STP Speaks

Must tell you all about this hilarious website called "The Chimp-O-Matic". I have it on my Google homepage and every time I sign on it gives me a different quote. I highly recommend it for some light entertainment. Whichever your political affiliation, you have to laugh.

What is it with these religious nuts who insist on calling for the violation of the constitutional amendment our Founding Fathers saw fit to write in as the FIRST??!! The latest is Katherine Harris from Florida (remember she was the Secretary of State during the first Presidential election.....you know the one with all the make-up)? Anyhoo, she told the Florida Baptist Witness (a Florida Baptist State Convention journal) that separating religion and politics is wrong because "God is the one who chooses our rulers". She also said, according to a CNN article, that electing non-Christians is essentially legislating sin. Scary stuff, for anyone who believes differently.

I know that Christians don't have a monopoly on highjacking governments - but they sure seem to be trying real hard to do it in this country. From President Bush on down to local legislators here in MO and KS there has been a real shift in politics. The question is, have they gone too far? In Kansas, the controlling members of the state school board recently lost power in the August election. Since 1998, the school board has changed hands twice, resulting in anti-evolution standards, then back to evolution friendly standards - coming and going with alarming frequency. This debate will seemingly go on and on. In Missouri, we have the stem cell initiative which will be voted on in the November elections.

Some folks are still calling for school prayer. A relative of mine insists that it would cure all the ills in society if we would just have kids pray in class. In 2005, a Gallup poll showed that a majority of Americans favor voluntary prayer in school, but only 25% favor a spoken prayer. The majority prefer a moment of silence. This is encouraging, but it seems like we need more education on constitutional issues in our public schools. I don't remember having much of this during my high school civics classes. A good working understanding of the Constitution along with some basic caselaw on hot topics like this could go a long way in helping to educate the general public why our laws are what they are. People may still disagree, but at least they would have access to the debate and why our courts have ruled the way they have on certain issues.

It seems we do have a chance for change if we liberals and moderate conservatives join to vote for that change. Hopefully, the pendulum will swing the other way by this November.

I am so sick of being outraged at everything I see in the news. I don't think I can muster up any more outrage or anger at our government anymore. In my job as a public defender we call this kind of burn-out "compassion fatigue". I think I have the political version of this. I shall call it "outrage fatigue". For example, I used to get such a kick out of reading these godawful right wing freaky fake emails my Dad or my retired military uncle would send me. I would take delight in fact checking these and sending that back to them, forwarding it to all the people they had sent it to, and all the people that sent it to them. That was a fun sport for me that I used to love. Sadly, this week, I told my Dad to stop sending these stupid emails to me. I just can't muster up the outrage right now. I hope this is a temporary issue with me. I can't stand to watch the news, cause I don't want to talk about all the bad stuff I see on it with my other liberal friends. I am trying to care..... but I am just worn out by it all.

What works to combat this issue in my job is simple. I just go to some "Rah-rah-rah" Public Defender conference and get all motivated to help poor people charged with crimes again. Works every time. I think it is the combination of the group building each other back up again and seeing the new public defenders all eager and idealistic. Guess I need something like that to build me back up again before the 2008 elections. This is the danger we liberals face right now. We have a great opportunity to turn this country around, and I am afraid we may lose it if we don't keep up the appropriate amount of outrage. We need to get out there right now and join some group, or donate to a candidate, or work on someone's campaign. We can't let the right wingers defeat our wills to fight by sheer atrocity after atrocity.

So get out there and do what you do LIBERALS. It is time to take action and walk the walk. Let's fight for our rights, for our values, for our country, and for our right to partay !!!