Just the continuation of the realization that I’m not your average Tea Bag.  You’ve seen me post nice things about Ba Rock, almost to the point where some would think I voted for the man.  Well, if he had a little bit more experience and a lot less Race Baiting Sycophants, I would have.  And you’d also notice that I don’t follow every jot and tittle Glenn Beck says, even though his 9-12 Project inspired Blood and Metal.  I’m just an outside the box thinker, which I hope can bring people who are on the fence about the whole Tea Party thing to my corner, probably looking for someone to hash thoughts on and possibly buy the books.  (I’ll be a good listener, just don’t come on as a low cow or tell me that you’re too scared to remove the Epic Fail Guy mask.)

A prime example of this would be where I differ on this video:

I won’t debate you on the Nation Divided, it’s where the divide started that I’m debating.

The Woodstock era might be the onset of the Baby Boomer’s sharp turn to the Progressive area, but it wasn’t the time where we had that rift.  What happened in the 60s were more out of the tendency of a young generation to rebel against what they think is wrong with the previous generation and branch out and find their own identity.  You find this in any decade:  You have the rockers in the 50s, the Disco generation in the 70s, Heavy Metal in the 80s, and so on.  It was less a culture gap as it was a generational gap, as most people would think of when they research what the 60s rebellion is all about:

Hippies were part of a youth movement, composed mostly of white teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 and 25 years-old.  Inheriting a tradition of cultural dissent from the bohemians and the beatniks, hippies rebelled against established institutions, criticized middle class values, opposed the Vietnam War, embraced aspects of non-Judeo-Christian religions, promoted sexual liberation, and created intentional communities, leading some to describe hippies as a new religious movement. Hippies were against "political and social orthodoxy", choosing a "gentle and nondoctrinaire" politics that favored "peace, love, and personal freedom." – Source:  http://www.arikiart.com/Fashion/hippies-1960s.htm

The Summer of Love was more a rebellion against the strict conformity of the previous generation, a war that forced them to choose between being a criminal and a baby killer, and wanted to become part of a greater, more global community.  Most people, even those wearing suit and ties, can relate to that.  And in this time, it is still possible to bridge these two worlds together.  The Hippies of this day went on to become productive members of society, staring up companies, inventing major advancements, write epic books, raising children in a productive environment which was more open-minded than their parents, and so on.  But most of all, the two factions can even sit down and share a combined moment together.  No Hippie with a soul would look at the Moon Landing and not think, “Groovy.”  There was a gap between the Moonwalk group and the Woodstock group, but it wasn’t the split of this country Glenn talked about.  The Hippies were Questioning with Boldness the values of the previous generation, and some of those values actually passed the test.  That happens when a generation is trying to find their own identity.  Challenging something doesn’t mean that they’re completely repulsed by it.

And lets’ be honest.  The Hippies would get with their Square brothers and rebuild a Louisiana Sea Coast after Katrina or rebuild a groovy tower after it was struck down, just for the sake of coolness.  Hey, we might have our differences, but we’re all Americans, right?  We’re all living under this blue sky and sun and moon and stars, so let’s keep together, man.

So if 1969 wasn’t the point where America got divided?  What would be the year?  There’s a good chance that the memory is still well known for you.

Or to some people, it’s still a festering scab:

Say what you want about the outcome of the 2000 presidential election.  I will go to my grave saying that it was a Draw.

And no matter who you voted for, having it be decided in the courts would leave a sour taste in your mouth.  So regardless who won, there’s going to be a lot of people losing their shit when the winner was decided by a handful of lawyers and judges instead of the American People.

Granted, the divide didn’t start then.  There were a lot of people griefing Bush the Elder, and there were times when Clinton couldn’t even get the time of day from some people.  But then the courts broke this tie, you could actually hear the ripping of the earth between the Reds and the Blues.  And the bitter taste led to a bitter image of the other side.  This is when the country got so polarized as it is now, and the viciousness and vitriol just fed on itself until we can’t just see the other side and see them as actual Americans.  Think about it.  How many times did you see someone in Bush’s time and wonder what happened to ‘their country,’ and how they want it back?  How many do you hear it now, with Ba Rock in charge?

And this led to the slippery slope where we sometimes see in the uglier sections of the news.  When you no longer think of another person as an American because they voted for a different person than you, it’s not a far stretch to think that person isn’t even regarded as a person.  And you think accordingly.  And you talk to them accordingly.  And I’ve already listed here what happens after that.

And that is why we can’t rebuild the Gulf Coast after Katrina, or that the World Trade Center will probably still be an open hole by 2011, or possibly 2101 for that matter, and that the oil slick could just reclaim the entire costal line of the Gulf of Mexico for all America cared, and some Islamic fuckwad would just toss a lit match into the whole mess with “Allah Ackbar” on his lips and a boner so hard he could bludgeon someone to death with it.  We are too busy going at each other’s throats.  And this has been happening since Florida became the poster child for Chads.

Glenn would say that America needs to get back to it’s founding principles and reunite together as a country.  But I would say that something much more personal needs to take place.  I would say that America would need to put down all this hatred and bitterness and remove the red-or-blue tinted glasses.  And see each other as their fellow countrymen first before anybody else.  We can debate policies or principles later, when heads are cooled down and where we can actually hash out a way where everyone can be happy with.  But we need to remember something that even a hippie could understand.

Or the person who run Woodstock for that matter:

It’s a free concert from now on. That doesn’t mean that anything goes….The one major thing you have to remember…is that the man next to you is your brother, and you’d damn well better treat each other that way because if you don’t, then we blow the whole thing, but we’ve got it right there. – "Chip" Monck, Woodstock announcer – Source:  http://www.calebrossiter.com/chapter2b.html . Emphasis mine.  Way Mine.

The person sitting next to you might not agree with who you vote for, but vice versa, but they’re both persons, under the same sky and sun and moon and stars.  And they’re both Americans with the same right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.  And regardless of whatever a Creator endowed these on them both or not, they have them upon their conception.  This country, no, this planet, isn’t as big as some would think.  So please, put down the hatred and get along.  The Shrub has retreated into his Ranch, and if he’s smart we’ll never see him again.  And the occasional Radical who ends up in the directory app in Ba Rock’s Blackberry can’t push their policy through congress that well, even with a house who votes on bills that they refuse to read.

And we shouldn’t be overcome with the desire to kill ourselves—or our country—over it all.

And on the happier note:

One Note now a free Web App!

Speaking of boners, you now how much I had one for Microsoft’s famous note-taking program?  Now you don’t have to spend any money to use it.  A Cloud-based version of Microsoft Office is now live on SkyDrive!  And One Note is in the Suite!

Granted, it’s not as full featured as the version you’ll find in Office 2007, or 2010 for that matter, and you’ll have the best features when you finally get the upgrade which can connect to the generous 25Gigs of storage space granted by a Microsoft Live Account, but for those who would like to play with the app and find out why I’m saying that Bill Gates has redeemed himself in recent years, give it a try.

Besides, didn’t Google had a Web Based Notebook and in their wisdom took it down, much to my chagrin?  Google’s loss, pal.