The debate about health care is getting ugly. In some cases, it is getting violent.
I can't even begin to list all the misinformation being spewed forth on this issue. The most egregious affront to liberty is the use of the tactic that involves demonstrators appearing at the town hall meetings of members of congress, and shouting down anyone else who wants to speak. That does not promote debate; it is an attempt to kill it.
Actually, the worst thing may be telling seniors that Obama's health care plan is going to kill them. Unbelievable.
Beware of the insurance industry, fighting for its profits by paying lobbyists and others to kill health care reform. This is BIG money. They will not give up without a fight, and that fight is ugly. It reminds me of the newsreel footage I've seen of union battles in the first half of the 20th century. Ugly. Dangerous. Deadly.
Here are some links, for those who are interested.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07312009/watch.html
It doesn’t surprise me that Rush Limbaugh says he wants President Obama to fail, or, more precisely, “I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation.” Limbaugh is self-absorbed, and makes money by being provocative. Unlike our elected leaders, he does not need to think about the greater good of our country’s prosperity. He is interested in his own prosperity. And good enough for him. That is the capitalist way. The American Way.
It also doesn’t surprise me that members of the Republican Party feel stuck between not wanting to offend Limbaugh and his followers and not wanting to sound like they bear our new president ill will in seeing his efforts fail. Which do you support – a bully who can hurt you if you stand up to him, or the people who elected you?
What does surprise me is that no one is defining what failure means. Has anyone asked if “wanting Obama to fail” means 10% unemployment? 15%?
Does failure mean more foreclosures? How about a Dow at 5000?
I wonder if Obama failing means another trillion or so dollars paid to banks. Or is it buying auto companies, Or letting them go bankrupt and adding even more to the unemployed?
I wonder if those who listen to and agree with Rush Limbaugh think this kind of failure is ok, if it proves that conservative ideology is superior to other views.
Of course, I am one of the lucky ones who still has a job, so I can afford to think about these things.
Those who are not so lucky may also wonder: With all the crises we face as a country, why would you want any president to fail?
Maybe enough people figured out that the party whose president lied to us to get us into a war, spent us into record deficits, helped bring about a recession, embarrassed us in front of the world, ignored the Geneva Convention, sanctioned torture, and tried to rewrite the constitution so our republic looked more like a dictatorship wasn’t the party to reward with another four years in power.
Maybe enough people figured out that running a campaign that tried to paint your opponent as a terrorist, socialist, Muslim, un-American, unknown, radical-preacher lover, born in Kenya wasn’t the best way to promote your own agenda and make your issues known, especially when your rallies seemed to degenerate into hate-fests that were one step away from KKK gatherings.
Maybe enough people figured out that pandering to the religious right, selecting an ignorant incompetent as a running mate, making statements that the economy was sound when it wasn’t, and ignoring the facts that the war in Iraq will never be “won,” were enough to signal a total disconnect with reality, and drive voters away.
For whatever the reason, the Republicans lost this election, and they deserved to lose.
For all the right-wing hate speech spewed forth, for all the closeted racism, for all the disgraceful performances from Focus on the Family, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and others, the Republican Party could not counteract the positive messages from Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.
Calls of “What has he ever done?” didn’t come close to “Yes, we can!” Claims of being unpatriotic didn’t counteract the power to inspire others. Smears, lies, slander, and slime could not, would not stick to someone whose message was positive, whose demeanor was presidential, and whose vision was clearly articulated.
And so, despite what must have been the dirtiest campaign in my lifetime, John McCain and the Republicans lost this election.
Perhaps, as the GOP works to rebuild itself, it might take a lesson from the Obama campaign. Look at the people who elected him. Look at the people who are now involved in politics. Figure out that the young, the non-white, the people of many faiths or none are a force that needs more than hate, negativism, and bigotry to motivate them in an election. They need a vision for the future that is positive. They need a leader they can trust with their future. They need to be heard.
And on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008, they were.
As vandalism goes, it’s a very minor thing.
In respect to the US Constitution, however, it may be much bigger.
Someone stole my Obama sign last night.
I had purchased two signs last spring, and they were both taken during the summer. The latest sign lasted about a week.
I have to wonder if this is someone’s idea of political protest. Is Obama merely a candidate someone doesn’t like, or does it go deeper?
Are there racists in my neighborhood?
Of course, I’ll never know, because I doubt that whoever took my signs will come forward and admit to it, but I am sad that this would happen.
We need to be able to disagree, without trying to silence opinion that differs from our own. For myself, I am quite capable of letting my neighbor’s McCain sign stand proudly in his yard, without feeling the urge to pull it out of the ground.
Wish others had felt the same way.
The bad news is, we missed out on the opportunity to vote for a true, down-home, kitchen table, aww-shucks, gee-whiz ticket because we have McCain-Palin running instead of Huckabee-Palin.
If Americans like Caribou Barbie's style, they'd love seeing her run with Gomer Pyle.
