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My
Buddy Ace…
And how he is destroying our country
First
of all, it is important to note that the original Ace is a
real person. He lives in a small (1,995 people and growing
smaller) Texas town, that has seen "the good old days" devolve
into a nightmare of changes that include the loss of commerce,
immigrant workers becoming the dominant demographic (which
makes Ace a minority), coupled with a decrease in population
and a shrinking economy.
Ace works
in the building trade. According to city-data.com, Ace's town
had no single-family/new house construction permits issued
since 1997. Not one. Ace has a lot of time on his hands.
There
are some interesting statistics about his town that make a
point for "small town USA" being a WHOLE lot different than
many other cities in America. For instance…here are some stats
on Ace's hometown.
- High
school education or higher: 55.3%
- Bachelor's
degree or higher: 7.9%
- Graduate
or professional degree: 4.2%
- Unemployed:
14.3%
For
population 15 years
- Never
married: 20.7%
- Now
married: 62.9%
- Separated:
2.7%
- Widowed:
8.5%
- Divorced:
5.2%
At first
glance, a couple of things jump out. First, it seems that
in Ace's town, the "no child left behind" program that one-time
Texas Governor and now President, G.W. Bush used as a primary
base for his political platform, left behind Ace's town. Only
55% made it through high school, less than 8% graduated from
college, and more than 14.3% are unemployed.
But
look at this…poor, uneducated, small town people apparently
love marriage, and stay together more than those of us in
larger, West Coast cities, like (to be fair to Ace) Eugene,
Oregon, where I have lived since 1983.
Here are the same stats for Eugene For population 25 years
and over
- High
school or higher: 91.5%
- Bachelor's
degree or higher: 37.3%
- Graduate
or professional degree: 15.4%
- Unemployed:
6.2%
For population
15 years and over in Eugene city
- Never
married: 36.2%
- Now
married: 44.7%
- Separated:
1.5%
- Widowed:
5.6%
- Divorced:
12.0%
62% of
those in Ace's town are married, with only 5.2% divorced,
compared to 44.7% in Eugene, with 12% of our population currently
divorced. However, as unemployment is double in Ace's hometown,
and the median income is less than half of Eugene's, I am
going to assume that part of that marriage stat gets back
to the old saying, "misery loves company."
Comparing
Eugene to Ace's hometown is important for more than just looking
at what a good education and job opportunities can do for
you. It also starts to explain a bit of what the whole "Ace
Syndrome" is actually about. Because Ace, as it turns out,
is one of those whom I affectionately refer to as "The Conservative
Porn Party."
In my
research and sojourn of political writing and blogging, I
stumbled across a mutation in the political beast that bewildered,
confused and amused me. Around the time that G.W. was running
the first time, I was Googling some stats about some arcane
facet of the election, when I saw a post from a website with
a name referring to wives. I clicked on the link, and found
myself at a very active, very politically divided Internet
bulletin board that was part of a porn site, dedicated to
the swinging lifestyle. It got my attention.
The site
was almost all-amateur porn, both pics, stories and the typical
classified ads. But there, in the middle of it all, was an
"anything goes discussions" section that besides the typical
"does size really matter?" and "how do I get my wife to try
this?" kind of porn-pabulum, displayed a handful of political
topics about the coming elections, the gay marriage debate,
and other hot topics of day. To say I was intrigued would
be an understatement.
The cross-section
of posters was amazing. There were people from all walks of
life, cultures, towns/cities and political leanings, all coming
together on this one site. But almost immediately from the
start, there was something that struck me as being strange,
and continued to bother me through the years.
To the
average American, pornography, and especially alternative
lifestyles would certainly be associated with a very liberal
mindset. Hippies, Western Europeans and Brazilians at "Carnival
time" are the kind of people who love to get naked and party,
not small-town, neo-conservative, NRA members who think G.W.
is the second coming (after Ronny).
