In Which Ted offers opinions about THINGS.

A dear friend of mine posted a blog entry recently that was essentially a political vent. I won't get into the whys and wherefores, except to say that my response (I was on the opposite side of the fence) prompted her to say, in essence, (and insightfully, as usual) "The thing is, when I get all "atither" I say so. Usually in writing. Usually in public. It's my opinion and not the way I expect other people to behave. I'm good once I've vented, and I've vented. I feel better. Don't you?"

It got me to thinking. Because honestly, for a few years now, I haven't vented publicly in that manner. And when I have, it hasn't always made me feel better, which is why I stopped venting publicly to begin with. Or at least, toned things down.

I remember when I stopped V on my journal. I posted a story making fun of Sarah Palin's daughter being named an "Ambassador of Abstinance" and wrote a piece about her being inducted into the Justice League. One of my Journal "buddies" at the time went apeshit and started really laying into me. He even went so far as to say that I had no right to talk, because my daughter had a child as a teenager, so I was a hypocrite for making fun of Bristol Palin. In truth, none of my girls has ever been a teen mom...the guy totally misread my life story. But rather than apologize, he just went off on some crazy new right wing tangent, and rather than deal with it, I simply deleted him as a friend and banned him for life.

I remember when I stopped V on Facebook. It was the day that Teddy Kennedy died, and I simply posted that he did good things and hoped he would rest in peace. This prompted the ire of one of my more fanatical conservative friends, who used this simple post to ram down my throat five thousand reasons why he was evil and deserved to rot in hell.

Look, the guy just died. Lay off on the hyperbole for just one day, okay? At least on my time.

It just becomes too exhausting. Anything you post on a blog or in the social media realm is subject to discussion, of course, and that's fine, but so many people are incapable of simple respectful discourse. All they want to do is to lecture and goad and throw a bunch of bullshit "facts" your way, not realizing that there are just as many "facts" that move in the opposite direction...and usually, none of them are really facts at all.

It just gets too tiring, after a while. Especially if you're feeling down about things and dont really have the urge to fight too much. Or, if you're in the middle of work and have a hundred and one things and don't have the time to research and carefully craft a thoughtful response that hands them their ass in a sling. (PS: It never does.)

Well, funny thing that. This past month, I have been feeling a bit better about things (call it my coming out party) and I have been more in the mood to hold my own about things. So, that being said, here are the things that are on my mind about things right now. Have at it, all you want!

--I don't think Obama is half as good a President as Clinton, but he's certainly not half as bad a President as Bush Jr. He is not a radical, he does not have any hidden agenda designed to unravel the fabric of our precious American society. I've heard all this bullshit for years now: I have one friend who swore to me before he was elected that he was going to force America to erect a giant gold metal shield in the air designed to purify the air. For some reason, I haven't seen that happen yet. Maybe it's just the price of gold that's stopped him. The same will be said four years from now about all the other dark secret Obama plans I keep hearing about.
--The recent tragedy in Aurora has caused me to rethink my stance on the death penalty. Clearly this guy is at fault for what occurred, and I tend to believe that the death penalty is the appropriate punishment. I do think that the court system is fallible, and innocent people have been put to death due to errors in the system. However, when it's as clear cut as this one sems to be, I say, let the guy fry.
--I also don't think that what happened is a reason for there to be any additional prohibitions put in place regarding violent films. Art did influence life in this case, but that's just the nature of art. And life. I don't believe in prohibitions against violence or sex when it comes to any artistic medium. In a free society, we should be free to express ourselves as we wish.
--I do think that the gun laws in this country need to be looked at. No one should be able to buy all that crap on the internet the way he did. It's unnecessary, and I'm not sure how can justify the purchase of 6,000 rounds of ammunition. Also, if someone had had a gun in that theater I doubt that would have helped anything. It would have made things far worse, frankly. Yeah yeah yeah, people kill people, guns don't kill people. Not really: people with guns kill people. I mean, come on, be real, I'm so sick of that shit.
--I'm kind of torn about the Chil Fil A thing. Should people who have views that are the polar opposite of mine be able to express them, even if they own a company that's trying to suck money out of my wallet? Yes, absolutely, but I don't need to eat there. That said, the response by the Jim Henson Company and mayor Menino was absolutely marvelous. Because other companies and elected officials too absolutely have the right to voice their opinion.
--As much as I am lukewarm about Obama, I am totally ice cold about Romney. Maybe it's the fact that he used to be my governor, maybe it's the fact that I view him as a right wing version of Al Gore in the way he sounds so robotic. Either way, he doesn't have a lick of sincerity in him, from what I can see, and changes his mind depending on the day and what his pollsters tell him to say. I could not possibly see myself voting for that man in November.

That's it! That's all I have right now! More opinions to come. Now that I've started spewing, maybe I won't be able to stop.