Wednesday, August 22, 2012

I Wasn't Naked--I Simply Didn't Have Any Clothes On


Hey all,

I'm going to rant today.

I get up every morning and while Jonathon is getting ready for work I turn on CNN.  Living overseas, it's my way to keep up with the happenings both at home in the USA and elsewhere in the world.

Well, imagine my surprise when one of the TOP news stories is that a Republican Kansas congressman by the name of Kevin Yoder got a little tipsy and went skinny-dipping in the Sea of Galilee while on a fact finding mission in Israel.  Yet this didn't happen yesterday, but over a year ago.

Seriously?  Was it a slow news day or what?  This is what you call breaking news?

Now, before I get chewed on by some of you, I understand it's considered a holy site (yet people dive there all the time and don't get news coverage) and I get he's a CONGRESSMAN and should be above all of that.  But come on folks.  It was skinny-dipping.  A one time thing.  A lark.  And a year ago.  Why the hell bring it up now?

And, if you do your research--which it seems most of the media didn't do--this isn't the first time a politician went swimming in the raw.  Did you know that when President John Quincy Adams lived in the White House, he frequently went skinny-dipping in the Potomac River? President Teddy Roosevelt, swam naked in the Potomac too. And here's something to shock all you prudes out there.  Billy Graham was one of many to go skinny-dipping with President Lyndon Johnson in the White House pool.  That's right, Billy Graham, one of the most respected (and rightly so) men in America.

None of these people got media coverage about it.  None of these people were treated like taking a quick nude swim is the stuff of serious political scandal!!!  So why are they targeting Congressman Yoder?

Politics of course.  It's an election year.  Muckraking is alive and well in the good old US of A.

But again.  WTF???  Aren't there more important issues to deal with.  Like the fact people die of starvation every day.  Or maybe reporting on the horrific violence in Afghanistan.  Or the lesser cared about news that we lose over a thousand species to extinction every single year.  Aren't those topics a hell of a lot more important than the idea a congressman let his dangly bits wave in the breeze off the Galilean Sea???

What do you think?

Obviously when Mark Twain said, "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society", he didn't reckon with politics and reporters!!!

I'll be back on Friday with a fan favorite.  Signage and weird art!  Until then, stay cool!  And if you go skinny-dipping, stay away from cameras!  LOL

Hugs,

CJ England
 http://www.cjengland.com/home/domeafavor100x154.jpg
Follow Your Dreams
http://cjengland.com

6 comments:

Phylis said...

I agree with you CJ! There is so much more important stuff to be dealing with. I hate election years because it seems all we get is attacks on those running than dealing with the issues.

Ray said...

One day at a nude beach in Florida I had a woman take my picture with my camera. She told me while looking through the lens. You aren't naked. You are wearing a watch.

There is a picture of me on someone's web site at a nude beach in New Jersey. I was not identified. I recognized my arrangement of back pack, towel and paperback. The photo looked like me, but I wasn't sure except for the placement.

Now if the politician had gone skinny dipping in the kiddy pool it would be news. What you describe is just sensationalizing normal behavior.

Ray said...

I've been swimming in the Sea of Galilee at a restaurant swimming area. People were nasty. There was bread and who knows what in the water. That is disrespect. Also in biblical days many people walked around with no clothes when they were upset about something.

CJ England said...

And can you even see the issues tangled up in the other garbage? Like you, Phylis, I sure can't. *sigh*

CJ England said...

Sensationalizing normal behavior is a great way to say it, Ray. I agree 100%.

CJ England said...

Exactly, Ray. Disrespecting the environment and those who are enjoying it.