Joe Biden, could he be the kind of politician we are looking for?

Published on July 6, 2009 By CharlesCS In Politics

As crazy as this may sound, to me it seems that while Vice President Joe Biden was probably the biggest mistake President Obama has done so far, I find myself wondering if the reason for that may be because Biden may just be the kind of politician many of us have been looking for.

Now hold on a moment, as I said I know this sound crazy but hear me out. Time and again Biden has found himself unable to control his witty mouth as he continues to make the Obama Administration look like its either blatantly lying or completely incompetent, but why does he do this? Some would say he's an idiot (I'm the first one), others would say he is nuts, but I can't help wonder, looking for a positive side of things ( a silver lining as some would put it), if he does all these gaffes because he is an honest politician. Sure, that's like saying an intelligent Michael Moore, a contradiction of terms, but I just can't shake the idea that so far everything Biden gaffs about the Obama Administration seems to be an honest opinion.

Take the recent comments he made about the economic reports:

"We misread how bad the economy was"

Really? How often does a politician admit an error without having the Media bashing him over the error over and over before he admits it? And what about this comment?

"Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me."

The irony is that considering his constant demeanor of his own Administration, Hillary would, by political standards, be a better VP. Odds are she would not be putting Obama down at every chance and if anything she would be lying thru her teeth more than she does already, even if she did not like the idea of being Obama's VP after running against him and all the dirty laundry they thru at each other. So again, Bidens "honesty" came to be true.

If this isn't enough than try this blurb of "honesty" from Biden:

"So you all are on the front lines. But as you do your job, know that Judge Sotomayor has your back as well,"

Now, considering Sotomayors obvious (to me and many others anyways) racist mentality (remember, she is a "Wise, Latina woman") and a need to protect the minorities of this country, I find this a bit confusing seeing as on average cops tend to be White and she seems to have a "thing" for White people, this would lead me to believe that she would more likely go against the cops as oppose to in favor of them. But, and that's a big but (watch those thoughts there), like the cops, she is in law enforcement and, well, she is most likely to side with cops based on her role just as she would side with minorities based on her status as a citizen of this country. I guess we would have to check her White convictions to minority convictions ratio to see what results it would yield. But as before, Biden seems to be "speaking honestly" because, well, he seems to like to be honest more than he does to be a politician, considering these kinds of comments would make someone of a lower position see just how know pink can look on a piece of paper attached to their last pay check. Of course, being VP, it's usually easier to just keep him away from reports. Then again easier said than done from what we can see.

Now, again, this is crazy. But when was the last time you saw an "honest" politician or at least one that seems to be honest? When will we ever seem one, or something that resembles one, again? Could Biden be what we have been searching for? Could he be the real change we are looking for? I, for one would never give him the chance to lead this country; regardless how honest he seems; his honesty seems more idiocy than confrontational honesty, but maybe we can still have hopes that honest politicians may yet be a possibility. I guess you can say some peoples trash may be other peoples treasure. Who knows. What do you think?

Comments (Page 2)

utemia

on Jul 08, 2009

Well, exotic examples aside (serial killer, popstar with issues..) culture and different cultural practices are a real issue and not one that is easily solved. Here (sorry for bringing up Germany all the time but it is sort of interesting to compare) so called honor-killings occur with an alarming frequency. Young muslim woman that grow up in western Europe and want to live a "normal" life with going out with friends, having a boyfriend etc. are sometimes killed by their own family because they sullied the families honour with their behaviour. There was a case in Munich where a man, I think he was an iraqi kurd, stabbed and burnt his wife on the street because she wanted a divorce.

In the Munich court room the mood was dead silence, as a 35-year old Iraqi described how and why he stabbed to death and set fire to his wife in the street. He regrets nothing, he said. He had to act in such a way. Because of culture. Because of religion. And because of German politics.

“No”, said the slightly-built man before the Munich criminal court, “I don’t regret that I killed my wife.” He would do it again. She would have earned it. And above all the politics of the Federal Republic of Germany are also guilty of her death. Why: “Because the women here have so many rights, they become immodest”.
(article continues)

When he says this, it becomes dead quiet in the large, windowless court room that is hearing the spectacular Munich criminal case. The murderers of the folk actor Walter Sedlmayr once stood here before the court. Stricher killed Rudolph Moshammer in the “Samurai murder”, where the victim was divided in two with a sword. But the public sitting in the hard wood benches were never shocked before like they were on this Thursday morning.

Stabbed to death and poured over with gasoline

As he spoke, there was there no indication that he could excuse this as acting out of his mind from rage or passion. Calmly, as if he were discussing a vacation, Iraqi Kurd Kazim Mahmud Raschid, 35, described why he murdered Sazan Bajez Abdullah, 24, his wife, why he stabbed her with a knife and then poured gasoline over the dying woman and set her on fire. His “culture and religion” obligated him “to do what I wanted to do”. And also her father-in-law wanted Sazan, who had brought dishonor over the family, to die: “If you do not kill her, then I am killing you”, he claims he had said, although the father denies it. The crime of the young woman: she wanted to get a divorce.

