Political Convention Overkill

I think I'm either going to hurl or run into the streets screaming like mad. I'm tired of all the political convention coverage, Republican AND Democrat. I suppose I wouldn't mind so much if there were any real news to report, but it's all just high school "he said/she said" shit. And I can't even stand to see or hear Obama, and I'm voting for the guy! Please make it stop!

Why can't we talk about a real issue? For example, Russia recently voted to recognize the independence of breakaway areas of Georgia (South Ossetia and Abkhazia). I'm not getting into whether that's bad or good--but it really depends on your perspective, doesn't it? Here's what stood out to me.

A member of Russia's parliament said the following:

"Russia's historic role of the guarantor of peace in the Caucasus has increased," said Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the lower chamber. "The Caucasus has always been and will remain the zone of Russia's strategic interests."

Of course, we Americans think that means Russia is going to invade everything or "annex" South Ossetia and Ahkhazia, and--well, that's just wrong! Is it?

If Russia has its own sphere of influence along its borders, so does America. In fact, we spent the entire last century or longer pounding our chest about how the Caribbean and Latin America--hell, the whole Western Hemisphere--were ours to protect and influence. You know, national interests and security and all that.

Hmmm, sounds like the same accusations we level against Russia--expansionism--works both ways, no? Regardless of what you think about Russia's intentions or past actions by the U.S. in our own neighborhood, the truth is that neither Russia or the U.S. suffers in these situations. The ones who suffer are those smaller, weaker countries who find themselves in the unfortunate geographic positions of being too close to a superpower.

That's what entire Cold War was about. All of Eastern Europe suffered as well as parts of Asia and the Middle East. On our side of the globe, those suffering included/includes: Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Chile--just to get started. Hypocrisy and blindness on all sides.

Excuse me, I feel a bout of nausea coming on--either that or a case of the crazies.

So here's my parting shot (no, this isn't really VP candidate Sarah Palin, but it's damn funny!).