Okay, I've never hidden it that my ethical and political suasion is mostly to the left of center.
Pigeon-holing somebody as a conservative or liberal is tricky, however, since a lot of folks don't fall completely into either category. Among my more liberal friends when I start talking about guns, their eyes go wide in horror; amongst my more conservative friends, the idea that I would pack up the American troops in Iraq and fly 'em home tomorrow gets the same kind of bug-eyed stare. Drives people crazy if you don't follow the party line unswervingly. They don't know what to do with you.
Want to screw with people's heads? Join the NRA and the ACLU at the same time ...
The New York Times hasn't been considered anything close to conservative for a long time, and I am more often in agreement with their stances than not, but, you have to give the Devil his due. Whoever came up with this one? S/he is funny:
A man is walking in the New York zoo when he sees a little girl leaning close to the lion's cage. Suddenly, the lion reaches out through the bars, grabs her by the cuff of her jacket, and tries to pull her inside!
Her parents scream, but are paralyzed. Nobody can seem to move --
The walker sprints to the cage, and without hesitation, reaches in and hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch.
The lion jumps back, roars, releases the girl, and the man grabs her. He delivers her to her terrified parents, who can't thank him enough.
A reporter nearby has seen the whole scene, and he comes over: "Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I have ever seen!"
"Why, it was nothing," the man said. "Really, I mean, the lion was behind bars, and I saw the child in danger, what else could I have done? Not like I had to have the faith of Daniel to actually walk into the cage."
"I notice a Bible in your pocket," said the journalist.
"Yes, I'm a Christian and was on my way to a Bible study group."
"Well, I'll make sure this won't go unnoticed. I'm a journalist, you know, and tomorrow's papers will have this on the front page."
The journalist leaves.
The following morning the rescuer buys the New York Times, to see if it indeed has news of his actions, and sure enough, it does, right there on the front page:
"Right Wing Christian Fundamentalist Assaults African Immigrant and Steals his Lunch ..."
Good column Steve. I am a severe gun nut and a liberal SOB as well. I do not however pigeon hole myself as either right or left or even in the middle. I am what I am and let my heart and mind drive how I feel. I personally feel that this stereotyping of what is right or left is one of the major problems in this fucked up country. Everybody stays within this mindset of "oh I'm this or oh I'm that" and subsequently the same old shite just simply gets re stirred and brought up from the bottom...example Pennsylvania!
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