Engleberts in Missouri [miz-er-ree]

Steve and I agree on so many things that you might think we never disagree or argue about fundamental beliefs. But there are several topics that should be on the “off limits list” in order to maintain a civil discussion in our house. One hot button for us is politics.

Steve likes to say that I am a right-wing religious fundamentalist who buys into the Republican party line without question. I’m pretty sure he’s a left-wing nut who will drive the minivan of society right into hell with his socialist views.

Every week Steve watches Real Time with Bill Maher. Maher’s completely anti-traditional values rants, his stance against religion and marriage, liberal viewpoints, and especially the way he mocks everyone who doesn’t agree with him are guaranteed to rile me up. The show literally makes my blood boil and often causes me to yell things at the tv screen as though Bill can hear me.

But then, Steve will listen to the Rush Limbaugh show or watch the No-Spin zone with Bill O’Reilly and you would think their conservative views would have me happily nodding along with whatever spews out of their mouths. But no - I don’t agree with a lot of what they say either. Especially Rush Limbaugh who strikes me as an anti-feminist religious nutcase.

So I’ve started to wonder exactly where I fit in the political arena. I’m a registered Republican, have rarely voted non-Republican, but don’t really agree with everything the Republican party espouses. Yesterday I ran across The World’s Smallest Pollitical Quiz and decided to see where they thought I was on the political map.

Turns out I’m not left or right. I’m a moderate Libertarian. Who knew!?!

I read the description for Libertarianism and boy that really does seem to fit best with what I believe.

LIBERTARIANS support maximum liberty in both personal and economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence. Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse lifestyles, support the free market, and defend civil liberties.

I took a few other political quizes to see if the WSPQ was accurate. Every one I took placed me squarely in the Libertarian box. So I’m thinking it might be pretty accurate for such a quick and easy little quiz.

Where do you fit on the political map? Take the quiz and reveal your political self in the comments.

I was reading an online article about the holiday film The Nativity Story today that had a link to a rant on “Holiday Political Correctness” by the White House and retailers. As I read it, I realized that I too had fallen into the “PC” trap. This is not something that I normally do - generally I am pretty plainspoken and will call a flat-bladed digging tool a flat-bladed digging tool.

But yesterday, as I wrote out my Holiday-that-dare-not-speak-it’s-name cards, I realized I had chosen 3 different types of cards to send out this year: the special 3-D cards for close family members like my parents or my daughters, the main religiously-themed card for the bulk of my list, and a religiously-neutral Happy Holidays card for our work-related card recipients.

I’m definitely straddling the PC fence on this one. That said, I can’t help but be a little amazed at just how hyper-sensitive some people seem to be these days. I am not offended when someone wishes me “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”. I’d say that if a store clerk were to say “Happy Hanukkah” to me, I’d probably mindlessly reply “Thanks - Happy Hanukkah to you too” as I walked away cramming yet another receipt in my purse. You can’t offend me with an offer of goodwill.

There are many different groups which observe holiday celebrations during the month of December. Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day, Jews celebrate Hanukkah, Christians celebrate Christmas, Muslims celebrate Id Al-Fitr, African-Americans celebrate Kwanzaa, Wiccans and many American Indians celebrate the Winter Solstice. So maybe it’s not the place of the government or even retailers to celebrate one of these holidays to the exclusion of the others.

Frankly, I think some of the PC stuff is pretty ridiculous. When they light the “Holiday Tree” in downtown Joplin for the season, I giggle inside because I know it’s really a Christmas Tree. I think it’s silly to to call it a “Holiday Tree”. It would be every bit as silly to call the big candelabra with nine candles the “Holiday Menorah”, although I guess we’d have to if they were going to light one each year in the downtown area. But it doesn’t offend me. And really, for all I know, the guy next to me might be giggling inside too, thinking “silly people - that’s not a Holiday Tree. It’s a pagan symbol of the winter solstice!”

On the other hand…

I also think it’s silly to pretend that the Christmas season isn’t about Christ. The “Happy Holiday-ization” of America makes it seem that Christians are being forced to sanitize their religious holiday and that Christ is being diminished in status to just another icon among many, while others are being encouraged to “celebrate their diversity”. I don’t want to marginalize other people - but don’t marginalize me either!

Tell you what, I’ll be sensitive to the fact that you may not celebrate my holiday when I send out my greeting cards. I won’t take your Hanukkah Menorah or Kwanzaa Unity Cup away from you and turn it into a Holiday Candelabra or a Holiday Cup. And you’ll let me celebrate my holiday too.

