Hey fellow Third Wayers... Am I right? Or am I right?

[BlueMTexpat]

28. Oh, come on, Manny, YOU

seem to be the one putting people into pigeonholes and questioning our loyalty if we don't believe exactly as you do.

So where would I fall?

I do not totally trust the USG or ANY government, for that matter, but I am certainly no libertarian and know that we need government, although that government needs improvement. I actually worked for the USG at a fairly senior career level pre-Bush II. I left to take an international career opportunity some years before the heart-breaking 2000 "selection" and no, I do not think that I will EVER get over that or the rigged 2004 "election."

I staunchly support this President, even as I am heartsick over and question some of his actions/omissions.

I lived through Nixon-Ford, Raygun, Bush I and Bush II (in fact, my experience actually goes back to FDR's waning years). NO Democratic President was EVER as bad for this country as a whole as ANY GOP President in my experience (Ike was more like a Dem). EVER. And no Dem President ever will be. But there has not been one since FDR who did everything I wanted him to and every single one of them had their failings. After all, they were/are human.

There are many - in fact, the overwhelming majority of USG career civil servants (as well as state and international civil servants, btw) - who work to serve people all over the globe in so many heroic ways that most will never hear of - but there are also some few, especially those who are political appointees and their toadies, who tarnish the reputation of all by working for an agenda that is basically self-serving. Such people are literal scabs on the a** of humanity.

I do not trust ANY US M$M corporate media, although some cable commenters and OpEd writers (and our wonderful "comedians&quot are worthy of trust if for no reason other than they question the mainstream narrative. I do believe that we are being fed a M$M corporate narrative on Ukraine and we need more objective views. RT is not the only alternative source, btw, but if we are truly to be objective, we should actually know what RT says and not automatically dismiss it. The "truth" is likely somewhere in between. As I live primarily in Europe and speak other languages, I hear/read a lot of discussion that I do NOT see/hear in US news sources.

I do think that there is an unseemly rush to fix blame in this case for whatever reason, and that we should ALL be healthily skeptical and actually seek facts before making judgments. The US certainly does not have a good track record generally in finding/using/accepting facts. After all, it is certainly US-manufactured missiles that are currently killing people in Gaza, so by the logic currently in vogue, President Obama is every bit as responsible for those deaths as Putin is for a Russian-made missile being used (if it actually was Russian-made) to kill people in the Malaysian Airlines jet - more so in that separatist forces are non-State actors who are not under State control. Israel is a State actor that should be abiding by international law. I would actually LOL here since that is a seemingly preposterous prospect, given the consistent US backing for whatever actions it takes.

I do believe, however, that Obama has demonstrated time and again, whatever his public rhetoric, that he is a thoughtful person who does not make hasty decisions and he does have access to a LOT more facts than any of us here at DU do.

Does any of this mean that I am a Putin lover? No, it doesn't. Does it mean that I don't question my government's actions? Absolutely not. I have every right to according to my Constitution.

It does mean that I am a typical DU'er who really tries to understand what is happening and what it means. Things are never just black and white.

I don't appreciate being lumped into ANY pigeonhole by you or anyone else. I LOVE your passion, but please don't alienate those of us with whom you likely have more in common than not.