Powers on Politics Issue X

Powers on Politics

Issue X

There are things which I believe that I shall never say, but I shall never say things I do not believe.

Hello: Ah, we meet again! Or at least I’m hoping I’m not just talking to myself…. Alright I have to get this off my chest. Last week I think I royally screwed up the roman numeral nine and turned it into an eleven…I’m just inattentive that’s all. Anyway besides that I also want to note that I have no idea when you will get this issue…we are having some computer problems the likes of which my parents believe that I can fix just because I "know computers better". I would like to take this moment to notify them that I don’t know anything. I know how to mess around until something happens-for good or ill. So in all likelihood I’ll make the problem worse than it already was. Oh-and I would like to apologize to all of you who may get this and the last issue together in a single e-mail…my e-mail is being funny as well. Why does everything I touch break?! Oh, and finally because I have no internet access I’m just going to be doing an opinion piece this week, maybe I’ll even throw in some fun stories about nothing in particular as I struggle to come up with something to fill at least four pages. On that note…enjoy-and beware!


Hi Mom…I Broke the Toilet…: I know that everyone is afraid of what I’m about to say…mostly because it has the words "Toilet" and "Broke" in the same sentence. Worry not, I’ll stay VERY clean.
Once upon a time it was Wednesday the 26th and I was home alone with my sisters Ashton, Sage, and Autumn. We were having a rockin’ good time doing…nothing. Alright we were bored, so we decided to play Apples to Apples and then after lunch we watched Igor on the computer. It was during this time that I made the error that I feared would have me strung up and quartered by my loving mother. Here’s why. I broke the flusher (for lack of a better term) of the toilet. Don’t ask me how-all I know is that it snapped apart and I suddenly became a plumber as I hurriedly sought to find a solution to my problem before I had to actually tell my mother that I had broken the toilet.
I removed the lid from the top of the toilet and looked in at the assortment of doodads and thingamabobs and realized that not only did I break the outside of the "flusher" but also the inside and I was without a clue on how to go about fixing it. Here’s where panic began to set in.
Hesitantly I exited the bathroom and stood at the top of the stairs. "Uh-Ashton…I, well I sort of…uhm…broke the toilet." Now at the age of a day under 13 my sister’s immediate reaction went something like- "What?!" Followed closely by a considerable amount of laughter then a simple "mom’s going to kill you" statement that did nothing to calm my nerves.
"What do I do? I have to tell her?"
This single question became the theme of the day. Between myself and Ashton we set about-after we stopped laughing (yes I too finally saw the humor in the situation…I mean seriously… I broke the toilet!)-figuring out how to break the news to my mother. Of course there were a myriad of ways all a little more entertaining than the last, and all excluding coming right out and telling her.
"So Mom, you know that toilet that is in the kids bathroom? Yeah, it’s sort of under construction." or "Mom-oh boy we’ve been doing so much today! We watched Igor, played Apples to Apples, ate lunch, I broke your toilet, we played hide-and-seek, now we’re playing on the Game Station (that’s code for X-Box)." Or the popular "Hi mom, yeah Ibrokeyourtoilet. Huh? What? What did you say? Toilet? What are you talking-broke?! What Toilet?" Unfortunately I had a firm belief that this would only leave to more trouble so I resigned to tell the truth. This is the way THAT conversation went.
"Hi Chene’."
"Hi Mom."
"Whatcha doin’ girl?"
"Just hanging out."
"How’s everything going over there?"
"Mostly good." (this is where I try to break it to her softly)
"That’s good. What are you doing?" (This is where I don’t think she really understood what I was trying to do.)
"We played, ate, hung out-you know."
"Sounds like things are good."
"Mostly."
"Mostly?" (Here’s where I have to confess my sins and pray that you can’t get dismembered over the phone.)
"Well…I sort of…broke the toilet." (Here’s where I cringed)
"Broke the toilet?"
"Uhm…yeah the flusher thing broke off…when I was…."
"Too much information Chene’! How did you break it?" (Somehow her voice was more incredulous than anything else)
"I don’t know…I just did."
"Can it be fixed?" (This is where I get really scared)
"I don’t know…." (This is where I don’t admit that I’m pretty sure that I ruined the toilet)
"*Sigh* Alright, nobody goes in there." (Oh my gosh, I’m totally still alive!)
In the end a new piece was found and it was a simple install for my step father.
Oh-before I wind up this story I just remembered…when I did my little autopsy of the toilet the inside broken piece had sunk to the bottom of the toilet and at this point I had admitted my sin to Ashton and Sage and Autumn who all came running in to see. After a moment of debating over if it was possible to fish the piece out with chopsticks Ashton had to dive her hand into the water…no one wanted to give her a high five afterward for some reason.
I guess what I want to impart on everyone is this…apparently when you break the toilet…or rather the "flusher" you can get a replacement part quite easily at ACE Hardware for about six to eight dollars.


