I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

C4C, what Duncan said.  "I don't regard anyone who fights against this as a decent human being."

Bingo.  Just.bingo. If you don't want other people to have what you have, if you think it is OK that other people DIE because they don't have health insurance, if you hate the black man in the White House so very much that you would condemn hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of your fellow Americans to illness or death because you don't want to pay one.single.penny.more in taxes, then you are not a decent human being.  There is no "other viewpoint."  There is no "other side" to denying millions of people the means to have insurance so they can get health care without fearing they will lose their homes, their cars, their livelihoods -- or their lives.  I'll have to stop my rant there because I could fill up the entire page with what I think of soulless, heartless, hypocritical so-called "Christians" who think it is OK to let people die who don't have health care.

And no, they don't care if they tank the world economy.  They are so enmeshed in the "hurt Barack Obama" cycle that they care not who they hurt as well.  They just don't care.  Or maybe they are so uneducated they don't know what they are doing.  Or both.  Or they are simply delusional -- they are so used to denying evolution, denying climate change, worshipping one of the worst presidents in our nation's history (Saint Ronnie) who, among other destructive actions, took the U.S. from the world's largest creditor nation to the world's largest debtor nation -- something from which we have never recovered. 

Faux News.  Faux Ewes.  Fux Noise.  Yep.  (retching noises).  I like the BBC and Al Jazeera English.  I also like NBC Nightly, although any more, the nets are info-tainment.  I keep finding myself asking, "WHY IS THIS NEWS?" when some fluff-piece comes on.  And CBS is the only morning show I can stand to watch on the nets, although I don't watch it very often.

Yes, we are polarized.  I read an article last week (have CRS condition so I don't remember where) that we are not more polarized than at any other time in our nation's history.  We are very polarized, true, but -- remember the civil rights era?  Dogs, fire hoses, people LYNCHED for voting, people MURDERED for registering them to vote?  Vietnam - spitting on soldiers, calling them baby-killers, people KILLED for demonstrating at Kent State, the shameful Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968?  WWII - there were a lot of people who didn't want to go to war.  People stood by and let the Jews be rounded up and murdered because they didn't want to get involved.  Remember Lindbergh's position?  I don't think any of us are old enough to remember how much Franklin Roosevelt was hated in this country.  My mom did.  She told me she lived in fear that he would be assassinated.  And before then -- the Civil War.  The ultimate polarization.  In some ways, today's polarization is just a continuation of the Civil War divide.  We as a nation have always been divided.  The times when we have been united -- against Hitler (ultimately), against Japan (after being attacked), after September 11 -- have been far outnumbered by the times we have been divided.  It is business as usual for us -- and still we lurch along.

When I despair of the nation today -- when I want to shriek at John Boehner and his band of regressive teanderthals that they are committing treason (and since I know what that word means, I do not use it lightly) by refusing to govern this country and carrying out actions that give aid and comfort to our enemies, when I think that the Republic cannot survive the regressive determination to destroy our lawfully elected president (by a MAJORITY BOTH TIMES), DH reminds me that things are better than they were before.  People aren't lynched for voting.  They are trying to stop them from voting, but they aren't killing them.  They aren't killing people who go out to register people to vote.  The children of today are more colorblind than we were.  Interracial marriage is more mainstream (shut the hell up, haters who dislike the Cheerios commercial!) and will become more so.  Women are in a better position.  Not fully equal, but better than before.  Things are getting better.  Not as fast as we would like, which give us something to work for, but they are getting better.

Sometimes DH is better than a Xanax.

North of Delmar I understand. It's been 11 years since I was in St. Louis, so I know things have changed big time. Sounds like you have a good investment there.

Alyson -- Not to worry, it's supposed to cool down tonight (maybe you'll even experience a good old Ontario thunderstorm!) and tomorrow will be back to nice September comfort levels.

RL -- I wondered if maybe YOU were actually "Duncan" -- two great minds thinking alike!

I'm just dumbfounded at the hatred -- of the President, and of all others who "aren't like us".  Whether it's malice, stupidity or ignorance (learned sometimes at the feet of those who profess to be messengers of their god), it's all horrible.  And no excuses for saying "t'was ever thus".....

HL.....I second Blue, and third and fourth.  The reactions of Congress and so many on the right just are so far out to common sense and realtiy that it is mind boggling.  Has put the Republican party in tatters.  It is maddening and sad at the same time to proclaim Christianity and be about as far away from that as one could be.  Perhaps one has to have impenetrable blinders and be impervious to anything but the goal.  Does anyone ever ask themselves....what if it turns out my goal was wrong????A rather over-whelming amount of people seem to feel that it is and I am one of them.

Jackie

LIBBY---Go ahead and tell us how you REALLY feel. Don't feel you have you have to hold back,we are friends here and you pretty much are releasing our feelngs, too----kad2kar

Oh, G3, he isn't necessarily positive and optimistic! :-D He is a Federal law enforcement officer and started his career on the border between San Diego & Tijuana. He can be cynical and jaded with the best of him. He is actually ruthlessly practical, and brings me back when I get spun up with despair that the monsters are winning. And he is right.



Things are better than they were. We have a long way to go (which is what we all work for), but they are better. That doesn't let us off the hook to keep fighting - but it can help us not succumb to the despair we all must feel when we hear the hate and hysteria directed at the President (I like to keep reminding them that he was elected by a majority TWICE), or when we see the comments dripping with venom and vitriol (not to mention atrocious grammar and creative spelling), or hear them cheer when someone says "let them die" when talking about people in critical need of health care.



That doesn't mean things aren't bad. They are just better than they were when people died of polio and didn't have indoor plumbing. We work to make them better still.



L

BLUE - loved LOVED LOVED the Soldier - what a fine human being.  Even if he did make me cry.

MY SCOOTER - with a dress to match.  I WANT IT.

Ok - I'm ready - got the Excellerated Flu Shot for Old folks a few days ago - determined NOT to get it this year.  Also stocked up on my steroid inhaler ( just in case) - whew, thanks for Medicare.

Big thunder boomers on the horizon - time to get off putah - hope all are well.

Just read this and have to admit I have not put the whole article in:

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, said President Barack Obama "didn't quite convince me" on the need to launch a military strike on Syria in his Tuesday night speech.

But, Paul said, Obama did make a compelling case that Syrian President Bashar Assad is guilty of killing almost 1,500 civilians with poison gas last month.

"If Assad is responsible he deserves death for this," Paul told Fox News Channel after the Tuesday night speech. "But the president's plan is to leave Assad alone," Paul said on a later CNN appearance.

I read it and thought....hmmm, Mr. Paul.  If that is what you really think and believe how abouts you just get your arse on a plane and go take care of it.  Been so much "war" talk going on....but not from anyone I know, just from many I don't respect a bit. 

RL...I do agree that things are much better than they were -- and we still do have to be vigilant to keep what has been attained and hopefully add a few more notches at the right time.  Scary now and then though.

The Rt. wingnuts who positively drool over their drivel....its cartoon time for the rest of us.

Jackie

brought to you by the " I Love It When I Wake Up In The Morning and Barack Obama is President " site.

Jackie

RL - Oh the "let them die" outburst at the GOTea Debates? That was wholly depressing and incensing at the same time. Jesus, even Ron Paul looked shocked. That's why he said "charity hospitals." You know, being a doctor and all, I don't think "let them die" was taught in medical school.  Ugh I hate them. Seriously.

IllinoisLady - I believe in God (and evolution, FWIW). That last comic cracked me up.