Two Conflicting Statements

St. Paul police officer denies hitting man at O'Gara's Bar & Grill

"I don't know what you're talking about. The guy just fell down."

O'Gara's server testifies she was shocked when officer shoved, punched her co-worker

She later told police investigators the kicking reminded her of "where Sonny beats up Carlo" in the movie "The Godfather."

Left or Right, Opinion is NOT News

Haven’t written in a while, so here is my next post, which I thought of in the car while listening to Rush Limbaugh on KTLK. Yes, I know, I just wrote a post about how Barack Obama said people should stop listening to Rush, but its just too much fun to listen to him rant and meltdown on a daily basis. Also, I don’t buy into Rush’s dogma, so Obama’s comments weren’t aimed at people like me!

Anyways, back to the point. While listening to Rush, I heard a commercial for a different program, the Jason Lewis show, for which I have much more respect. The gist of the message was “Listen to Jason Lewis – He knows the news so you don’t have to.” Sounds innocuous enough, right? “Listen to Jason Lewis and you’ll hear everything you need to know about what is going on in the state and the nation.” Except that exactly is what Barack Obama was railing against.

I’m an independent voter (little i here, I am not affiliated with the Independent Party), so I listen to and read from nearly every source I can. I listen to MPR and KTLK and some of the lesser known AM stations that add just a little too much religion into their politics. I am just as likely to turn on Fox News as I am to turn on MSNBC, though my favorites really are Headline News and CNN. I feel that once I’ve dug around and heard or read as many aspects of the story as I can, I will have somewhat of an understanding of what is really going on and I can then make a decision for myself.

The problem with just listening to Rush or Jason or Bill O’Reilly or just listening to lefties like Bill Press or Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow is that you only get their perspectives. You’re relying on them to do their homework to give you all of the information, when in so many instances they are leaving out part of the story.

What really burns me is when Rush and Jason rail on the media for not reporting all of the facts – and they themselves leave out a huge chunk of the story because it doesn’t suit their viewpoint. Then they’re just as bad as the “drive-by” or “Left-wing” media for which they have such disdain.

Worse yet, neither left wing nor right wing pundits ever make it a point to tell their listeners when they’ve stopped reporting on the news and started editorializing. This can mislead people into believing that what they say is fact and not opinion.

Example: I can't find a transcript yet, but Rush Limbaugh yesterday railed against the idea of putting limits on executive pay, saying that it meddles too much in the private sector. He said that he would be particularly critical of any CEO willing to take a pay cut because they would be bending to Obama’s will instead of exerting their freedom. What he did not make clear was that only organizations that were accepting financial assistance would need to limit their incomes, meaning that companies that do not require assistance can still set the CEO pay to whatever they want to. He neglected to mention organizations which already received bailout money, and later paid their executives millions as their companies were failing, a misuse of taxpayer money. He outright failed to say that the companies accepting federal assistance can jack their salaries and bonuses back up after they’ve done their duty to pay back the taxpayers.

So the question is, is Rush Limbaugh cutting out elements of the truth to suit his needs, not doing his research, or taking an adversarial stance simply for the sake of arguing / entertaining? Here are some Rush Limbaugh quotes which may lead you to an opinion.

Conclusion: Left wing, right wing, if the source leans heavily in one way or the other, odds are the information being conveyed is missing important elements. If you want to know what is really going on with a particular political subject, you have to consult multiple respected news sources and pundit viewpoints. Only then will you likely have a good understanding of the issue.

I’ve always tried to write my political pieces in a way that leads the reader to reach their own conclusions. In the cases where my articles took an obvious tone, I would make sure to label it “editorial” or “opinion”. But in all cases, I made sure to gain information from a wide variety of news and other resources before I formed that opinion. For the sake of steering this country back towards common sense and away from the divisive politics that have plagued it in recent years, I ask that other citizens do the same. Left, right: We’re all in this mess together and we’ll have to work as a team to dig out.

It's About Time

What about the balls on our New President?

Who the hell else would have told Republicans to stop listening to Rush Limbaugh if they really expect change to happen?

The UK's telegraph said that it was a move that would risk a new culture war with conservative voters, but I don't think that is particularly true. Mr. Limbaugh has been getting a lot of heat from his own rabid listeners about saying he hoped Barack Obama fails.

Not only did he say he hoped it, but he basically said "You can quote me on that". And then tried to say his words were taken out of context when the media took him up on that offer, saying he "supports the President, but not his policies." Yeah, right.

Rush Limbaugh, why do you hate America?

Pushing Forward

It's a new year! And with this new year comes new goals.

Last year, I did okay with one of my most important resolutions: To write more in my blog.

I wrote three times as many posts in 2008 as I did in 2007. That is pretty good! If you take a look though, I wasn't quite as successful as I would have liked to have been. 32 posts isn't really that much better than 11 when you take into account the fact that there were 366 days in the year of 2008.