The good news is, maybe CBS will see the light, and bring back Hee-Haw.
Am I wrong in thinking I don't want the government to bail out companies who have made bad financial decisions?
Aren't these the same companies who pay their "fat cat" CEOs multi-million dollar salaries?
Didn't they take bunches of bad mortgages and "package" them, as if this would make them good investments?
I am scared.
I do not (duh) trust this administration.
I do not want to put taxpayers on the hook for 700 billion dollars (or more).
Am I wrong?
Give up on Sarah Palin, guys. If Dan Quayle can get elected...
McCain is the one to attack.
I'm afraid that there will be an eventual backlash from picking on this little grandmother-to-be. Just watch how it gets spun.
Meanwhile, Teflon John is trying to salute the flag, while running from Bush.
Maybe if he got a Reagan tattoo...
I couldn't resist.
It's going on the back of my car right now.
It wasn’t a debate, nor was it neutral territory, so I wonder how to evaluate tonight’s “Saddleback Civil Forum on Presidency.”
Both candidates did well, I thought, though Obama’s answers tended to be more introspective, and the audience clearly showed more enthusiasm for McCain. Should we call it a draw, because there were no huge gaffes, and Obama held his own in a venue that favored more conservative views?
I am reminded of a passage from Sam Keen’s Hymns To An Unknown God:
“Religion offers authorized answers to life’s most agonizing questions – creeds and catechisms. I was visiting Mother the other day, and she told me a joke that characterizes the nature of religion. ‘A Sunday school teacher asks his class: ‘What little gray animal climbs trees, gathers nuts, and has a long bushy tail?’ A little boy answers: ‘I know the answer is supposed to be Jesus or God, but it sounds like a squirrel to me.’’ No matter what the question, the answer for Christians is always Jesus or God.”
This is how many of John McCain’s answers sounded to me. Black and white, pat answers to difficult questions – no thought required. At one point, when a question was being asked about education, McCain gave a quick, three-part answer before the interviewer had finished asking the question. He seemed well-practiced at delivering party-line responses.
I think I’d prefer a president who thinks.
The abortion question, when does life have human rights, produced another knee-jerk, automatic response from McCain: “At conception.”
Obama’s confession, that it was “above his pay grade,” shows that this is not an easy question to answer.
Score Obama one point for humility and another for introspection.
Score McCain one for a perfect, two-second sound bite.
For me, I need more than sound bites, pat answers, or knee-jerk responses. These may work for the Religious Right, but I need more.
So, my response to tonight’s forum?
I turned off the TV and started reading Dreams from My Father.
I don’t mean to brag, but after filling up my 1998 Sienna, it looks like I got over 23 mpg on the last tank of gas.
Usually, I’m lucky to get 20, and in town, it’s less than that. What accounts for this 15% increase in fuel efficiency?
First, properly inflated tires. I had my tires rotated at Salem Tire last week, and the mechanic noticed that the front tires were wearing on the sides. So, after putting them on the back, he inflated them to 42 psi.
I’d never put that much air in a tire, but he reasoned that it would help even out the wear, noting that the upper limit recommended for the tires was 44 psi. The owner said, “It’ll also give you better gas mileage.”
It did.
Second, I’ve been riding around with my windows and moon roof open more, using air conditioning less. Using air conditioning eats into fuel efficiency, so a little fresh air saves gas and money. (Side note: my pickup is an exclusive “260” system – two windows rolled down and sixty miles an hour.)
And, on this tank, I had two trips to Lincoln City. Usually, I’d get 20 mpg on a tank with trips like this.
Barack Obama was just in junior high during the oil crisis of the seventies; however, John McCain was old enough to have experienced it as an adult. How then, does Obama give good advice regarding increasing fuel efficiency, and McCain pooh-poohs his ideas, mailing his supporters tire pressure gauges in mockery of Obama.
I remember the ads of 1973-75. “Inflate your tires.” “Avoid jackrabbit starts and sudden stops.” “Plan your trips,” etc. Good driving advice that should be followed all the time. Advice that my dad followed. In fact, in my experience, old men are usually pretty good at common sense ways of saving money. It comes with age and experience. Where the hell has McCain been, then? In the back pocket of the oil companies, like Bush and Cheney?
I don’t want to insinuate that we shouldn’t be drilling for oil. Maybe some offshore drilling is warranted. After all, Paris Hilton seems open to it.
But, if you want to see some real results right now, take a few simple steps like the ones I’ve mentioned here. Start off with a trip to the tire store. Yes, they’re in business to sell tires, but they’re also experts at what they do, and can offer good advice on how to get the most out of your investment.
Too bad my dad is gone. He’d know that what worked in the seventies will also work now. Obama’s advice is sound. And McCain is full of… hot air.
Do people alive today remember Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, the author of The Gulag Archipelago and other books, who died today at 89?
I do.
