Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Are We Taking The High or Low Road?

After cleaning up the mess a small tornado named Patton had made in the house this morning, my human sat down at the computer with her cup of coffee and the news.  It took all of about 2 minutes for me to hear, “Good grief!”

“Shasta, what is wrong with Americans?  Why do we, as a nation, thrive on ugliness?  I will never understand this childish need to tear one another down so that one person can feel better about himself/herself.  And people wonder why I prefer the company of you and Patton to humans!”

Once again, my human was on her “soapbox” about the childish behavior she witnesses daily.  What started it?  Seeing status updates on Facebook complaining about “attack ads” on the radio and TV.  The very people complaining about this are the same people who say rude and ugly things to one another because of the candidate the other supports.
Everyday Candi shares with me these Facebook status updates and comments that are at best opinionated and at worst, just downright hateful.  As conservatives, do we really want to bring ourselves down to the same level as liberals like Wasserman-Shultz, Garofalo, Maher and others?  Shouldn’t we take the high road and set the example, not only for our fellow conservatives, but for the candidates and liberals who are watching our behavior?

We are NOT perfect by any stretch of the imagination and certainly have moments when we rant and are not nice.  But we do try to lift up others.  We do try to spread the conservative message without resorting to name calling and ugly behavior.  We are not always successful and our sense of humor, as well as our sense of right and wrong, sometimes gets in the way of our attempts to be respectful.  Candi is only human and I am only a canine.  How many of you can honestly say that you are “trying” to take the high road and not resort to childish behavior and/or comments?


Saturday, January 21, 2012

It's Only Fair and Balanced When You Agree With The Decision...Really?

This morning, my human and I woke to rain and thunder.  Patton had gotten into the pot that holds our tree and there was potting soil all over the place.  After getting it all cleaned up, taking us out in the rain and getting her cup of coffee, she settled in to watch the news and check out what was being talked about on the internet.  All of a sudden I heard, "Are you kidding?  With everything going on in the country and the world, you people seriously want to criticize FOXNews for hiring someone from the left to be a contributor.  Way to focus on the IMPORTANT issues!  Ughhhhh!!!!"


Now, being the canine that I am and loving my human the way I do, I thought I'd check out what she was referring to.  It seems that FOX News has decided to hire an open lesbian that shuns feminine attire AND has been a frequent guest on shows at their competitor MSNBC.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't their tag line "Fair and Balanced"?  Seriously...are they supposed to only hire contributors from the right?  How would that be fair?  How would it be balanced?  It wouldn't!


I have to agree with my human on this.  It is important to hear ALL sides.  Just because she doesn't agree with a person's ideology doesn't mean she should refuse to even give them the courtesy of listening to their point of view.  How are we supposed to vote intelligently if we don't listen to all sides and points of view?  Educating ourselves is "arming ourselves".  We can't be truly educated on the issues if we don't hear from the opposition.  You can't fight their ideology if you don't know what it is.  


I realize that we are going to upset a lot of people with our thoughts on this, but tough!  You need to hear it!  If you're only getting one point of view...you are NOT knowledgeable on the issues...you are regurgitating what you heard from people you like.  You're a "sheeple" if you do that!  Grow up America!  Stop being so myopic in your listening and viewing choices.  You want to talk about the issues...then you need to hear all sides of the issues!  So what if the woman is a lesbian?  Sarah Palin is a wife and mother.  I'd call that "balanced" and I'd certainly call it "fair".  Kudos to FOXNews for braving the disappointment of the "right" and bringing on another left-wing point of view.  In this house...we enjoy the debates!  And quite frankly, we're sick of the "we're right and you're wrong, so I won't listen to anything you say" attitudes from BOTH liberals and conservatives!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

A Relevant Movie For Today

Last night my human was in tears and frustrated.  A project she was working on just wouldn’t come together.  After a few back and forth emails with a friend, she decided to let the matter go, sit back and relax with a good movie.  It is the relevance of the movie to today’s political climate that struck me, a dog, and I feel the need to talk about it.

The movie was “State of the Union” starring Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn and Angela Lansbury.  I was amazed at how Angela’s character, a newspaper magnate, was determined to make her choice for POTUS the Republican nominee and therefore, President.  Nothing would stop her machinations in getting what she wanted.  She chose the politicians that would “bring him around” to the party line and get him the “delegates” needed to win the nomination.

I realize the movie is a dramatization, but think about it just a moment.  Most writers are inspired by something they’ve seen or heard.  Somewhere the author of the story witnessed the lengths the media of the day would go to in their attempts to control the political climate.  Isn’t that what we are seeing with today’s media insisting that Mitt Romney is the only republican candidate that can beat Obama? 

“Candi, isn’t what she’s doing in this movie the same sort of thing that they’re doing today?  When Spencer Tracy spoke from his heart, the people responded and that terrified ‘those in charge’.  Isn’t that what they did to Sarah Palin and Herman Cain?”

