Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Obligatory Poltical Diatribe and more Fun!

Phew...Wednesday has come as a major relief. Spent the whole day yesterday either in class or cloistered in the library working on my sizable stack of reading and work to do. I never though I'd be so excited to go to crew today- it will be nice just to get outside and be active for a bit.

As a former Senator Stevens supporter, I feel the need to offer my two cents on the verdict in a forum that isn't moderated by facebook status comments. As many of you know, I interned with the Senator this summer, which only added to my tremendous respect for the man. He told me to my face that he was innocent; and I fully believed him. I had no reason not to and 50 years of public service that told me he was telling the truth. Unfortunately, sometimes people disappoint. I stood by him all through his trial, but told myself that if he was found guilty, I would not continue to support him. Well, that has happened now, and thus, I took my name off his campaign list.

Yes, I know. He is maintaining his innocence and appealing the verdict all while running for another Senate term. Perhaps he is right; perhaps the prosecution really did unfairly throw the trial (they certainly did a terrible job, regardless of the verdict) and maybe he was wrongly convicted. At this point however, the rational side of me says that he just got too powerful and thought he could get away with this. He was wrong. I am upset about this case, not only because he has disappointed me, but also because I think there were elements of a witch hunt going on. Plenty of politicians have inappropriate relationships with special interest (cough, Obama and McCain, cough) and yet, for some reason, they chose to go after one of the Senate's most controversial, but also respected, figures. I will continue to feel that he was unfairly, not unjustly, targeted until I see the Justice Department seriously investigate other high ranking members of Congress. Ted Stevens is not the only one DOJ...Alaska does not have a monopoly on corrupt politics.

In other news, Sarah Palin continues to be utterly embarrassing to the state. I honestly don't think McCain will be elected at this point and when Sarah comes back to Alaska, I think she will find that her approval ratings are down. She may not even be reelected as Governor, let alone to a higher political office. Long story short, Alaska politics are somewhat disappointing right now...at least Ethan Burkowitz is there to keep me excited.

Tonight I get a break from politics when I go to the History Honor Society's screening and discussion of the historical classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Should be a really fun event. I will bring the camera just in case, but expect at least a text recap tomorrow.

To all you Free Spirits: COMMENT MORE! Read Kelley's blog and all the other ones linked into the little network and provide feedback. It makes our day to know that someone is reading all this.

2 comments:

Kyle Rogers said...

if only we could get more breaks from politics!! i'm working on the air election night on radio/TV and hopefully, by november 5th we'll know who has won -- though, i'm not sure when we'll know for sure. we better know, because 12:00 AM on november 5, i want it to be OVER.

a las, exciting time, indeed.

anyway, i didn't even make the connection that you interned with stevens! i knew you interned with the senator, but it didn't strike me until now.

first -- powerful that he told you face-to-face about being innocent.

second -- i bet that was a HUGE disappointment for you, and that's such a low blow.

think about this..

does politics corrupt politicians, or do politicians corrupt politics?

and as far as your sarah palin comment; it's interesting that the ak daily news endorses obama. she was within a 15 mile radius of me yesterday and literally THOUSANDS of people came to the neighboring town to see her.

CRAZY.

hope to see you soon! maybe in the spring!?

-ky

Paula said...

Here's your dang comment.


Ha! I was actually really, really curious about your feelings on the Stevens thing. I'm really sorry that you've been let down and everything like this. What a huge disappointment. I'm not going to be as cool as Mr. Kyle Rogers and elaborate/discuss politcs--mostly because it's a ridiculous hour in the morning--but know that I really am sorry about all this.

In GOOD news...you're a pretty amazing blogger. Very interesting, entertaining stuff. But then again, I would expect nothing less from my fiance. =)