That's okay, though, because I'm working on making improvements, right? Right. My next writing-related New Year's resolution is to write in Sense & Serendipity at least once a week. In order to start off this New Year's Resolution Write (aren't I funny?), I've already given myself a few "assignments" for the next few days and weeks.

All of this week and the last, I have been watching a lot of the History Channel. It has been stirring up both my imagination and an itch to do some serious research. So, I'm going to channel that energy into putting together some posts for this blog. What has been inspiring me?

Last week was a seven day analysis of the 7 Deadly Sins. All of this week has been an exploration of Apocalyptic predictions. Though I'm decidedly not Christian, historical analysis of the Bible and the Christian religion in general fascinates me because so much of it is rooted in the pagan traditions of the past. As for the apocalypse, if Nostradamus, Mayas, Hopi, and the Chinese prophecies (not to mention some mentioned in the Bible) are all true, the world as we know it will end on December 21, 2012 - Not very far away.

So if you check in over the next few weeks, content along these lines is what you should probably expect. Also, since I've progressed over the years into a political junkie, you will probably read about U.S. politics here over the short term, given that the President-Elect Barack Obama will be taking office soon.

If these types of topics sound interesting to you, stop back and take a look. History, politics, and news are my favorite topics to write about. I'll also be adding some links to other blogs and generally making improvements to this site. I look forward to starting a conversation with the next couple of posts and I hope that you will join me.

And so the New Year's Resolution to write more in this blog starts here with this post.

Have a Prosperous and Happy 2009!

Political Junkie: Confessions of a Previously Undecided Voter

Wow… I have a very good reason for not having written in a long time. This post that I’m writing right now has been in the works since the end of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, in September, which happened just 30 miles away from my adopted home town of Rockford. Ever since that time, however, I have been too glued to the TV, talk radio, and the Internet, sucking in every ounce of information that I possibly could about the state of our nation. Not just the political election, but our economy, foreign affairs, the national deficit, etc.

And I have to say that the overall tone of what I was going to write in this post has completely changed. “Political Junkie” was its original name, and I was going to talk about how much of an undecided voter I was. I was going to talk about how even though I’ve hated how the Republican party has ground our nation into the ground over the past 8 to 10 years, I wasn’t particularly happy with how the Democratic party was handling itself either. It was going to be about how once again, we’re voting for the lesser of two evils and not one current candidate is worthy of running a country. It was going to be about how regardless of who won the presidential election, I was going to be disappointed and apprehensive about the future of the U.S., its citizens at home, and its reputation abroad. I no longer have that attitude, and as you can see by the title, I am no longer an undecided voter.

I proudly say that I feel I am one of the most informed “average Jane” citizens you could find outside of the political sector or other related fields. I’m not a journalist, I’m not a pundit, I’m not a lobbyist, nothing. Because I’m a freelance copywriter working out of my home, I have complete control over my working environment, and it has been filled with CNN, MSNBC, Headline News, even FOX News. When I’m in the car, I’m listening to either local conservative radio station KTLK or the more liberal-leaning Minnesota Public Radio / NPR. I read news from local, regional, national, and international sources with reputations for reporting the truth. I also read those underground “left wing” and “right wing” conspiracy theory web sources, just to cover all of my bases (conspiracy theories are sometimes found to be reality). I’ve seen nearly every televised speech Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden, or Sarah Palin has given in the past two months. I watched the debates and the analysis. In my search for knowledge, I have used every resource available at my disposal.

With every spin of a story, negative attack ad, and campaign strength or blunder, my decision has incrementally moved more in the same direction consistently. That would be towards Barack Obama. When my conservative friends have found out this independent was voting democrat and why, they said it’s because of media bias. I’m not sure how that could be, considering half of my resources have intimate ties to Republicans. I was no less disgusted with Republicans and their conservative dogma regardless of the spin accompanying it or the source reporting it.

Additionally, most of my decisions were based on real-time statements and actions. Like I said, I watched nearly every speech and saw all of the debates for the last two months. I saw what they said, in the context it was meant, before the media re-cap, before their words were picked apart until what the candidates said was no longer recognizable. At a basic level, Obama has shown himself to me to be worthy of the presidency, “inadequate experience” and all. I have more faith in Obama’s ability to follow-through with his promises.

Half of my decision has been based on Obama’s behaviour, and so likewise, the other half of my decision was based on McCain’s behaviour. I feel more that McCain is saying anything and doing anything he possibly can to try and gain the presidency, with little chance for follow-through on issues that I deem to be important. Additionally, not once have I seen Obama fear monger in the way that McCain has. Ask a democrat how they feel about McCain winning the presidency and they say something along the lines of “4 more years of this non-sense we’ve already had for 8 years.” When you ask a Republican how they feel about Obama winning the presidency, you hear “I’m scared, I’m afraid, this country will fall into ruin if he wins.” Have they not been paying attention for nearly a decade? Our position as a world power has been severely compromised by policies enacted by (or eroded by) a Republican president, Republican senators, and Republican congressmen.

