Consider this the opening salvo of our fiery political blog. Rather than harp on a topic, I'm going to introduce myself and tell you where I stand on many topics. I figure that most of the people who read this are doing so because they know either me or Mr. Upton, but maybe eventually this blog might gain some enough momentum to pick up a few strangers. In that case, here's a little about me.
Since turning 18, I have voted for both Republicans and Democrats. At this point in my 36 years of existence, I find myself torn between the distinctions of "liberal" and "conservative" because I don't know what those words mean any more. I am certainly no Democrat, though some of my opinions fall in line with the party of the ass. I have become quite disenfranchised with what the elephant party has become since the first Bush, and so I don't consider myself a Republican, either. I guess that makes me a Libertarian. Rather than try to figure out one catch-all label, I'll just tell you what I think about "the issues" and you can decide where my alliances fall.
My name is Bill Fulks and this is where I stand on the following matters:
Gun Control - This is the very first thing I look at in any candidate. If you are anti-gun in any way, I will never vote for you. I firmly believe in one's right to self preservation and protection, and any politician who thinks that disarming someone will make them safer is not somebody I want in office.
Immigration - I have nothing against anyone from any country who wants to come here and work or start a new life. Technically, we are all descended from immigrants in one way or another. There is, however, a process by which someone rightly enters the country and becomes a citizen. If you wish to bypass this process, it makes me highly suspicious of your intentions. Furthermore, if you can't speak or read English and have no driver's license or insurance, I do not want to share the road with you.
Gay Marriage - I support it. I used to not support it, but I have had many discussions about it (sometimes with real life gay people!) and came to the conclusion that it's a civil rights issue. That and the divorce rate in this country makes any argument about the "sanctity of marriage" a friggin' joke. People just need to get over their bias.
Health Care - I think we are all obligated, as human beings, to try and prevent another person from dying. There is a big difference between saving a life and providing free health care. Right now, no hospital is going to turn someone away for an emergency. That would be cruel. However, it would also be cruel to force a medical professional ( who spent years training for a very specific job) to provide free services beyond life saving techniques. Nobody should be forced to work for free just because they know a lot about a certain profession. Trust me, I know about this because I work on computers for a living. No, I will not help you get rid of the virus you got from looking at porn sites. Look at how the post office is managed or the way Hurricane Katrina was handled in New Orleans, and that should be proof enough that you do not want to put the government in charge of your health care.
Marijuana - I think the government should legalize and then tax the hell out of it. Alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana. Stop the prohibition. Let the DEA focus on the stuff that can kill you like cocaine, heroin, meth, and so on.
Foreign Policy - I don't think the United States should police the world. We are still an economic superpower, but I worry that we're spreading ourselves too thin. I also think that we should never have meddled in the affairs of the middle east. People in that area have been killing each other since before Jesus walked among them and even he couldn't straighten them out. We also need to quit creating so many millionaire shieks by not buying any more of their oil.
That's enough for now. Come back later for more, if you dare.
That has sent them into orbit! Pelosi's in orbit and Sheila Jackson Lee. They're still talking about it on the House floor. The Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee sent out an immediate fundraising letter with a picture making me look like Dracula. I mean it is... (laughing) I've got the original story here that all this feeds off of, so all of you sit tight. Look, at least I didn't call her "a woman driver," and I'll tell you this, you people on the left: I'll happily buy her all the aspirin she wants. Snerdley, you would agree. We would happily buy Sandra Fluke all the aspirin she wants. What could that possibly cost. But contraceptives? So much sex at Georgetown?
Now, here's the story that started all this. It's by a guy name Craig Bannister at Cybercast News Service: "A Georgetown co-ed told Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s hearing that the women in her law school program are having so much sex that they’re going broke, so you and I should pay for their birth control. Speaking at a hearing held by Pelosi to tout Pres. Obama’s mandate that virtually every health insurance plan cover the full cost of contraception and abortion-inducing products, Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke said that it’s too expensive to have sex in law school without mandated insurance coverage. Apparently, four out of every ten co-eds are having so much sex that it's hard to make ends meet if they have to pay for their own contraception, Fluke's research shows." And of course what's sex if the ends aren't meeting?
If Fluke is gonna ask the government to force anybody to foot the bill for her friends' birth control, shouldn't it be these guys? Who pays for the abortions? Oops! We already know that, too. So that's where this all started, that story. That's where it all started. A woman who goes to law school at Georgetown goes to a congressional hearing where Pelosi is (crying), "I'm going broke having sex! I need... I need the government to provide me condoms and contraception. It's not fair." Okay, so this is a law student at a congressional committee asking for us ... to ... pay ... for ... the ... things ... that ... make ... it ... possible ... for ... her ... to ... have ... sex.
RUSH: Prove it! Stop the tape. Prove it! What is "on their faces"? Acne? What is it, acne? Zits? What's on their faces that tells you? Seriously! You know, I'm the mayor of Realville. I live in Literalville. This is hilarious. It's absolutely skyrocketing hilarious to have this portrayed as the latest killer disease (brought to you by the Republicans, of course).
LAUTENBERG: (haltingly) Yesterday we heard something astounding. Came from Rush Limbar (sic), who's a prime voice of modern conservatism in this country. What he said yesterday -- and I had it checked because I wanted to be sure that I'm not misquoting anything. Said a woman who wants affordable birth control is, and I quote here, "a prostitute." Talking about your wife, your sister, your daughter, your child. Hateful! Ugly language! And we condemn it.
SPEIER: I rise this morning to say to Rush Limbaugh, shame on you. Shame on you for being the hatemonger that you are. Shame on you for being misogynistic. Shame on you for calling the women of this country sluts and prostitutes, 'cause that's what he did. Ninety-eight percent of the women in this country at some time in their lives use birth control, and yet he went on the air recently and called Sandra Fluke a slut and a prostitute because she was trying to access birth control pills as a third-year law student at Georgetown. So I say to the women of this country, do something about this. Stop supporting the hatemongering of Rush Limbaugh.
RUSH: Wow. Who paid for the sex and the contraception in the backseat of the car way back when? So it's embarrassing to go to the drugstore and not be able to pay and find out that the birth control pills are not covered by insurance. You see embarrassment etched all over the faces. Folks, for all the hilarity that's contained in what's going on here... Here's a woman exercising no self-control. The fact that she wants to have repeated, never-ending, as often as she wants it sex -- given. No question about that. Of course, it's normal. Why, who are you, Limbaugh? Where you been? We're to pay for it, and if there's any objection to it, then there's racism, bigotry, sexism, misogyny. We gotta killer disease out here, apparently, and that is women who can't afford contraception or don't want to pay for it, even though they can afford it. One more Sheila Jackson Lee, then we'll finish with this.
I disagreed with many things that the Occupy protesters wanted, but of those many issues I think the one that stood out the most was the idea of student loan forgiveness. Isn't the whole point of college to prepare yourself for a better future? If you spend four years working on a degree that doesn't help you in the workforce, then why did you keep working on that degree? That's the part I don't understand. Do people not look at the job market before they launch into a degree program? Sure, taking a bunch of art classes would be great fun, but is that really what college is for?