But, that
did not seem to be the case.In
fact, in the political threads on this site (and as it turns
out others I checked out in the same vein), the political
discussions were dominated by those who would be considered
extreme right, even by the staunchest of Republicans.
- They
believe that Rush Limbaugh, Hannity and Anne Coulter and
the myriad talking puppets on Fox News are always right.
- They
believe that gun ownership is a given, and that the whole
world would be a safer place if we were all armed to the
teeth, 24/7.
- They
believe that homosexuality is a sin, because the Bible tells
them so. They believe that abortion is murder, and that
anyone who performs it is a sinner and a murderer.
- They
believe that it is the right of the United States to invade,
occupy, obliterate and annihilate any country that disagrees
with our policies, does not sell us oil, does not have free
elections, takes our jobs, or almost any other reason that
has come from the Republican leadership in the past decade.
- They
follow the Bush administration with the kind of blind loyalty
that would make a WWI general proud (as in the first battle
of the Somme, in July, 1916, where more than 60,000 British
troops were lost in a single day, because a general, hundreds
of miles away from the action, continued to order them over
the top).
- But
most of all, they believe anyone who does not agree
with their stance on any of the issues (and the hundreds
of related political issues that spring from these basic
beliefs) is a Liberal, a Communist, an America-hater, a
Leftie, and should leave the country immediately.
Of course,
the most amazing feature of a member of the "Conservative
Porn Party," is the complete ambiguous and hypocritical way
they view the world. While practicing "alternative lifestyles,"
they object to a committed relationship and the legal recognition
of that relationship by members of the same sex. Girl-on-girl
sex is fine, and many even admit to being bisexual. But that
does not mean they support GAY MARRIAGE! That is a sin!
Even more
amazing, is that many of the sites, while supporting the "right
to free speech," and "freedom of expression," will regularly
pull threads and ban members who post political threads counter
to their own beliefs. Seemingly acting in a fashion similar
to a government who spies on its own citizens, and ironically
would shut down porn sites in a second, if given the opportunity.
Which
brings us back to Ace. Ace is the kind of guy that
typifies the Conservative Porn Party lifestyle. If you doubt
me… take a look at this post. It is a real post. With real
"CPP logic." This is not made up, and helps make my point
about the blind, leading the blind. Ignore the typos…remember
Ace is from a small town with less than 56% high school graduates…
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Ok.
We all know that the anti-war, anti-bush crowd think that
the President and his administration cooked up the reason
for us to go to war in Iraq. We have heard the tireless rhtoric
about no WMD's and their famous chant "Bush Lied! Soldiers
Died!".
There
are varying differences on who is in charge of this evil master
plan. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rove, and even, that guy
they love to call a "moron", Bush have all been given the
credit of being in charge of "the Big Lie".
Well
if this whole thing was made up and is a lie then why didn't
they finish carrying the lie out? If I was going to perpetuate
this kind of massive lie then I would have made sure there
was WMD's to be found. Even if I had to have them planted
for a photo-op.
It
would be stupid to know there were not WMD's in Iraq and lie
about it unless you planned on backing that lie up.
It
would have been easy to plant some evidence after we were
in control of the entire country.
This
is the big hole that no one seems to see in the entire crackpot
"Bush Lied!" theory.
Try
using logic every once in a while instead of just repeating
the same old rhetoric that is spoonfed to you on a daily basis.
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Now… forget
about the fact that this topic was actually posted on June
1st, 2006, almost four years since the lies (or the miscommunication
of intelligence agency information) were dolled out in several
speeches, and in front of the U.N. Security Council. But,
it was also in the same week that news of the Haditha massacre
broke wide open in the press. It was the same week that Bush's
approval ratings fell to 23%. It was the same week that the
Iranian leadership thumbed their noses at the world over their
right to build nukes. It was the same week that almost 7,000
people died in an earthquake in Indonesia.
