Godless Mom in the Bible Belt

I have written, re-written, edited and deleted this post so many times that I'm just about to the point of giving up. This is important to me though, so if you would bear with me I'd like to try and make some sense of the thoughts running through my head. They are not fully formed thoughts, they are the opaque, gelatinous thoughts that really need to cook a while longer before venturing out of my brain. However, my cranium seems to have gone into premature labor and these babies are determined to come out. So here goes.

Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that I am a left-leaning liberal who hates George Bush, so lest you think that this is merely another GodlessMom rant (yes, I know I am prone) let me state for the record that this post is not motivated by bloodlust but by a sincere desire to know once and for all, the truth.

I love this country so much. It is my home, it holds the memories of all the things I carry in the deepest parts of my heart. When I close my eyes and picture the most beautiful things I have ever seen, I picture first my child and then the land in which I live. However, my love does not stop at the borders of this nation. I love this entire planet in all it's variety and majesty, I love our species and the other life that crawls and grows on the face of this beautiful rock. I want nothing more than for humanity to live up to it's full potential, to live in peace with each other and in harmony with Earth. As an atheist I believe this existence is all I have, this planet and this life are my heaven so it is vitally important to me that I try to do my part to bring us closer to that harmony. Right now, because of global issues I feel that this harmony I so desire has completely slipped beyond our grasp, it is a helpless and disheartening feeling.

I know there are things worth fighting for and I fully agree that the hungry and oppressed need to be assisted by those who are more fortunate. I am not so lost in my liberalism that I cannot acknowledge that some good has come out of Iraq. I'm also not so blind as to think that the scene there is all roses and success. Too many people on all sides of this conflict have suffered and died and now an increasing amount of evidence seems to show that our leaders and the leaders of our closest ally intentionally mislead us into an unnecessary war.

Things are rarely black and white, but in the approach to war in Iraq there were many options available to the citizens of the world. The Bush administration chose the route of war and the confusion in Iraq is the result. People are dying there, right now as I type this. If they are dying because of intentional lies, the administration needs to be held accountable.

I believe that in order to find the truth we need a full, independent investigation. If the administration is innocent of the charges, I will be the first to apologize but this issue is too important to just sweep away. However, those of us who dislike this administration need to truly try to keep emotion in check. This cannot be approached with passionate anger that runs amuck, that sort of thing results in flawed logic and conclusions based on emotion not fact. This cannot be about liberals trying to impeach Bush, this needs to be about Americans seeking the truth.


Doug at cyberpols has posted an excellent list of links relating to this subject.