Well, like every other blog that exists in the blogo...sphere... (never understood that) I've gotta say some stuff about this upcoming election. And I begin with this loverly statement/threat:

IF BUSH WINS, I WON'T MAKE ANY MORE PUPPET SHOWS. EVER.



...Okay, I'm kidding. Mostly. But the fact of the matter is that this *is* a very important election, and every vote will count, despite last election's evidence to the contrary. So if you're able to vote, now's the time to get over your apathy.

As if it weren't already obvious, I'm voting for Kerry. Now, I don't particularly like Kerry. There's nothing about him I find remotely appealing, except for the fact that his chin makes for some hilarious charicatures. But he does have one very appealing factor: he's NOT BUSH.

If you think this is a sad, sad reason to vote for Kerry, you're probably right. But it's also a very good reason. I don't have much to offer in the way of articles...if you want hard evidence, look at OPR-kun's blog, which has lots of political rants, or any other blog or news site or forum of your choice. A lot of the reason for my vote comes from what I know of Middle East history, and from being overseas for a year.

America is now a laughingstock to the rest of the world for our political decisions. What does it say about our President when foreign leaders need to demonstrate how much they *despise* him in order to get votes? When Bush visited London around Thanksgiving last year, there was a huge anti-Bush protest waiting for him. More than once I travelled down High Street Kensington and was met with anti-war parades. And that was just Britain, which has been first ally in the war. The rest of Europe is even more adamant about being anti-war. And why shouldn't they be? They just spent the last century entrenched in two world wars, both of which we entered into late and not on our home soil. Any sensible country would want to avoid war as much as possible, not get dragged into it again.

And perhaps people would say that we shouldn't care what the rest of the world thinks; that we don't need to pass a "global test" or whatever. Well, you know what? When other nations are having their economy affected by what happens to ours; when other nations are sending THEIR citizens to die in a war, then it DOES matter what they think. If our actions affect the rest of the world...if terrorists are bombing trains in Madrid just for supporting us...then they have just as much of a say in the election as Americans do. Thinking that it's all about us is arrogant, isolationist, and quite frankly, untrue.

And then comes the whole matter with the war in Iraq itself. Quite simply, we didn't need to go to war there. It's been proved over and over and over again. Yes, we all know that the Iraqi people were grateful to have Saddam Hussein out of power. Never mind we gave him the money to come into power in the first place. So, are we now prepared to go to half of Africa and root out all of the evil dictators there, too? And what about Saudi Arabia? They have the worst human rights record to date; in fact, most of the terrorists that were involved in 9-11 came from Saudi Arabia. But we're on fairly good terms with them, mostly because we have a sweet oil deal with them. Coincidence?

The American people have been told that the Arabian terrorists hate America and hate freedom and democracy. Ever stop the maybe wonder why that is? I'll explain it right now; it's *not* because of religion. Islam and Christianity (and Judaism) at their cores, are religions that should be able to coexist peacefully. So why all the problems? It all comes back to politics.

If you look at the history of the Middle East, it's only recently become a hotspot for violence and uprisings, and it started when Europe carved up the Middle East after WWI (much the same way they carved up Africa.) Imagine getting people from San Francisco, California and Lubbock, Texas, putting them together under a leader from New York, and then expecting them to follow the same laws peacefully. It's not going to happen. That's pretty much what happened to the Middle East. You can't expect to get people with different values and different cultures and expect them to believe the same way.

Now, America has picked up where Britain and France left off. During the Cold War we threw weapons at whatever nation we felt would help us in the fight against communism...that included Iraq, by the way. Now that communism is not longer the big scary boogeyman, we're still left with the repricussions of who we threw money at, and what puppet regieme we placed in power. Another huge factor into all of this is Israel. Contrary to popular belief, Israelis and Arabs have NOT hated each other since time immortal. In fact, they got along a LOT better than most Europeans did. This hatred for Israel has only developed within the last century; basically after WWII. Why is there such a hatred, and why can no one solve it? Well, this is the best analogy I can think of:

Let's pretend, a thousand or so years from now, that Australia is now a massive superpower. The Native American people are tired of being persecuted wherever they go, and they want their homeland back. They ask Australia for help, and Australia gives them billions in weapons and supplies. Native Americans invade America, take over everything, and drive the Americans already living there into the ghettos. Americans are given no rights, and any time they try and use violence to get them, they are met with devastating weapons, and are labeled as terrorists. As an American, how would you feel? Would you have much love to give to Native Americans...or to Australia, who gave them the weapons in the first place? After all, you've lived there for over a thousand years; America is your home. What about if you're a Native American? You've felt threatened all your life, and after all, this was originally *your* land. So who does the land belong to? And who can solve a problem like that?

That's a gross simplification of the relationship between Israel and Palestine, but it gives you an idea of how Arabs feel towards American foreign policy. Can Kerry fix this sort of problem and restore Arab confidence in America? I highly doubt it. I highly doubt *any* President would have the guts to cut down on support for Israel, at least not within these next few decades. Maybe Kerry's not the right man for the job, but I *know* that Bush isn't. I'd rather take a chance and roll the dice than continue to watch our country's economy, safety and reputation gurgle down the drain.

So...that's where I stand on this. *Please* make good decions at the polls this Tuesday!

~~~~~

However, if you're still not sold on Kerry, I offer up this much more appealing option as a write-in at this year's election:

Mokona-Menchi 2004!

Mokona for President and Menchi for Vice President is the way to go! These two adorable fluffy creatures represent the things that matter most to Americans:
GOD and FOOD!
Come on, how can you NOT vote for those faces? America's had enough of pasty-faced old white guys messing up our country...we need fluffy, cuddly animals leading us! Then nobody will notice how terrible our foreign policy strategies are!

Oh yeah! Now we're psyched! XD

Operator status: More calls than I'd care for right now.

Maya PLE comprehension status: 24% ...So they decided to rob a database...

Macromedia Studio comprehension status: 35% Because 35 is a nice, round number.

Website reconstruction status: 45% All of the puppet shows are DONE, baby! XD This leaves the main navigation pages, Yoshi, the fanfic section, off-site navigation, sprucing up William_2022 and decided on what to do with Lunargyros...yikes. @_@

Drawing: Lots more Lunargyros pages...I intend to get as much of it done before Christmas break as I can! I hope you guys like this comic! (Because I'd like to intend it for print if at all possible, and I want fans... T_T)

Writing: Obviously this blog...since I watched Van Helsing again and took notes, hopefully I can (MAYBE) find the time to start the puppet show script for it. XD