journalman's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sick MLK Day, fun with AOL It's MLK day, and I'm home with a chest cold. I do regret taking the day off work, but I am legitimately sick. Whooping cough, a runny nose, and general blaaaah. So I spent much of the day on the message boards. It's interesting to see how much public opinion has swayed away from supporting our current administration. But that 33%ish core of supporters is die-hard. I spent the day trading barbs with one of them, and I am left totally depressed about the state of our nation. A portion of this country is so hell-bent on making abortion illegal that they will do anything and everything to support the current administration. When truly, I don't think the GOP will ever overturn Roe v Wade. The hope and promise that they 'might' someday do so is the most powerful vote-getting mechanism either party has seen in decades. If they put the issue to bed, they lose voters. If they say they agree with the fundamental right-wing and so much as promise to act accordingly, they maintain a rabid block of voters that will both support and demonize absolutely anybody just to get 'their guy' in there. I went back-forth about the airstrikes in Pakistan with a guy who, after being quashed at every turn, finally spouted off about abortion. His hot-button topic revealed its ugly head. By this time, he'd already proved himself a racist, armchair historian, anti-choicer, and somebody who placed tremendous faith in rove's swift showboaters. After he acknowledged that criminalizing abortion would only spawn illegal and unsafe abortion-houses, he summarily agreed that only low-income, inner city women would be the most hard-hit by this legislation. I asked him point-blank why he would fight so hard for there to be "more unwanted black babies in the inner city". When he brought up the second amendment, I asked him why it was OK for US citizens to bear arms and 'shoot at oppressive invaders', and why it was not OK for Iraqi citizens to do the same. It was fun to watch him fumble. It brought me joy on my sick day. Also on my sick MLK day, I managed to watch and listen to the Dream speech. He said what needed to be said in the face of strong opposition, with only the weakest most downtrodden members of society supporting him. Where are such heroes today? Honestly, Nancy Pelosi is the only one saying what needs to be said. We need people like these now more than ever. 7:14 p.m. - 2006-01-16 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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