But arguing
about whether Bush lied about our reasons for entering a war
that sidetracked our efforts to catch bin Laden, has cost
almost 4,000 lives and hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars,
is what is important to a guy like Ace.
It is
for this kind of "1984 un-think, un-logic, plus-good, double-plus-good",
rhetoric that from this day forward, ACE shall become a permanent
icon on this site. Not Ace, the person, but ACE the archetype.
From this
day on, anytime anyone proves to be a mindless, bigoted, loyal-to-the-point-of-destruction,
sheeple, so devoid of common sense that they render
any conversation or hope of finding a solution to a problem
completely impossible, they shall be labeled an ACE. One could
go so far as to say, "Ace-hole"…but that would be belaboring
the point.
Why pick
on Ace? Certainly an ACE exists on more than just porn sites.
I would venture to say that if you scratch the surface of
the average extremist from either side of the spectrum, you
would find "Ace-tendencies." But, in this case, an ACE takes
on the specifics of a whole new (while returning to the old)
culture that is threatening to destroy what is great about
this country.
Ace is
dangerously uninformed. Ace doesn't take the time to actually
learn the facts about almost any political or social issue.
He doesn't have time for that. He's too busy shouting "My
Country- Love it or Leave it!" to read a book, a newspaper,
or even Google a news story for additional slants and perspectives.
He relies on the talking heads and Rushannities (Rush and
Hannity have morphed into the same being) for his "facts."
Ace supports
the extremist views of those who would rather see the country
polarized by the extreme factions of the Left (Michael Moore,
Al Franken, Ted Kennedy, Howard Dean) and the Right (Rush,
Newt, RummyRoveCheneyBush, and as many congress people and
Senators the arms and oil lobbyists can buy) rather than seek
compromise and solutions from both sides of an issue. After
all, lets face it…if there wasn't polarization of the parties,
guys like Rushannity would be out of a job!
Ace is
a bigot who hates those that are not white, Christian (whatever
the hell that means these days) and Republican. He wants things
returned to the "good old days," when women, people of color,
and the gays knew their freakin' place! When bed sheets were
not just for sleeping, and a gun in the rack of your pickup,
and a six-pack of domestic beer was all you needed for a good
time.
But
worst of all…Ace votes. Ace votes with more regularity,
with blind loyalty to "the home team" (without understanding
the issues or platforms) than a Teamster casting a vote for
Hoffa in 1963. He is the reason that the Republican party
has grown in power, by saying and doing less, while expanding
spending, the debt and the size of government, while continuing
to infringe upon the rights of the citizens in the name of
"freedom."
To Ace,
and the people he elects, it's all about the winning. Forget
about solutions, or living up to the campaign promises that
were part of the platform for election. His team won. Get
over it. There is nothing else to say until the next election.
Ace and
his kind are destroying our country. Ace and his kind have
replaced real religion (tolerance, forgiveness, and a quest
for peace on earth) with politics. Politics to Ace and his
kind is a new blood-sport to be played with an "anything to
win" abandonment of decency that has made Karl Rove the Barry
Bonds of national politics. Everyone knows he is a liar, a
cheater, and a scum, but he has evaded actual indictment while
he screws up the national pastime (the same goes for Bonds).
Ace and
his kind have made bigotry toward people of color, ethnicities
and sexual preferences "fair game." Again. They hide behind
phrases like, "reverse discrimination," "border security,"
and "Leviticus," as a means to justify their actions. But
the simple truth remains. They want our country to return
to the "good old days" of the 1950s, when there were clear-cut
enemies, and loving your country meant supporting McCarthy's
communist witch-hunts.
Ace must
be exposed. Just like a pervasive weed that invades a garden
of common sense, once it is allowed to establish itself and
permeate the landscape, reason, civility and compromise are
choked out until nothing is left but vitriol and ignorance
in a once fertile environment.
The solution
begins by calling an Ace an Ace. And on this site…that is
exactly what I will do.
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