Maybe it was seeing, then later being in, the play One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich when I was in high school; maybe it was just the era (Post-Watergate, Carter & human rights), but I remember buying The Gulag Archipelago, published and sold at the same time as The Pentagon Papers, in the early 70s. I read it, and the two succeeding volumes (1800 pages, total), in college.
The subtitle to this work is An Experiment in Literary Investigation. In it, Solzhenitsyn described the climate of oppression that was the Soviet Union. He talked about the suspension of human rights, and systematic torture and extermination of those who Stalin saw as a threat to his power. This fear led to what Solzhenitsyn estimated as the death of sixty-six million people, from the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, to 1959 – three years after Stalin’s death. Since the book was published, the estimate has been revised to up to one hundred million deaths.
Why is this important? Why is Solzhenitsyn’s life and work important to us today?
Solzhenitsyn quotes a proverb as he begins The Gulag Archipelago:
“Dwell on the past, and you’ll lose an eye.
Forget the past, and you’ll lose both eyes.”
It is ironic that Solzhenitsyn dies today. I have recently rediscovered my interest in him, after leaving my collection of his works in boxes for many years. You see, history repeats itself, and events happen that make one recall similar events in history. Guantanamo, for example. Habeas corpus. Torture.
No, we are not killing millions. We are not the Soviets. Bush is not Stalin.
But read chapter one of the Archipelago, “Arrest.” Read how Solzhenitsyn knew it was all a mistake, that they would make it right. Read later about torture, about “the secret brand.”
Read, comrade, about how a society was changed to believe in it’s own idiocy.
I have to wonder what is happening to our society, when we allow laws to be broken by our leaders, and atrocities to be visited upon our weakest members. What happens to our humanity?
Solzhenitsyn’s answer: “One man can be bent into so many shapes in a lifetime! How different he may become, for himself as well as for others. And one of these different selves we readily, eagerly stone to death, obeying an order, the law, an impulse, or our blind misconception.”
We cannot afford to lose both eyes.
Free advice:
If you are going to run a negative ad about your opponent
that features young people (i.e., under 50),
don't end it with a picture that makes you look
like you're in an ad for Alzheimer's Awareness.
Yes, the McCain ad that compares Barack Obama with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton may be a new low for the campaign,
but it may be exactly the kind of ad that helps John McCain look old, feeble, and out of touch.
Rather that a close up of him gazing out the window with an oblivious grin on his face,
a shot of him actually DOING something, like walking or mowing the lawn might be better.
Of course, he does kind of resemble the profile of Washington on the quarter.
Maybe a pony tail would be a good move...
Any way we can get ol' George to take another trip?
Maybe to the Antartic?
Now that the contest is over, and the "healing" is taking place, I am thinking about Hillary.
Anyone reading the news can find arguments for and against an Obama-Clinton ticket, but for the first time, I'm wondering if there isn't one area that Hillary can really make a substantial contribution to the world by being vice president. That area is women's rights around the world.
Looking on the BBC News site this evening, there are three stories that have to do with women (or, more accurately, females) being murdered, raped, aborted, or otherwise oppressed.
After reading these stories, it's clear that what the world needs is a leader who can cry out against these injustices.
I wonder if Hillary Clinton could be that leader, in a vice-presidential role.
India baby girl deaths 'increase'
Girls' hopes
'Raped for opposing Mugabe'
Can't he just keep his mouth shut?
Or, at least, end each visit with "and that good ol' boy, John McCain'll keep them A-rabs right in line!"
Sigh.
Bush stands by invasion of Iraq
I am very proud of my state tonight.
With so many eyes on Oregon, I decided to review my blog, and delete posts that were derogatory towards Hillary Clinton.
So many of them were venting, and/or were meant to be funny, but the man I voted for two weeks ago (in Oregon’s vote-by-mail election) is all about positive ways to go about achieving the change we want to see in the world. These posts were not worthy of the trust he and his campaign have placed in his supporters by making this forum available to us.
My hometown newspaper, the Salem Statesman-Journal, endorsed Hillary. They have a website, and as I read the posts from bloggers, I found that many Hillary supporters made negative, even hateful comments about Obama. Some of them quoted the same lies that have been circulated by bigots, the ignorant, and Republicans.
These people are Democrats.
This upset me. I support Obama. I have friends who support Hillary. Obama will probably be the Democratic nominee. If he is not, I will vote for Hillary in November.
The most frightening thing to me is not whether we will have an Obama presidency or a Clinton presidency next year; it is the thought of a McCain presidency. This is four more years of George W. Bush. It is insane!
The one way that Democrats will lose, and Republicans will laugh at us, is if we say OUR Democrat is the ONLY Democrat we can support. This harkens back to 1968, when Democrats, deprived of RFK and McCarthy, stayed home instead of voting for Humphrey. The result was President Richard Nixon.
Oh, God, I want Obama to win! But my impassioned plea is for Democrats is to realize we have two good candidates, and soon it will be time to support ONE over John McCain.
If you can't do this, you may as well register as a Republican.