“Good point, Shasta.  In 2008, the media did everything within its power to make her look inept.  The GOP did everything in its power to make her ‘toe the line’ and, in doing so, thus gave the White House to Obama.  If the people had been allowed to hear ‘the truth’, we may have seen a different outcome.”

“So how do we take that power away from the media and politicians?” I asked.

“We (the people) have to be louder than the media, Shasta.  We have to use the power of the ‘new media’ and spread the word about conservative candidates on all levels of government.  We have to stand up and tell them what we think, just like Katherine’s character did in the movie.  Just like the ‘grip’ at the end who asked, ‘Are you any different than them?’  We have to decide that we will no longer allow the media and D.C. tell us who to vote for or why,” Candi said.

Although movies are “entertainment” and “dramatizations”, if you actually pay attention to the plot and sub-plots, you can learn something.  You can see the truth that no one wants to face.  You just have to look.  I would ask each of you to consider watching “State of the Union”, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, and “Meet John Doe”.  Each addresses the power of the media and the political machines that are still prevalent in today’s society.  I would ask that you not only watch and listen to the movies, but that you look at them with an open mind to see if you can come to the same conclusions that we came to.  That today’s media and political elite are STILL trying to dictate to us, the people, WHO to vote for.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A New "Breed" of Talk Show Hosts

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!!  My human, Candi, says this is going to be an awesome year for patriots across America.  She's an upbeat and positive person that way.  And well, me being me, I'm right there with her.  I know that for us, personally, it's going to be beyond awesome.  We've had the honor to meet some amazing people in the last year and can't wait to see what we can ALL accomplish together.

Thanks to awesome people like Matthew Vermillion, founder of LibertyBellRadio.com, we have discovered an entirely new "breed" of patriots.  The internet radio talk show host.  At Matt's suggestion, we began to check out internet talk radio back in November of 2011.  We found great shows like America Akbar with Gadi Adelman on the Radio Jihad Network, The Freedom's Wings Show with Diane Student, OKforTea Radio with Matt and Harold Vermillion and many more.  All of these shows can be found on blogtalkradio.com.  As we began to tune in, a thought occurred to me.  "Candi," I said, "I think that the internet talk radio shows are going to be a driving force in 2012 elections.  Americans are tired of being told by mainstream media and the "big" radio talk shows, what to think of the candidates and current events.  This new "breed" of talk show hosts have an entirely NEW way of looking at things and expressing it in entertaining ways."

Candi agreed with me.  "Shasta, there is so much more variety on the internet that the message has a better chance of getting out and being heard.  No two people are going to agree 100% on HOW to get the message out and that's why variety is so important.  Something else I've noticed is how the various hosts pop in and out of each other's show chatrooms to show support for their fellow hosts.  I bet the "big" guys don't do that."

For quite a while, my human has been telling everyone how important it is to support one another in our individual endeavors to have a positive impact.  We don't all have to take the same path to reach the same end goal!  For example, Gadi talks about Islam and it's infiltration into our everyday lives, the impact it has and the consequences.  He encourages debate and his producer Reese Ccup "rocks" the chatroom during breaks by playing music from some of the great artists over at BigDawgMusicMafia.com.  Matt and Harold Vermillion talk about the effects of policy coming out of D.C. on their state, as well as the nation.  The father and son team entertain us with sound clips and opinion, while giving us valuable information on local issues in Oklahoma.  Matt also re-airs his show and several others on his internet radio station LibertyBellRadio.com.  Diane Student of The Freedom's Wings show uses her natural wit and humor to entertain while informing us about national current events.  Every once in a while, Diane likes to allow her chatroom just get silly and break up the monotony and gloom of such heavy topics.  It makes it fun and entertaining to listen to, because you never know what's going to happen next.

The above mentioned shows are just three of the shows that are available to political junkies like my human.  There are many more, but we can't remember all the names to the shows.  We cheat and get email reminders for the shows we can listen to and download the podcasts to listen later to the ones that air in the middle of the night. Each host is unique and we've enjoyed getting to know them.  That feeling that you're a part of the show is one of the things that make these shows great.  Rather than being "preached at" by those talk shows airing on your local radio stations, you're thoughts and opinions are just as valuable and make you feel as if you are contributing.  Active participation is so much cooler than passive listening...just my opinion.  I've included the links to the three shows mentioned, and strongly encourage everyone to check them and others out.  Candi and I will be looking for you in the chats!

www.blogtalkradio.com/freedomswings
www.blogtalkradio.com/okfortea
www.blogtalkradio.com/americaakbar

P.S.
Just so everyone knows....hehehe....Candi has joined The Freedom's Wings show as Diane's producer.  The New Year has brought my human a new friend and a new project.  And...given that both Diane and Candi are, shall we say...rather unique....the show is bound to be hilarious at times.  Come join them for some common sense and irreverent commentary.