Obama's (Fill in the Blank)

When the conservative talking airheads or F-word news refers to something as being "Obama's (fill in the blank of major Bush fuckup here), those of us on the liberal side just tend to shake our head in bemusement. After all, just a few years ago, the same talking airheads were insisting that these things were NOT fuckups.

But what you have to remember is how THEY reported on those things as they happened.

For instance, take their referral to the Gulf Oil spill as "Obama's Katrina". Do they mean, as the majority of the media did at that time, that he was utterly abandoning the people who had been left dead or dying by this disaster, which was worsened by actions of his administration (diverting funds for levy repairs, etc.,). Or do they mean it as F-word news reported Katrina? A noble president doing his best in the fact of both a natural disaster and unfair attacks by the media?

I kind of think that it's not the second one.

So we have to assume the first. Is it "Obama's Katrina"? Well, let's look at the facts. I know that facts are to the far-right as sunlight is to vampires (possibly the most apt simile that I've ever made), but let's do it anyway.

Katrina was a natural disaster made worse by the warming of the waters in the Gulf of Mexico. It was during its transit across these waters that it increased from a category three to a category five. Easily linkable to the Bush administration's steadfast refusal to address global climate change. Katrina had massive loss of lives brought about by the breaching of the levies. As I stated earlier, the Bush administration diverted funds that were earmarked for levy repair. It took three days after the hurricane hit for National Guard troops to be dispatched to New Orleans. Bush seemed to take no interest in the idea that this city should be saved, or that future disasters of this magnitude could be averted if he just challenged the far right on a few issues.

The oil spill is a man-made disaster, exacerbated by nothing but human stupidity. For instance, I saw a BP exec being interviewed on TV the other day. He was asked why there was no contingency plan for something like this. His response? "It's never happened before." Right, stupid. That's why it's called a "contingency" plan. This oil rig was also owned and operated by a private corporation, BP. The far right doesn't want the government to interfere with private corporations, do they? Also, I can't help but wonder if this would have happened if we had the same regulations on big business in place that we had in 2000? Aside from the men killed in the explosion, I have no knowledge of any loss of life. The president hasn't dispatched the Guard, but there's really not a lot that they can do here. Volunteers and scientists are doing what they can and BP is doing what it HAS to.

So is this "Obama's Katrina"? Only in the sense that it's a disaster that effects the city of New Orleans. Aside from that, no.

So all I'm asking, brothers and sisters, is that when you hear this, you employ complex thinking beyond the black and white that the media presents.

One place that I DO agree with them, though. When they call Afghanistan "Obama's Iraq", I think that they hit the nail directly on the head. It's a military adventure with no set mission statement or path to victory that's going to drain our treasure, our lives and our ability to defend ourselves.

Peace.

Rev. Randal

Unconstitutional Bullshit

I'm tired as hell of hearing right-wing nutjobs whine that "forcing" people to get health insurance is "unconstitutional".

First off, most Americans will NOT fall into this category. The poorest Americans are already covered under Medicaid and will continue to be until the self-same right-wing nutjobs manage to gut the program completely. Also, under the new health plan, children can stay on their parents insurance now until they are 26. This will eliminate another group that would fall into that category. Also, companies with more than 200 employees will now be forced to provide medical to their employees. So Walmart employees won't be "forced" to buy health insurance, Walmart will be forced to provide it to them.

So are you seeing the same diminishing number of Americans being "forced" to buy health insurance that I am? Excellent. Also understand that one of the stipulations of this bill sets up health insurance "pools" so that these people can buy insurance at a discounted rate, and choose their own coverage level, depending on how much they spend.

And if you're saying that mandatory health insurance is unconstitutional, where are you on mandatory seat belt laws? Being mildly claustrophobic, I've ALWAYS hated those. Or how about mandatory helmet laws for motorcyclists? Personally, I won't SIT on a bike without a helmet, but I also don't think that our government should be able to force us to wear them.

And then there's that other thing that we've tolerated for decades now. What is it… oh, yeah… MANDATORY INSURANCE. We've been forced to carry auto insurance since what… the mid-eighties? Under threat of a financial penalty if we don't? Pretty much the exact same thing that they're doing now with health insurance.

Do I like the way that it's being executed? With escalating financial penalties if people don't comply? No. Not especially. Do you have a better suggestion? I'm all ears, and I'm sure that your representative will be, too.

My point, as it has been with so many other things since the Prez took office, is that you can't pick and choose. If you're going to scream "unconstitutional" on this issue, then you have to scream it on all of those other issues, as well. And you have to be prepared to make Mr. Bush accountable for his numerous violations of our Constitution, including suspension of habeus corpus and violations of our rights to privacy and misuse of the war powers act among many others.

Peace.

Rev. Randal