'm okay with it. i accept me, flaws and all, liberalism and all, judgmentalism and all.

sorry.

~k