One Great Monologue

I have to say, Sorkin had one hell of a doosie of an opening monologue for "Newsroom."  Just for my own personal benefit, I'm going to copy and paste it.  Seeing as though it centers around my own personal beliefs, and that I will be posting a great many of things leading up to my favorite holiday...  July 4th!

"Fine. [to the liberal panelist] Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paychecks, but he [gesturing to the conservative panelist] gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn't cost money, it costs votes. It costs airtime and column inches. You know why people don't like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so fuckin' smart, how come they lose so GODDAM ALWAYS!

And [to the conservative panelist] with a straight face, you're going to tell students that America's so starspangled awesome that we're the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom, Japan has freedom, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom. Two hundred seven sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom.

And you—sorority girl—yeah—just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know, and one of them is that there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world. We're seventh in literacy, twenty-seventh in math, twenty-second in science, forty-ninth in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force, and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies. None of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt, a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about?! Yosemite?!!!

We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right! We fought for moral reasons, we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world's greatest artists and the world's greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn't belittle it; it didn't make us feel inferior. We didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn't scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one—America is not the greatest country in the world anymore."

To the ends that justify this posting, a personal tidbit to start off my celebration of this fine time in history...
      Not a holiday that exists will ever stir my soul greater than that of the fourth of July. How our political leaders would do best to remember the cause and quality of the meaning behind such a great day, let alone the citizens to whom it should be most pertinent. Your reprehensible greed and selfish personal interests dishonor a nation.

Roger Clemens, Bud Selig and the U.S. Gov walk into a bar

I would like to congratulate Roger Clemens for the success he has had in his trial vs. the U.S. Congress.  They say you can't fight Taminey Hall...He has, and he won.

This is not an open admission for my support of the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports.  More-or-less this is a resounding, What the hell does the U.S. Congress have to do with Major League Baseball. By extension, if he in fact lied to the panel, I applaud his effort.  As someone who is completely enamored with politics, I would like to comment with haste that the individuals involved in the questioning had a high probability for un-truthiness.  Therefore, I am glad that he may have returned the favor.

In comparison, Jamie Dimon's JP Morgan Chase just lost an estimated $7 billion.  The house gave him a rough time of it, the senate held his hand, and in the end he finances a good chuck of these election funds.  Yet somehow in the midst of the entire financial collapse, it was important enough to spend over a million to question a baseball player on steroid use.

Compare even further, look at any NFL linebacker and ask yourself if that size is natural.  Hell, look at most positions within the sport and ask yourself the same question.

What is with politicians and "sanctity."  Whether it be marriage or sport, what is it the job of elected officials to decide what is accepted or not.  If the law isn't on the books, shut up and move on.  Performance enhancing drugs, and the regulations controlling them, are up to the discretion of the heads of the particular sporting leagues.  In this case, Bud Selig gets the final word and that's that.  As Mr. Vilma found out, he who controls the sport makes the rules.  All sport is bigger than the players, but most certainly not above common law.  As long as no one in sport breaks common law, then why should there be any legal recourse.

Though, don't ask David Nalbandian about that...

I'm sick of political motivations for immigration enforcement

The definition of legal or illegal has no bearing on the context contained within the immigration argument. Well, as far as I am concerned.  I imagine nations of tribes would have declared us illegal, but seeing as though they don't believe in land ownership, that renders that point moot. 

The areas where "illegal" immigration is most prevalent are areas that have always been majority Spanish/Mexican, which in our "divine authority" ( or our desire to protect ourselves via natural borders from the Spanish during the 19th century ) we saw fit to swindle and make war to obtain. "Illegal" is used to such political gain these days it's discomforting. 

I'm as staunch a patriot as there can be, and will allow the certain actions of my forefathers to stay in the past. However, to go on a political tirade about the injustices of "illegal" immigrants is to dismiss it altogether. This isn't a liberal/conservative thing its the just right of all proper Americans to duly respect the history of this country, and by decrying "illegal" your disrespecting the hardships  the natural born citizens of this land had to endure.  Love it or hate it, is a part of this nation's history.

In 2012 I fully support the removal of undocumented workers. the basis for this comes from human rights as non-citizen workers are not protected by the same workplace quality standards as standard citizen workplaces.  

I recognize the present dangers of un-checked borders. I also respect the fact that someone who is born here, is as much a citizen as my namesake fore bearers at their time of birth. The naturalization process is a joke and needs to be updated, but you don't need to police little kids around. When did we become an authoritarian state? 

All these political buffoons take great pride to go about great lengths in making us all sound like idiots. I'm sick of the lot of em. Human rights are rights blessed upon us at birth and I'm damn sick of some political motive tiptoeing its way around that in order to satisfy some extremest view. It's amazing to sit on top of the hill looking down, but i imagine if everyone would have the same views if they had to walk a mile in someone's shoes.