Muslims and Missiles

The new logo for the missile defense agency has made the news. It looks like, according to some, a mix of the Obama campaign symbol and the Muslin Crescent and star. Now, this has made Fox news as well as CNN. Why is this news? The tin foil hat crowd is pushing this as the latest conspiracy theory on Barack Obama's love for Islam. Here is the problem with this. the logo was designed and approved by the Bush Administration. So much for the Muslim and Missile connection.

Reconcile This

Harry Reid has agreed to push health care reform under reconciliation rules. This means that we nay have something useful out of Congress that is something akin to real reform of the system instead of a hodgepodge of items designed to garner at least one republican vote. This is great news for much of this country.

This is great news for those being thrown off of the rolls due to pre-existing conditions.

This is great news for those who cannot afford insurance.

You know, it still amazes me how anyone living on Main Street USA could actively be against such reform. Of course, I understand a little bit. From the beginning the move towards reform has been slowed down by lies (such as the Death Panels) as well as congressional inaction. Well, now Harry Reid seems to have had enough. I say full steam ahead on the public option, full steam ahead on reform. to those standing in the way, I have one thing to say to all of you. Reconcile this!

Tax cuts? Oh, those tax cuts.

I heard the other night that a very small percentage of the Tea Partiers knew that the stimulus package passed in 2009 contained a tax cut for 95% of working families. Someone once said that you are not entitled to your own facts and the Tea Partiers seem to think that they can have there own facts to guide their message. The problem is that their facts are not facts at all! The tax cut is real and their grasp on reality is not. My only regret is that the tax cut that many of them received has helped them paint their signs and travel to various protests. Can we rescind the cuts for them? After all they do not believe that they are real and therefore they would not miss them if they went away. Would they?

I was just thinking again.....

Fox News is the media arm of the Republican Party 24/7. MSNBC is only the Democratic Party media arm, Monday through Friday and not 24 hours each day.

How big was the soft ball Chris Wallace tossed to Sarah Palin?

Even I thought Family Guy was a bit over the line last night to do an episode on Down's Syndrome. Sarah Palin will use it to score political points.

The White House needs to develop a spine and fast. How much have they caved on?

Speaking of caving. If the President is the commander and chief, could he just order the end of Don't Ask Don't Tell?

Wasn't TARP a Bush program designed by Henry Paulson?

Evan Bayh put the Democrats in Indiana in a bind. I think it was intentional.

Why are people afraid of health care reform if it will make it more affordable?

Tea Party? Republicans eating their own.

I was just thinking.......again.

Dissapointment

I read today on the Huffington post that the President will not make any recess appointments over the upcoming break. Once again the White House has given into the Republican Party. By allowing the confirmation of 27 of the most non-controversial nominees the Republicans once again can pat themselves on the back in victory. The White House appears to have caved in once again.

Talk to the hand

The jokes on late night to the press room at the White House have been non-stop. Sarah Palin, the gift that keeps on giving, writes bullet points on her palm and refers to her palm several times during an interview at the Tea Party convention. Well, it is funny. It is also sad. Sad that so many hang on her every word and she still has to write her core values on her hand. Sad that she appears to be so shallow that she cannot formulate and answer without looking directly at her hand. By the way, for all of you who trash Barack Obama for use of a teleprompter, you need to remember that the President is a guy who authored two books and writes much of the speeches he gives. Sarah, on the other hand, yes pun intended, can only spit out the talking points provided to her and can't even keep that together enough, in friendly political territory, that she must keep her highlights and values on her palm. If I ever see her and have to opportunity to talk to her I think I will just ask her to talk to the hand.

The Demonization of Americans and Right Wing Radio

I recently read a post on the Facebook page of someone very dear to me. The gist of the post was that we should ashamed as Americans because, while we are aiding Haiti, we are not aiding those in our own country needing help the most. I must admit that I agree with some of that statement. No, I am not ashamed that we are helping Haiti. What that country went through was a tragedy on an epic scale. For 45 seconds the earth shook and virtually an entire country collapsed to the ground. America could not, would not turn its back and for that I am proud to be an American.

The part of the Facebook post that I agree with is that we, America that is, should be ashamed that we do not take care of our own. Of course the next question that I have to process is, why?
To me that is an easy one. Here I am to offer my own opinion.

The tragedy in Haiti is easy for us to process. It is on television, we see the human suffering and we reach out to help. Also, they are not citizens of the United States, where we are taught from the earliest of ages that we offer every opportunity for success. We hardly speak of the underclass in this country because it does not fit the narrative that we have bestowed upon ourselves. This allows us to open our eyes a bit and to realize that the people of Haiti need us to help and that we can do this without puncturing the myth the universal American opportunity.

It is the simple need to protect the image we believe to be true that anyone, who is a citizen of this country, who has been left behind, fallen through the economic or social cracks has so because of some failing within them and not the system that was not there to catch them. Some are, to be fair, victims of their own inaction or worse, their own destructive nature. Yet, many of them are people not in their underclass by their own choosing but are there via situations that they may not of been able to control. We do not actively choose to assist persons worthy of a hand up because the political climate today calls for these people to be demonized.

The underclass are filled with crack mothers and welfare cheats! We lump everyone into categories such as these instead of looking at the individual suffering their own personal tragedy. To be sure, there are crack mothers and welfare cheats in the world yet, not everyone of them reside in the almost permanent underclass and not everyone in that underclass can be identified by either moniker. Yet, we are informed all of the time that this is who they are. We hear how they are robbing us blind and that our tax dollars are supporting those who deserve no support. No wonder we do not help fellow citizens who need our help the most. We vilify them and make them unworthy.

The next time someone laments about how we do not help people in our own country ask them if they listen to the likes of Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh or Micheal Savage. Do they listen to or like anyone of the names listed here? Ask them to reconcile their choice of radio talk with their angst about not helping Americans in need. I will bet that they cannot.