Tim's Favorite Blogs
Media Matters
Blog Directories
Saturday, March 21. 2009
Don’t Be Stupid
Just when I was feeling warm and nostalgic about the religion of my youth, just when the memory of the incense floating through the church beckoned me to cross that threshold, dip my fingers in the fount of Holy Water, genuflect and make the Sign of the Cross … the Pope said this about AIDS, “It (AIDS) cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, they increase the problem.”Really Mr. Pope? Every health organization on the planet, save for the ones controlled by the Vatican and other such closed-minded organizations, all of them say the use of condoms will decrease the spread of AIDS, especially on a continent like Africa where over 25 million people have died from AIDS and another 25 million live with HIV.
Pope Benedict the XVI reminded me why the Catholic Church, and the religions of the God of Abraham are so objectionable; they talk of “humanizing” ourselves in one breath and in the next deny the very instincts that are central to our existence as human beings.
And of course they demand we believe a supernatural being resides somewhere in a different dimension, yet active in this one; that gives us self-will, but knows before we are born what we will do for our entire lives; a being who performs miracles every day on this planet and meads out his will, his plan shrouded in mystery. You really want me to believe in that? “God has a plan” is the phrase I most often hear.
A crazy man murders dozen of children in an Amish school and the answer is, nothing is done in God’s world without it being a part of his “plan.” What’s God’s plan? “We don’t know, he hasn’t revealed it to us.”
But we do know, according to Pope Benedict, it’s God’s plan that people do not use condoms to stop the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases; that birth control, regardless of the context of its use, in this case, the spread of deadly disease, is a sin and wrong. The Pope, and by extension, the Catholic Church, is out of touch with reality.
The honeymoon is over. You know it is when members of the Democratic Party publicly announce they are breaking from the president’s policy. Senator Evan Bayh came out the other day and said in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, he would not support the $410 billion discretionary spending bill that has passed in the House of Representatives.
The bill has nearly 9,000 “earmarks,” but the total cost of those amendments accounts for about 1% of the cost of the bill. To be fair, that’s not his only complaint. He calls the bill a “a sprawling, $410 billion compilation of nine spending measures that lacks the slightest hint of austerity from the federal government or the recipients of its largess” and said the bill “requires the sacrifice from no one.”
The bill increases federal spending by 4% and was held over from last year’s Congress. The president said he would sign it if it reached his desk, but it doesn’t appear it will. One of my favorite senators, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, along with about half a dozen other Senate Democrats, have joined Bayh in the rejection of the spending bill and now there will not be a 60 vote majority to pass the bill.
But we’ve forgotten that bit of news already. What’s really got everyone’s panties in a bunch are the bonuses given to the executives of the insurance company, AIG. $165 million worth. That’s a lot of money, makes up … err … let me figure it out … oh yeah, 10% of 1% of the entire amount of money given to AIG to save it from collapse: $170 billion, give or take a private island or two.
Really? Everyone is getting bent over 10% of 1% of that bail out money? I understand the symbolism of it and that’s all it is, symbolism when taken in the context of the entire amount of federal dollars given to AIG; the people who, by their greed and avarice, helped push this nation — and the world — into this depression getting million dollar bonuses for killing their company and the economy is just so objectionable, so goes against the grains of logic, morality and common sense, it defies definition.
There is no explanation that could adequately explain why people who failed so catastrophically would get bonuses for doing so. I don’t understand it, don’t think these people deserve the bonuses, but the two days of coverage about the bonuses, all the outrage about the bonuses — the stupidity that has resulted from the outrage about the bonuses — is obscuring the big picture question we should be asking, namely, what did AIG do with the 99.9% that wasn’t part of the bonus plan?
As usual, Congress is asking the wrong question, addressing the made-four-sound-bite issue: the bonuses. And it’s stupid because many of these Congressmen and Senators knew the contracts guaranteeing the bonuses were signed over a year ago and trying to abrogate them without the consent of the other parties, namely those people were received them, was a legal battle the government would lose. So now they’re pointing fingers; at Senator Chris Dodd and members of the Obama Administration.
The stupidity that has resulted? The House of Representatives passed a bill that would tax these individuals 90% of their income. It won’t pass the Senate, but as Jay Leno said to the president Thursday Night when President Obama made history by appearing on The Tonight Show, it’s frightening that Congress could decide they don’t like someone or some group of individuals and pass laws to punish those they don’t like. There are two legal terms for that and both say this law will not pass Constitutional muster.
And this all proves the Democrats can be as injurious to the Republic as the Republicans. Let’s continue this bullshit over the bonuses and dig our hole a little deeper.
The Republicans though are trying hard not to be outdone in the stupidity department. Rush Limbaugh and his radio ilk have decided the AIG execs deserve those bonuses.
It’s actually frightening having my opinion so close to that of Rush Limbaugh.
Our Republican leaders in Congress have tapped a different issue to flex their stupid muscle, two actually, First of all, President Obama was on ESPN mapping out his brackets for the NCAA basketball tournament. Oh gee, how much time did that take out of the president’s schedule? A few hours? And he was on television what? Fifteen minutes?Coach K, Mike Krzyzewski responded, “Somebody said that we’re not in President Obama’s Final Four, and as much as I respect what he’s doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets.”
Now, taken in the out of context quote, one would assume the legendary coach was seriously criticizing the president for taking time to enjoy some college hoops. But if you watch the clip from Kryzewski’s press conference, he was smiling when he said it and he defended his view that the Duke Blue Devils would be in the Final Four and then said he was glad so many people were taking the time to choose their brackets, making college basketball more popular.
Republicans have jumped on the little sound bite and are running with it. Oh my gosh, the president isn’t concentrating every minute of his day on the economic crisis! He took time out to do what many other Americans are doing: enjoying the NCAA Basketball Tournament!
Friday, Coach K cleared the air, saying his comment was meant to be funny. “We were all laughing and really, it was kind of a throwaway line.”
It gets sillier still; the president was here in Southern California for two town hall meetings with local citizens, taking his message directly to the people. All the news channels covered the town halls, but what Republicans jumped on to criticize the president was his appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Obama was scolded for telling jokes. You gotta be kidding! Presidents are not allowed to have a sense of humor? If they had actually watched the president on The Tonight Show, they would have seen there was less joke-telling and more discussion on the policy issues, including Leno’s criticism of the bill passed in the house to punish the AIG execs would received bonuses.Former Bush (41) speech writer Mary Kate Cary obviously wasn’t paying attention to the event when she blasted Obama in her Thomas Jefferson Street Blog; she wrote that the president was appearing on Leno’s new Prime Time program—which doesn’t start for another six months. She did correct the error though Friday, after Obama appeared with Leno.
It was a stroke of genius though for Obama. Like FDR before him, Obama took his message directly to the people, bypassing the usual press corps filter. Yeah, Jay Leno asked more questions about the AIG bonuses, but the president was able to answer them and give his plug for his stimulus plans. The only mistake: making a self-deprecating joke about his bowling abilities at the expense of the Special Olympics. Stupid remark and thanks to YouTube will live in the Internets forever.
Republicans were looking for a reason — anything — so they could declare the honeymoon was over, and appearing with Jay Leno was that excuse. The truth is, they never gave the president a honeymoon; they’ve been the Party of No since day one. Hypocrites.
Calendar
Quicksearch
Archives
Categories
AD Links
Referrals
Syndicate This Blog
Blog Administration
Powered by
TheForkesReport