Ok, this isn't the rant I was expecting to write. I was going to write about something entirely different, but a headline on Yahoo! news caught my attention and demanded that I read it. I mean literally… it reached out of my screen and grabbed my hand, forcing me to click the link. I didn't want to, I swear.
Anyway. The headline in question was 'Peace Mom' Sheehan to Release Book. Now, if you're not familiar with the characters involved in this story, let me give you a quick crash course in pointless political maneuvering.
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of a soldier who died in Iraq. As a result of her loss, which I'll admit isn't something I'd want to deal with, she's decided to become a hardedge protester. She sat outside President Bush's Texas ranch for 26 days, refusing to leave until the President personally came and spoke to her. I don't think that ever actually came about. This is the woman who firmly stated that absolutely *nothing* could possibly get her to leave her post. Nothing. Then a little while after that rather bold remark, she left. Had to go see her ailing mother. Anyway, she's been leading this huge protest movement dubbed Camp Casey (after her son Casey who was killed). That's the quick and dirty rundown of the past year or so.
Now she's apparently releasing a book. Go figure. Big surprise there. The “peace mom” who's done nothing but create a headache for the country and the current administration while managing to garner massive amounts of attention in the media is now releasing a book??? You don't say. So much for staunch dedication to the memory of her son and honoring all the soldiers fighting for this country, now it's managed to become a convenient source of money. Apparently for the last who knows how long, she's been writing journal entries and updating her blog with her experiences and her thoughts on everything. Someone read it and decided that it'd be a great idea to make it into a book. What better way to promote her peace protest, right?
We got it done as quickly as we could, and the deepest reason is to stop the war.
Right. To stop the war. What about the profit to be made from selling 20,000 copies of a book by the peace mom herself? Nope. Nope. It's to stop the war. Definitely. Am I the only one who thinks this whole thing is less about her wanting to end the war on behalf of the unfortunate soldiers fighting and dying in the war, and more about her wanting media attention? It seems rather convenient that the woman who's been protesting the war and Bush's administration for a year now is suddenly releasing a book about her experiences for the sole reason of helping end the war? I guess I fail to see how that will help end the war or bring back soldiers. Maybe it's just me.
I know there's a legitimate side to her protests; I'm sure that losing her son was a horrific ordeal and that it put a lot of strain on her and her family. I'm sure that I would never want something like that to happen to me. However, just because you've had a terrible loss and want to keep others from that kind of loss doesn't give you the right to harass the President of the United States and be an arrogant attention-seeker. At one point in the article, it quotes her:
Get used to it, George. We are not going away.
Excuse me? At what point do you get to call the President by his first name? Yes, in the United States of America, we are all granted the right of free speech (more on that one later) and are allowed to criticize the government. In fact, we're encouraged to do so. But that does not mean you don't have to accord respect to those in positions of authority. The President of the United States is not your buddy, he is the Commander in Chief. You don't get to call him “George.” Whether or not you agree with Bush, whether or not you agree with the war, whether or not you think Twinkies are tasty, whether or not you like anything about this country… none of it gives you the right to be an idiot. Cindy Sheehan is less of a “peace mom” than an attention whore who right now is conveniently finding a quick way to boost attention for something that's been slipping from the media spotlight recently.
Another thing somewhat related to this that drives me (more) insane is hearing people state:
He's not my President. I didn't vote for him.
No, I'm sorry, he is still your President. See, that's how a republic like ours works. We have these things called elections every four years. If you're eligible, which most of this country is, you get to go vote for your chosen candidate. Whoever gets the most votes, wins. (No arguments about Bush's first win, there were more circumstances surrounding that one that I'm not gonna go into now.) If you choose not to vote, then you lose ALL rights to complain about who wins. Granted, there are problems with this system; it's not perfect. Nothing is. Ideally, we'd have more than the two candidates - admit it, it's a two-party system - and it wouldn't be necessary to stand in line for 8 hours to vote. But still, this is the system that's worked pretty well and pretty bloodlessly for the last 200 years. Now that everyone's voted and the winner has been chosen, he (or she, possibly) gets to be President of the United States of America for the next four years. It's pretty simple, really. I don't care who you voted for, the President is still your President. You don't get to deny that fact.
Quick synposis: Sheehan finds way to get another media publicity spree. Expect to see her on Oprah and Letterman. I wouldn't doubt it if she finds time to pry herself away from her protest to make a publicity tour, book signings, you know. Sorry Cindy, your fifteen minutes were up long ago.
Today of course was the day the video was released. What I don't get is, who cares?? Who really still thinks that Paris Hilton is someone that we should care what she thinks?? She has consistently demonstrated that she has absolutely no mental abilities other than partying. Sorry, I mean “socializing.” Cause she's a “socialite.” What exactly is a “socialite,” you ask?
I have to give a presentation tomorrow. That means business formal attire. That means a necktie. Thing is, I have no idea how to tie a tie. Yep. Never learned how. Never needed to. In my entire life, I've gotten away with only wearing a tie MAYBE twice, and both of those times I had to have my dad tie it for me. Sure, he tried showing me how to do it, but I just never got the hang of it.