Sazan Bajuez Abdullah had looked forward to this day. On 25 October 2006 she would become divorced from Kazim Mahmud, the man, whom their parents had intended for each other, but whom she did not love. He had beaten her again and again, so much that the police had obtained a restraining order against him. At 2:30 on this day the young woman was again free. `"The happiest day of my life", she said to a friend after the divorce was finalized.

“Now the time has come”

Three hours later Sazan Bajez Abdullah was dead. Dozens of people in the Maier Leibnitz street witnessed the killing. In the cafe at one end of the street the server had warned Sazan to run home and take her five year old son. The reason was that just a a few minutes before, Abdullah had been in the cafe. Before he left he said: “Now the time has come”. The waitress knew Sazan and Kazim, and told the young woman "he will kill you". But she did not take the threat seriously.

The attack happened in the middle of the road. The man stabbed the woman who had just divorced him 13 times. Then he ran to his car, took a can with gasoline, went to the mortally wounded but still living woman, poured it over, and set her on fire. From the balcony of the nearby houses residents threw down water and wet cloths. Passersby who tried to help the burning woman took the distraught child, who had seen everything, safely away. A criminal investigator, who heard the cries and lived in an adjoining house on that road, arrested the Iraqi.

“I wanted to kill her”

“I wanted to kill her”, he says now before court. And: “I do this if I am a man”. “For nine months already” he had planned the act. Everything was thought of. From the knife to kill her, to the gasoline for the fire, to burn her “because all windows of my life closed”, with her disobedience, the desire for a divorce, her refusal to return to Iraq and the prohibition against seeing his son. If nearby people came to assist the woman, he would have repelled them with two electric stun guns.

Kazim came to Germany ten years ago, an inconspicuous Kurd from Kala Diza in northeast Iraq. He requested asylum, but the application would be rejected. Kazim still acted “patient” but he was not allowed to leave Munich. However, the former mechanic who performed unskilled jobs there, did not abide by this rule. By secretive methods he traveled four times altogeher to his home country and again back to Munich. He told his family in Kurdistan that they should look for a woman for him.

Forciby taken into marriage

They found Sazan. A half hour later two men, who were strangers to Kazim up to that point, met with him for half an hour. Then, Kazim said before the court, the wedding was agreed on and that "Sazan was pleased". Sazan had obviously no other prospects. Their father, then entrusted her later to go to Munich with a friend, in order to be forced into marriage. Their son came into the world on 21 August 2001 in Munich. They gave him a name which means “tear” in Kurdish. Sazan was certainly not the kind of wife Kazim wished for. Sazans application for asylum was also rejected. But she was patient, learned German fast, made friends, laughed a lot, read books and dreamed of becoming a writer. There were conflicts between the two. In October 2005 they showed up for the first time. He tried to strangle her.

A physician actually diagnosed with the young woman with strangulation marks. A temporary restraining order was issued against Kazim, with no contact allowed. From now on he was not allowed to come within 300 meters of his wife or their home. Also he was not allowed to visit his son anymore. Sazan was afraid he might kidnap the child and take him to Iraq. But Kazim never abided by the terms of the restraining order. He stalked Sazan at the bus stop, beat her up there, broke into her mail box, entered her cellar, and on the window ledge left a tape cassette in which he discussed her. It said one could meet her in hell, and that a woman, who in Germany is called a “slut” is better than a woman who does not obey her husband. The police seemed to be powerless. If she came to them, Kazim was always somewhere else in town and contradicted all of her allegations. Only now, after the murder at the young woman, he was convicted to ten months in jail because of the various violations of the restraining order. Almost at the same time, the Administrative Court of Munich rejected a request to waive the court fees for Sazan’s asylum application, which she had filed while she was still alive. Reason of the court: Honor killings and “endangerments because of family honor" are a type of cultural tradition, that is to say: "the problems take root in the general rules of Iraq and their social customs and religious standards”. For the murder of his wife Kazim Mahmud Raschid now faces life imprisonment – without the possibility of parole after 15 years.

In other cases, judges have said that they can't really convict someone for murder if it would not be viewed in their own culture, I guess it is always possible to take tolerance too far.

AldericJourdain

on Jul 08, 2009

So what is Jackson's "culture" that sleeping in bed with children, mostly young boys, is considered normal? Is that how it's done in Gary, IN? Do the other Jacksons sleep with children not their own?

Not all enculturation comes from where you are born. I've a friend who was born in the deep south, but lived in europe. His "culture" is that of europe, france specifically. Again, like i said: I can only guess based on what I know. I do know, that for example, in certain indian (inuit i believe being one) cultures, children sleeping with people in the same beds is normal.

I agree with your analysis of Dahamer, and believe it also applies to Jackson in it's own right. Both are unacceptable practices in the confines of the US and most of the world. Culture should never have entered the equation in the first place.

And hat's your opinion; I do agree that a large part of the world finds it...wrong, so to speak. But when you look at the world as a whole, you can't deny...there are those cultures, beliefs, etc. that don't. It's fact.

~Alderic

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