The Diatribe

I'm often in too much pain to write, so I've been taking long breaks. The kinds of things I write for my column on Examiner.com often require lots more time at the computer than my body can handle, and this blog has its own bar, albeit a higher one, but a bar nonetheless.So, I've decided that when these times come, I'm going to do a "Diatribe." I won't do tons of research or try to be eloquent. It'll get things off my chest, keep the blog rolling, and hopefully won't cost me too much in the pain department. So, my first Diatribe:

I was a judge at the Miss Coon Rapids pageant last week, and boy was I impressed. Not only with the caliber of the contestants, but with Miss America's Outstanding Teen. If you're not familiar with pageants, Miss Coon Rapids is a local pageant that leads to the Miss Minnesota pageant (in June), and ultimately to the Miss America pageant. I'm also the Director of Platform Development/Paperwork for the Miss Twin Cities Scholarship Program, and I love our two 2010 titleholders, Miss Twin Cities, Kathryn Knuttila, and Miss Capital City, Kaylah Dockter.

I was having a crisis of faith in pageantry after the disastrous crowning of Miss Virginia as Miss America on January 30 in Las Vegas. I happen to have a personal history with the new Miss America, and let's just say, I don't hold a very high opinion of her. It pains me just to think of her, and I'm reminded of her every day. I was thinking, well if this is what it all leads to, someone so horrible (in my opinion) winning the biggie, then what's the use? Then I was a pageant judge and saw America's Outstanding Teen, Jeanette Morelean, sing the national anthem. A Capella. Two feet away from me.

This girl is only 15 years old, and she just blew me away. She is the teen equivalent of Miss America and she's beautiful, poised and incredibly talented. She competed against teens from states all across the country to win the national title, and I can see why she won. This girl is a star, and if she is the future of the Miss America program, then I can stick around for a while. It's really a privilege to work with these outstanding young women.

It also helped that my neighbor, whom I mentioned in my last piece, advised me to pray for Miss America every time I see her icky face.


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I was thinking about the last bout of elections, and I realized something. From the Republican or conservative side, it wasn't so much an election as an "anti-election." We weren't so much voting for John McCain as we were voting against Obama. Many weren't voting so much for Coleman as they were against Franken.

I happened to really like Coleman, though he wasn't as conservative as I would have liked, but I think he's a really good man. I think Franken is a despicable liar and cheat who was only in this because he thought (or knew) he could dupe Minnesotans into voting for someone they saw on the tee vee. I would have stood on my head on my front lawn every Tuesday immediately after doing an Irish jig--for the rest of my life-- if it would have kept that man out of office.

This time, we need a real election. I know this will be hard, because Obama will be running, but we need candidates we can vote for, not just candidates we're voting against. Who should they be...

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I know many have opined on this already, but seriously, Meghan McCain, what were you thinking, or were you giving the old brain cells a break?

Miss McCain was a guest host on The View on February 8. She refused to comment on Sarah Palin, saying she had a book coming out in August, and she'd tell them all about it then. She did go off on the Tea Party movement, saying that she'd had to attend a function, but she didn't want to, and criticized what the speaker at the event said. "...he went on to say that people at the convention should have to pass literacy tests in order to be able to vote in this country, which is the same thing that happened in the 50's to prevent African Americans from voting."

Actual fact: The first voting literary test was adopted in Connecticut in 1855 to prevent Irish-Catholic immigrants from voting. Mississippi adopted them in 1890 to prevent African Americans from voting, and most other states adopted them as well. The laws were repealed with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

She then said--and I was watching it live with my jaw on the floor at that point--that "...I'm sorry; revolutions start with young people, not with 65-year-old-people talking about literacy tests..."

Now, I don't agree with the statement of the Tea Party speaker she referenced either, but that is what is so interesting about the Tea Party movement. There are people with all kinds of differing opinions and ideologies fighting for one thing: freedom. As for young people being the sole possessors of the right to bring on revolutions, Miss McCain seems to think the only revolution ever begun was the one started by leftist drug users in the 60's. She's living proof that we clearly need to teach American history more thoroughly in our schools. She said all of this in her privileged California-girl accent, which only made it sound dumber.

The reason Miss McCain is being given face time on T.V. is because she feeds into what liberals want. I don't know if she hasn't figured this out yet, or if she just doesn't care as long as she makes a buck. She is a perceived conservative insider (self-described "progressive conservative") who has nothing but criticism for conservatives and their values. When I went to search for a clip of what she said on The View, I came up with so many hits of things she said against conservatives on The View that it was hard to find the right clip. I decided not to link to it because it's more than six minutes long and a bore.

Meghan McCain has become a "useful idiot," and I hope her little diatribe costs her some book sales in August.