Rolling Stones 'Tattoo You'

I tend to steer clear of political discussions. It’s because most of the time I’m simply not well informed.

What?!

A blogger that isn’t well informed about politics?!

I just don’t care enough to get informed and people are WAY too passionate about how they feel politically. You see, I’m a Libertarian that disagrees with most of the Democrats and I tend to find common ground with the Republicans. After all, I’m all about smaller Government, the Second Amendment, and drug legalization.

Yeah, I’m one of those people that most of the political passionate refer to as a “whacko”.

My parents were discussing the White House beer garden with our country’s head honcho, the second in command, Gates, and the cop who arrested him. My mother had the biggest reaction and I found myself laughing inside as she pontificated on the border of red-faced anger.

“What kind of President would publicly announce that he’s having people over for a beer to work things out?” she asked. “I’m sure some have had people over for drinks, but no one’s publicly thrown it out there. I think it’s wrong!”

I should add that she has very few warm and fuzzy feelings for our number one elected official.

My mother is a staunch Baptist woman which translates to “any alcohol is wrong”. She, like most Baptists, believes that their ideals are valid and everyone on the planet should adhere to them. She doesn’t understand or doesn’t want to believe that everyone is different. The idea that folks may be able to work out problems with a few adult beverages is like running a day care in a meth lab. To her, it’s just plain bad and no good can come from it. It looks disgraceful to the Nation that their President would openly invite combatants over for a barley pop to find common ground and hash things out.

Before walking around the neighborhood Friday morning with my neighbor Julie… The discussion came up with her husband Rick.

I didn’t see any of the footage nor did I hear about how it went on the news, so Rick filled me in. Obama and Biden didn’t touch their brews. Gates may have had a sip, but the working class cop drank like he was on spring break expecting a Girls Gone Wild filming session to fire up.

Why not?

You’re drinking with one of the most powerful people in the World and you know the Secret Service is going to get you home safely after a few too many stately brews. There’s no better agency to have for a designated driver.

“What’s next? A Budweiser truck parked out on the White House lawn?!” she added.

Hell, if a beer company wants to pony up a hefty amount of cash to add to the Nation’s coffers by taking advantage of such a situation… I’d let ‘em. That’s the Libertarian in me talking. It could repair a few bridges or build a few schools.

I don’t know what came of the White House beer garden meeting and quite frankly, I don’t really care. I believe the police officer did the right thing. Regardless of race, I don’t know if someone isn’t going to pull a gun on me when they go to retrieve something. That would be careless and a careless cop often ends up a dead cop.

I also understand a bit of Gates position. He knew that he was only trying to clear things up, but what he didn’t understand is that the cop deals with the same situation with different people of all colors. He has to treat everyone as a potential hostile until the dust clears.

The quick and simple point of the matter is that the cop wanted to keep breathing and return to his family alive. I’ve even had my own father pointing a gun in the bathroom I was in because he didn’t have all the information at the time. I followed his directions, answered his questions, and he put that weapon back in his holster. And the rest of the cops surrounding the neighborhood stood down.

Hey… It happens and I got a great story about the time someone didn’t get the joke with the outgoing message on the answering machine.

So let’s go get a beer!