Politics

I haven't knitted much these past days but I feel as if the following is very important for you guys to hear. It won't be long. Bear with me please.

Monday was Memorial Day in the United States of America, a day in which the country honors its dead soldiers from past wars. As people were busy eating barbequed chicken and stuffing their faces with corn on the cob and potato salad, Democratic presidential candidate hopeful, John Edwards posted this video on this website. Please watch before you continue reading this.

FoxNews, a leader in cable media in the United States and several other more politically minded blogs than this one, have been reporting how abominable it is for Edwards to politicize this sacred holiday. I understand that Memorial Day is in honor of the troops and their families, however, let us not forget that wars are mainly, if not always, politically driven. Some good examples of this are the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and of course this current war in Iraq. The first two conflicts began because the United States had just started it's Cold War with the former USSR. The objective was containment, as in, keeping communism at bay and preventing it from spreading to other parts of the world. However, politicians tried to trick citizens and soldiers alike that they were fighting these wars because it was the "right thing to do" or because "democracy must prevail because it is the best form of government."

The present war in Iraq is politically driven as well. Did anyone forget that Saddam actually received direct military aid from the United States back in the 1980's when he was fighting a war with the Iranians? It's called the Iran-Iraq War and all the information is here if you would like to know more about it. Obviously, once Saddam had ended being useful to the United States, Bush Jr. goes after him and his oil, which not surprisingly has kept money in his pocket for quite some time now.

In fact, politicians have been using this strategy for decades, that is, using the war to further their agendas. I must ask, though, does dying as a soldier make your death more honorable, even if your reason for being at war is not an noble one? I'll let you guys answer that one.

To wrap up this thought, wars are political things, caused by political bodies to advance their own political (or maybe even personal) agendas. For John Edwards to release this video on Memorial Day made sense because people are thinking about the Nation's dead as well as have the time to sit and watch a video. Why not use a political thing for other political purposes?

The View

I used to watch The View whenever I got a chance to see it several years back. Lately I have not been watching but I feel as if I know everything that goes on, mainly because FoxNews (my boyfriend can't stand CNN because he says it's not fair nor balanced. Yeah, like FoxNews is any better) keeps reporting about Rosie O'Donnell. Apparently Rosie has decided to leave The View 3 weeks before her contract with them would be up. However, FoxNews does not do a good job of explaining why she is leaving. Instead they choose to focus on this clip. Go ahead and watch it before you continue.

Some bloggers are contending that if Rosie was allowed to say this before the show was to go live, then the producers also support her theories. However, judging the type of character this woman has, you really think she'd tell the producers what she planned on saying to the audience before the show was ready to tape? The show is called The View for a reason, but I guess the only time a hostess' opinions can be expressed is when the cameras are rolling and millions of viewers can hear it. I'm not a fan of Rosie, but leave her alone. She does not have enough influence to cause a revolution in this country. Oprah on the other hand, does.