Punished for Patriotism: On the 23rd of November an event on Fox occurred that I had been waiting on for the space of a month and a half. The special premier of 24 season seven. I’ll go ahead and tell everyone at this point that I am a HUGE 24 fan and was dying to watch this particular episode. Well I did watch, and I did enjoy, but when it ended I was again left with a familiar distaste towards the show.
As is custom, it would seem, Jack was being attacked by not only the terrorists but he was being assaulted by the government that he had for so long given everything to protect. Apparently he had fled the United States (this explanation is for everyone who didn’t watch-shame on you-so that you are up to speed) looking for the freedom that had been taken from him by those government officials who were none too pleased with his methods of protecting his country-and saving the utter annoyance his little girlfriend (whose name both eludes me, and that I purposefully forget…ps-I hate that character) from the Chinese.
Unfortunately Jack can’t even escape from the U.S government even in Africa (I can’t remember which part but suffice it to say it was a more northern country). They came after him with a supina that he refused to take, and the man who was trying to get him with it wasn’t going to do anything about it because he was a wimpy little man. That was until Jack had to save a bunch of little boys and the only way they could get into the embassy was if Jack Bauer accepted the supina and was taken back to the United States.
This is where my problem with the show comes about. Jack Bauer has sacrificed EVERYTHING (yes I know it’s just a T.V show) and every time he gets attacked by the government. For instance at one point, he was captured by the Chinese who tortured him for an extended period of time only to be retrieved by the United States government to be used as a sacrifice for something else. I don’t think that Jack Bauer (the fictional character who is BETTER THAN CHUCK NORRIS-sorry it’s an argument I have with my brother) deserves to be attacked when he is nothing but a Patriot who does what he does to protect the country, to protect the people in the country. He is one of those "real" heroes that you can get behind, yet the way the government on the show treats him is the same as the real United States treats our heroes.
Think about it, take Compean and Ramos the two border guards who did their job only to be imprisoned because someone didn’t like it. These two men shot and killed an illegal immigrant who was smuggling drugs into the country.
Border Agents are constantly fighting a war on the Mexican border, a war on drug trafficking. As a result of this war the Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar has said that "there have been 1,982 incidents where Border Patrol agents were assaulted." Agents have responded to these sorts of incidents by using deadly force 116 times, with 144 agents discharging their weapons during these 116 incidents. In these instances Aguilar has reported that "13 assailants died as a result, and 15 incidents ended with the assailants being wounded." All of the 144 agents have been formally investigated and Compean and Ramos are the first ones to be attacked by the United States Justice system like this.
For doing what they do Compean and Ramos will be receiving 11-12 years in federal prison, how is this right? How can we do this to these two men who spend their time guarding us from people who come across this border that could wish to do harm to us?
American soldiers are viciously attacked by our politicians-and even our Presidential Elect who has accused them-our United States Soldiers- "Air raiding villages and killing civilians"! These are the men and women who are fighting for us-for me and you! They are laying down their lives for OUR FREEDOM and what do we do-attack them!
Since when was it a sin to be a hero, to be someone who is willing to stand up for our rights, our values? Why do so many of our leaders, and even citizens attack those who do the right thing; punish these people for it? We cannot do this, people, we cannot simply allow this to continue, and I hope that we can all do something to show those heroes that exist in our country, our states, our cities, our tiny hometowns that we appreciate them even if it is only walking up to your local police officer and thanking them for everything they do for you. We have to do this, because OUR heroes are being attacked, destroyed, and discredited. That, my friends, is wrong.