Christmas, Christ and St. Nicholas are Christian holidays and symbols. If you don’t want to celebrate, then don’t. Make up your own religion and holiday instead of trying to co-op mine and strip it of its meaning. You’ll need to come up with a catchy name though, and remember that Scientology and Kwanzaa are already taken. Happy Holidays.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The deployment of the 293^rd MP Company was reported in this week’s Frontline. Eric was featured in a picture and quote. Steph also sent me some pictures from the morning Eric deployed. You can see both the article and the pictures here.

Voter turn out in Jasper County this election was much, much higher than expected. It’s a midterm election – but the voters poured in! People had to wait in line for well over an hour at times. They ran out of ballots in several precincts and had to photocopy more. Of course the waiting and photocopied ballots pissed off some people…

“First time voter. I will never vote again.” said Delores Austin, of Joplin, while waiting for the ballots to arrive.

What?!?! Because you had to wait in line?!?!

People will stand in line for hours to get concert tickets, ride a ride at Disney World or to buy a Wii next week but will complain about an UNEXPECTEDLY HIGH voter turn out that requires them to stand in line and wait to vote??

Don’t like the fact that we ran out of paper ballots? Don’t like the wait? Come to vote EVERY time and it will be easy to predict voter turn out and to justify the purchase of additional equipment and personnel. And then don’t say No the next time an attempt is made to allot money to upgrade our voting equipment.

Vicki is probably very happy today. Even though Claire McCaskill got her booty waxed in Jasper County nearly 2-to-1, she did win the state senate election. I think Vicki didn’t hold out much hope that Claire would win cause she wasn’t partying with her campaign homies last night. She was at our house – eating Chinese and trying to figure out how to make Alex stop crying.

The popular voting for the Halloween Photo Contest was furious yesterday as well. I suspect there was some voter fraud going on as Wanda and Steve waged war in the Pumpkin Carving contest. Threats of bringing in voters from the ranks of friends and co-workers were heard from both sides. But hey - my family’s motto is “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’”.

Wanda is right when she says the use of the word “friend” negates the possibility of said friend being unbiased and non-partisan. So, I tried to get a complete stranger to judge the pictures. But they all just gave me some really odd looks when I said “Hey you wanna look at some pictures I have? I’ll give you $20”. Come to think of it I’m probably lucky I’m not calling someone to arrange for bail money.

Anyway, since it’s my website I guess I make the rules … The chad dust has cleared, and based solely on popular vote, here are the winners of the 2006 Halloween Photo Contest:

Best Pumpkin Carving The Pumpkinator (72% of the vote)

Best Costume Lil’ Devil (36% of the vote)

Best Decorations Spooktacular Yard (Joy Mattos)

Favorite Photo The Pumpkinator & Lil’ Devil tie (26% of the vote each)

Congratulations!

President Bush will be arriving in Joplin very shortly. There will probably be thousands of people lining up to get a glimpse of the president. They’ll be welcoming him with waving and cheering. Others will be waving and shouting in protest. Vicki and Amber will be part of those others.

They plan on participating in an Anti-Bush Demonstration today. They are well prepared with signs and what-not. They’ve even pre-arranged for bail money.Vicki called last night to make sure that I’d be home and available if she needed to contact me with her free call from jail. Of course I’ll bail them out! I’ll make them wear this t-shirt on Tuesday, but I’ll bail them out.Maybe they could start an “I hate Bush” club and demonstrate every 1^st and 3^rd Saturday like they do in Michigan? Just think of the possibilities! There are so many different t-shirts slogans I could make them wear!Sometimes I joke about it but I am proud that they aren’t sheeple. They think their own thoughts, express their opinions and most importantly, they participate in their community. Be sure you do too. Vote on Tuesday, November 7^th.

And you, of tender years,
Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Teach your parents well,
Their children’s hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you’ll know by.

And don’t you ever ask them why,
If they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh
and know they love you.
Crosby Stills Nash & Young

This week’s WTF!?! Friday selections are t-shirts that you just have to wonder when it would ever be appropriate to wear them. I actually saw a guy wearing the last t-shirt at the Joplin DOT office. No links today so that I could blur the offensive words (my 8 year old reads this blog!). I think #5 is hilarious but would never be able to wear it in public!

edited@12:30
Edited to add these links…
Protesters prepare at MSSU
MSSU protesters moved to visible location

Protesters chant as president arrives

Last night we braved the cold and took Violet and Alexander Trick-or-Treating. They got quite a haul – enough that I need to schedule a dental cleaning ASAP. I also took pictures of Vicki, Violet, and Alex for the Halloween Costume Contest. I should have taken Alex’s picture at “The Gates of Hell” haunted house when the kids went Sunday night. Be sure to send in your pictures before the Nov 5^th deadline.

• Read more: Winning the Election 2006 Home Game