I know it's un-American, but I don't give one iota (the ninth and smallest letter of the Greek alphabet and thus slang for ONE BIT) whom John Edwards is screwing. Just as I don't care whom Bill Clinton was screwing, or Hillary for that matter, John McCain (whom I believe cheated on his first wife to then marry the second?), Ronald Reagan (conjure that image, I dare), Jimmy Carter, Johnson, Kennedy or Roosevelt (Eleanor or her lesser-famous husband). I could go so far back as to say I don't care that Thomas Jefferson had an illegitimate black child or that Franklin had more women in France than chocolates. And I certainly don't care whom or if George H.W. Bush is screwing and we all know the only one George W. Bush continues screwing is America.
And, just as in Clinton's case, I don't care that Edward's lied about it because men lie about sex. They shouldn't, but they do. Nor do I care that someone in his campaign might have given her money out of the poverty fund (does that make her a Po'Ho?) and I certainly don't care who the hell fathered her child .
Now the big question, WHY the HELL does anybody else?
First of all, this story was brought to light by...wait for it...The National Enquirer. And that's exactly on whose pages it should have stayed, for those that like such things; Right next to alien babies and cats that can add. Grist for the mill of morons in this country that confuse AFFAIRS of STATE with AFFAIRS period.
Presidents, and others, screw. Often, if they can. And, unfortunately, men and women cheat. Not just here, everywhere. Impregnate the herd mentality, a leftover bit of a chromosome or wiring in the brain from generations past that many men (and some women) just can't shake. Humans have been fighting the monogamy myth since...since religion mandated it, come to think of it. Some people can do it, be monogamous, some can't. Brown eyes, blue eyes. And some define monogamy differently, exploring threesomes or even orgies and leaving feeling as though they are perfectly monogamous because both were present and consented. People on "Real Sex" on HBO said so right before they sploshed. Different strokes, literally. But sex is as natural as breathing and voiding, so, again, deal with it.
And why don't I care? Again, why should I? Because Edwards was perhaps going to be considered to be Vice President? I see no reason why he still couldn't be. His wife had cancer, was undergoing Chemo, maybe she didn't want him (or little John) any where near her. How do we know? Again, we don't, and I don't want to, just like you wouldn't want any of this in your life aired in public. Public servants are not Hollywood Stars, and presidents are not inhuman, they are men, or, hopefully one day, women, with working sexual organs and desires (present Republican nominee excepted).
No, I care about governments screwing people, not consenting people literally screwing people (Streisand, eat your heart out).
Iraq has an $80b projected budget surplus, none of which is making it to the reconstruction effort. We have a projected $400b deficit left by this failed administration, an administration that PROMISED Americans Iraqi oil could and would pay for the war effort and reconstruction, and yet we continue to send about $10b a month and still buy oil to the tune of about $70b a month in the Middle East.
Well, Iraq, time to make a payment. Get one of those ever-so-polite collection agents on the phone that call at 8am on a Sunday and go through a written speech..."Hello, Prime Minister al-Malaki, this is Bob in collections at Collections America. We see here that you seem to have misplaced a few of the $10b monthly paymens we've been sending added to a total of a near $500b dollar total expenditure, so, we would like to see if you have already mailed a payment or ask why you have not. Please be advised, this is an attempt to collect a debt, and anything you say will be used in that effort. This call is recorded. Now, when can we expect this?"
No, I've never gotten one of those but I hear that's how they go. (quiet)
Meanwhile back in America., at our current rate, by 2030 nine out of 10 Americans will be obese. Imagine the health crisis. USA Today on August 7th, 2008 reported that some drug companies are raising prices of their products from 100 to 1000% this year. Fannie and Freddie have failed, and the blank check we've written them comes from Chinese money. Families are homeless in startling numbers, banks are failing in even more alarming numbers and most Americans are a paycheck or two away from disaster. We work more, have less, and are sick as a nation, quite literally. We produce nothing and are a debtor nation (down from being one of the world's strongest creditor nations). We should have started the energy solutions 30 years ago when Carter suggested (and others) and be moving BEYOND nuclear now, beyond drilling, beyond combustion engines, we should actually BE in the 21st century, approaching 2010 (boy was that movie off).
As a nation and a national media we spend time debating Paris Hilton's response to John McCain (Priceless by the way, maybe Obama should consider her a running mate. She'd get the 20+ year old white males that may have never voted, and the 18 y/o girls that think she's HOT and Obama/Hilton sounds exotic)....meanwhile, back at the rant, as a nation that obsesses over Hilton or Edward's and his dalliances what we don't see, or talk about or broadcast is that as a Constitutional Republic, we have failed, and haven't been a true democracy for years. We, the People, ignore that the grand experiment of America has fallen and is on life support as our national statistics (health, mortality, education and on) rival third world nations as the lowest on the planet and that our very livelihood as a country relies on the support of Communists. Sounds terrible to say, but it's true, China is a Communist nation, the world's largest political party, actually, the Communist Party of China. So excuse me if I don't wet myself over who which candidate, senator, president, vice president or any other politician or civil servant is screwing so long as it isn't me or my country.
If America doesn't refocus itself away from the National Enquirer or stories that belong on its pages and look at the real, actual dramas of the world, of our country (of which there are many) then we deserved to be ruled by others because we have de-evolved in to a gelatinous, ignorant group of 300 million people. A nation that had it all, had the makings of greatness, but chose to become winey, bratty, willful and so preoccupied with the lives of others that we ignored the business of our nation, so enamored with what candidates do or did "off air" instead of what they did or do on the job that we let our great nation, its resources and people be squandered away.
John Edwards is a liar and a cheat in the eyes of many. Why George W. Bush isn't seen as a war criminal and his party a group of criminals by those same people en masse I'll never understand.
What Mrs. Edwards does to or about John is her business.
What we do about Bush, our country, and our future is ours.
Think about that, or we all really screwed.