War For and Against God: Most only recognize that there is a war AGAINST God, but I recently realized there’s actually a small-and equally wrongful-war FOR God. We all can easily recognize those who are against God, they wish to keep the Ten Commandments out of the court houses, they want to remove the words "Under God" from our Pledge of Allegiance, and eradicate "In God we Trust" from our currency. These are all easily noted, but what many haven’t heard of is the war for God.
There is one currently happening here in Utah, and it truly stuns me. There is a man by the name of Chris Buttars a Republican Senator from West Jordan who wants to see "Happy Holidays" stricken from all retailers in the state. Instead he would have "Merry Christmas" adorning every sign and come out of the mouth of every cashier who checks out your groceries. Buttars has said "the majority of Americans celebrate Christmas as a Christian holiday because the United States is a Christian Nation."
There is so much in this statement that is flawed, so much of it I disagree with. The majority of Americans do celebrate Christmas (if we didn’t why would we be trampling people trying to get into Wal-Mart?), but that in no way suggests that the United States is a Christian Nation. The United States was built up in the idea that there was a God, yes that is true you can see it from the Founders who believed that the writing of the Constitution came from Divine Providence, but that in no way means that the U.S is solidly Christian or completely supports only Christian ideals. This country supports all manner of religions so long as they do not infringe on the law or rights of other individuals, but for Buttars to simply shoo away other religions is ridiculous.
It seems to me that what Buttars is going for is to bring the people closer to God, but what he is really doing is alienating everyone and destroying the true meaning of Christmas. We all know that this meaning is in no way attached to how we greet someone during the holidays. In fact if it was I’m sure we’d all be going to Hell because I’m pretty sure I’ve said "Happy Holidays" to many a person. If he wants to be on his silly "Quest for Christianity" he should tell everyone to start helping out people in need, to go volunteer, encourage people to serve each other, but not force anyone to do anything just because it makes him feel like he’s getting brownie points at the end of the day. Besides taking away the stores right to free speech is against that little thing called the CONSTITUTION! I don’t care what it’s for, you still can’t do it.
Just let us all remember, that if the little war that’s being fought-regardless if it’s for or against God-if it takes away the rights of those who don’t agree then it’s wrong. And not very God-like.


Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers: There is a day in every year that absolutely frustrates the heck out of me. It comes after one of my favorite days of the year-the day that I get to eat as much as I want with a smile on my face and with the knowledge that as soon as I digest my fifteenth helping I’ll be moving on to dessert. Black Friday. What a ridiculous day this is! The one day of the year when it is okay for people to act like (as my brother so eloquently put it) barbarians! Every year it is the same thing. People getting trampled and killed because a bunch of bargain crazed women rush the stores hoping that they will be the first to get an X-Box or Wii for their greedy little kids for Christmas!
Oh I want to smack those people! They make innocents like me never want to set foot out of my house on that day of the year and head to my local shopping center for fear of getting mauled by beastial hordes of pheromone-hyped gift-obsessed women! Why is it suddenly okay for people to act this way just one day out of the year when any other time they would be taken to jail and charged with something, yet that doesn’t seem to happen here.
This year it was a man who was trampled and killed in a Wal-Mart and a pregnant woman who was also trampled so badly that it caused her baby to be killed. Though despite this no one can be charged because there were to many mad women (and I’m sure men aren’t completely irresponsible in this either) in the mob to press charges; no one knows who did it…I think it was a group effort personally.
So, in closing I would like to tell all of those psycho women that they are ruining what this Holiday Season is all about, as well as taking lives and destroying lives in some cases. Instead why don’t you just stay at home, shop online, and leave the Black Friday shopping to those who are civilized enough to handle it.


Until Next Time: I am so glad that you took the time to read this issue even if it wasn’t overly informative and more of a random rant. Before I go I have to tell you at least one thing I can guarantee to be in the next issue-what it was like to stand in line to get my copy of the Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck signed by him…and how scary it was to hand him my first issue of Powers on Politics and hope that he didn’t just laugh at me. Until then my friends, I hope we all have a good next week!

Chene’