All of this is forgotten by conservative loyalists when you use the Republican Party’s #1 weapon of choice: FEAR. A few months ago, the fear weapon wasn’t out, conservatives were so sure they were going to win. Then when Obama started pulling ahead, labels like “socialist” and “communist” and “terrorist” were being passed around like candy from the Right. Now you have a whole section of people terrified of someone they will have to give their trust to if he wins the presidency. Tell me, is fear of our leaders good for our country? Not in the least.

I hope against hope that this section of people who make their decisions on fear like this is small. I truly hope that when people cast their ballots this year it is based on what the candidates stand for, not what their opponent or the media says about them. With the media, it is all about ratings.

We’ve been fear mongered for 8 years already. It is time for real change.

Dewmocracy: The Revolution Has Passed

I don't even know why I'm writing this. Maybe to blow off steam, maybe for attention, maybe because I'm an addict. I don't know... I guess I should back up a little bit.

I used to love Mountain Dew. I say "used to" with emphasis. I did love it, and now I don't. Like a past relationship, every once and a while I think of Mountain Dew and wonder what its doing. But also like a past relationship, that's where the wondering stopped. I didn't visit Mountain Dew for literally years. Probably 5.

Then a friend coming over for a gathering at our house brought three twelve packs of funny colored Mountain Dew. Two shades of blue, one shade of pink: Voltage, Revolution, and SuperNova. I still didn't bite, at first.

But then my curiosity got the best of me. I tried all three. The SuperNova was strawberry-melon flavored, which didn't impress me at all. Melon has got to be the worst idea for a soda flavor ever and strawberry pop has been sooooooo overdone. Yes, overdone. The Voltage tasted a little flat to me, but was okay. Sort of like blue cotton candy flavored pop. It was the Revlution which really got me. It had such a crisp taste (mixed berry with a splash of lemon) I couldn't just drink a sip, I grabbed myself a whole can.

And that's where it started. That was some time in May or early, early June. Ever since, I have drank at least a can or 20 ounce bottle of Revolution every day, sometimes two. It has been a requirement for me to be able to make it through my day.

I was devastated in August when it was annonuced that Voltage won the Dewmocracy vote. That meant whatever was left of Revolution on the shelves and in the warehouses was all that was to be manufactured. I told myself that it was bound to happen. Just like the Democracy of America, the candidate you want to win never does. I told myself I would get over it and soon my life without Mountain Dew would be back to normal.

Yeah, right. I went out and bought every 12 pack and 20 ounce bottle of Monutain Dew Revolution that I could. At one point, I had half a dozen 12 packs in my living room closet, hidden so no one else could drink them. If that seems small, it would have been more if I could find them! But they disappeared. If I liked SuperNova or Voltage, I could have had my fill. Revolution sold out of stores so much faster than the other two flavors, I still don't understand how Voltage won.

Anyways, I bought as much Mountain Dew Revolution as I could, trying to grab on to every last shred of it that I could. I rationed myself, no more than 2 cans per day. Yesterday, October 2, I drank the last can. I rationalized that today would be my first Revolution-free days in months. I was wrong.

Today, I drove around and found a gas station that still had 20 ounce bottles of Revolution left and I bought what I could find. I have no idea what I'm really going to do when I actually run out, which will probably be very, very soon.

I like the new and improved Mountain Dew. Its sweet, bubbly, and refreshing in a way that old Mountain Dew hasn't been in a long time. I kicked it to the curb at one time and in my absence, Mountain Dew found a whole new life of its own, changed, evolved. Then it strolled back into my life, teased me for a bit, and then left me wanting more, just like an old boyfriend might do.

Does that mean eventually I will get over Mountain Dew Revolution? Perhaps with the passing of time. Will I find a new drink to replace it? Probably. But it could take a little while before I'm ready to start a new relationship.

Mojo Runnin'

I just thought that while I had a spare moment, I would check in with an update since Mojo MIA. I think it is safe to say that it's back. Until I wrote that post, I was slowly working my way to productivity, but like I said, it was slow. After I laid out all of my spinning thoughts in that post, I feel like I've been able to move on with my work.

Instead of being apathetic about what I know I have to do, I've been getting stuff done. Lots of stuff! Press releases, blog post entries, search engine optimized website content. Today I put in a 12 hour work day! I've been busy!

Once I focus my attention on writing another article for The Drummer and get some better content on my website, I'll be as on track as I want to be.... to start. Then it's time to start kicking my motivation into high gear!

Anyways, if anyone is reading this, expect to see more posts in the future. I'm working on one right now that might be up as early as tomorrow!