Politics and Yentas

In the last 6 to 8 months I have almost completely stopped watching 24 hour newschannels like I used to. I used to wake up and throw on the news, come home from work and watch some more. But I've found that I'm a lot less irritable when I'm not so "in touch" with the political scene. So as a result I've taken to reading the news online a few times a week and only watching the news 1 to 2 days a week in short bits. I'm a lot happier! I really recommend it. I just came to this realization that I will always vote the same way, no matter how many commentators I hear, so why get myself so worked up? Plus, these 24 hour news channels really only give the news 25% of the time, the rest of the time it's people debating. And like a good little Yenta, I love me some debating!! I get so worked up and start reseraching how to get myself on one of these shows. I should have been a lawyer quite frankly.

So just this morning I was poking around online and catching up on the world's events. (Posting on Prop 8 to come in a seperate entry) As I was clicking through to a conservative blog that I sometimes check in on I found an interesting article that really made my blood boil....

But first, for the record, I don't identify myself as a conservative at all. I do however like to hear their side of the story so I can better understand them and then in turn better debate them. It's like the whole idea of doing your research before you go into battle, otherwise how can you have a plan. And, I also don't think of myself as a "crazy liberal". I am socially very liberal but financially I'm sort of in the middle of the road. So I like to hear from both liberals and conservatives.

So this article was about speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi. She was quoted just last week saying that she has a duty to make political decisions based on the values of Christ. WHAT?? Really Nancy Pelosi? REALLY?? You represent San Francisco, one of the few places in America where a politician doesn't have to put on a religious front to get elected. We like our politics to be seperated from religion, thank you very much!

And for the record I lived in SF for 7 years and voted for Ms. Pelosi on multiple occasions. (let the record state that she runs basically unopposed, save for a few randoms that don't stand a chance, but even so I wasn't upset about not having a choice...I like knowing that I played a part in empowering the very first female speaker of the house! This one is for the ladies!!) But now, after reading this, it makes me wish that I had written myself in just to make a point.

Why must politicans bring Jesus into everything? I can see how a politican from a very conservative and religious area could do this, but if Pelosi is on this bandwagon then we don't stand a chance!

Whatever happened to a nice seperation of church and state? I mean none of the Jewish politicans are out there saying that they make their decisions based on Moses or Abraham, or even G-d!

I bring a big question to the table: do you think Pelosi actually feels this way, or do you think she said this because politics is really just a giant game and she was trying to appeal to a certain group of people? (while alienating her Jewish voters!!) What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them.