The big news lately is that President Bush ducked some shoes thrown at him by an Iraqi journalist. The "blogosphere" (I hate that word) is having a field day with it. But it got me thinking... what would you do if someone threw their shoes at you? Would you duck, dodge, block, or try to catch them? I'm the sort of person who likes to turn an insult into a compliment... or at the very least, deflect it back.

I would have tried to catch the shoes, or block them. I mean, they're only shoes. Having caught them, I would kindly walk over and return them.

Then again, I wouldn't have ever gotten myself into the predicament George W. Bush is in. I probably wouldn't be hated enough by anyone that they'd actually want to throw their shoes at me. It's a shame too, because it's the sort of thing that can show you what a person is made of.

The headlines the past couple days have been going on about George W. Bush's plan to save our economy. Namely, he wants to bailout the financial industry to the tune of $700 billion dollars. Now, these are the sort of corporations that will throw a small fry like you or me out on the street if we don't pay our obligations. They on the otherhand, are somehow obligated to a bailout when they screw-up. Not just screw-up, but completely royally screw-up.

$700 billion dollars is enough money to give every single man, woman, child, and baby in the United States $2,000. Or, it would be enough to give every single person in the world $700. Every single person. What sort of ridiculous bailout is that? George W. Bush, are you stupid? Do you think this money grows on trees? No, it comes out of taxpayer's pockets. Probably not your pocket, but definitely mine and everyone I know.

The financial industry doesn't deserve a bailout like that. They screwed up. Now they deserve to pay. And pay hard out the nose if need be. I have no sympathy for multi-billion dollar companies who screw up, because when it comes right down to it, they don't care about you or me either... just the bottom line. And now their bottom line has caught up to them, and it's time for them to be put out of our misery... for better or worse.

Quote:

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

It's been quiet around these parts for more than a month now and I felt the need to write an article about what I've been doing all this time. Other than real life, which I won't ever go into here... I've been visiting Newsvine a lot in order to get my news. I haven't even bothered going to CNN lately. Newsvine has been pretty good with keeping everything up to date. They have AP news articles, which I consider the real news, and then there's the other significant portion of the site... the editorials.

That part is a mixed bag, as some of my friends will tell you. On one hand, it's really interesting to see what other people feel about what's going on around us in the world today, but then on the other, some of the views are just so ridiculous I can't help but become irate over some of the articles written, or some of the seeds (links to other sites) posted there. They just show a complete lack of intelligence, a deep-routed bias against the United States and its people, or just an overt attempt to start a flamewar. One such seed comes to mind that was posted recently discussed how George W. Bush's grandfather sold stuff to the Nazis. Granted, I hate the Nazis, Neo-Nazis, or anything else Nazi-like; and I'm no fan of George W. Bush either -- but I think that at this point, that's just like scrapping the bottom of the barrel for reasons to hate the guy. And besides, if we're going to criticize President Bush for having family ties that worked with the Nazis, just about all of the western half of continental Europe is in the same boat, not to mention Sweden. And heck, the Germans were the Nazis. Oops...

Newsvine's most vocal members are more liberal than anything else, and it shows heavily in their posting. I've taken to picking off certain points in their arguments solely because I don't have the time or interest to write an incredibly long dissertation explaining why I feel they're wrong, and how I came to that conclusion. It seems to have done me well, as I'm rated around 85% on the site. Granted there are people on there with tons more articles and seeds than I have, but I'm fine with that. All I do is defend what I think is right, and point out when I think someone has stepped over the line with their arguments.

I'd like to think that the articles will become more balanced with time, but usually it's the more vocal members of either side of the political spectrum who do the most talking... and what they're saying scares the heck out of me.