For Darin, who says I haven’t griped enough lately.
So the Republicans just filibustered against a bill to give health-care to 9/11 first responders. I find this super-duper interesting for a couple of reasons, but first, let’s play a game.
Honor our Troops
First, let’s pretend like there is a country who is mighty and powerful in the size and scope of its military. Now, let’s pretend that the citizens of that country LOVE to shout and slap on bumper stickers that say HONOR OUR TROOPS, THESE COLORS DON’T RUN, FREEDOM ISN’T FREE and THANK A SOLDIER.
Okay, got that make-believe scenario in your head? Good, now, let’s pretend that HALF of those citizens believe in the following four things:
1. We should only send our brave soldiers, into harms way, after every other option has been attempted. 2. We should never send those troops in without proper gear and a game plan. 3. We should always make sure that putting their lives in danger is based on facts that are true and not based on fear and hate. 4. Honoring these troops should also include if they are black, gay or come home missing limbs or suffering from mental issues.
Now, let’s pretend the other half of the citizens believe in the following four things:
1. We should strike fast and strike hard, and let god sort them out. 2. Our military leaders should never be questioned and our soldiers are exceptional and can work with whatever they have. 3. Questioning our government or leadership is akin to treason (unless you didn’t vote for them). 4. A soldier should always be honored, unless he is gay, then he just needs to be sent home because everyone knows a gay soldier is more trouble than they’re worth.
So as a visitor to this country, which of these two groups would you say HONORS OUR TROOPS, and which one, though they like to slap on the same bumper stickers, are saying one thing but doing the opposite? Yup, I agree.
Death to Smoochie
When Obama was pushing forward on health-care reform, the term ‘death panels’ came up from TV celebrities like Sarah Palin. They took a simple statement in the bill that said that doctors and the patients could ‘discuss’ their options, to mean that somehow the doctors were given the power to decide you are going to die. Anyone with half a brain-cell, who read a tad further, saw that what it was actually saying was that the doctor and the patient could discuss treatment in the form of more radical means, or perhaps a simpler way to let things take their course, in palliative care.
Of course, the teabaggers and GOPers decided that reading and understanding was a waste of time, and signs, marches and shouts of death panels criss-crossed our land. Of course, there are no death panels, there never were.
Except, well, in Arizona.
Republican Governor Jan Brewer has decided to remove the option of low-income citizens, who are on AHCCCS, from receiving life-saving organ transplants. This move will save 1.4 Million dollars, exactly 1/10 of 1% of our deficit. Over 95 people are on that list, two have already died. So what we are seeing is a Government entity deciding WHO LIVES and WHO DIES based on their personal justifications. Isn’t this what the same GOP and teabaggers were screaming about being so horrible with health-care reform? Funny, not a peep from any of them.
Again, we all ask, were you mad at the ‘death panels’ or the black guy in the White House? It just seems odd how you only get mad ‘sometimes’. Just saying, we all find it interesting.
On a side note, Brewer has approved 10 Million dollars to ‘secure our border’. So that’s 10 Million to keep brown people from mowing our lawns and nothing for poor people to actually stay alive. Got it. She also was proud to say she was ‘appointed by God’, which can only mean she is completely psychotic…or God is. You decide.
Heroes Schmeroes
After the twin towers fell, thousands of firemen, cops and citizens rushed to the site to help save survivors. It was not the National Guard, the Army, the Marines or the Boy Scouts who jumped in there, it was New Yorkers, citizens, their neighbors who put their lives in danger to do what was right.
Then, one political party used the fear and hate from 9/11 to not only start a war based on revenge and a war based on lies, but also used 9/11 to re-elect a comedian-in-chief and control their followers by feeding the notion that we are all under threat from ‘them’, meaning non-Americans, Muslims, Islam or whoever else they could muster up the courage to hate. They talked, screamed and cried about the victims of that day, the brave soldiers who have died as a result, and especially the HEROES of 9/11. We called potatoes Freedom Fries, we dumped out good wine and we decided the world was For Us or Against Us, all based on that horrible day in American history.
A Day We Can Never Forget
Well, sort of never forget, because now, the GOP is fighting tooth and nail to make sure those same HEROES don’t get any free health-care, as they die from diseases they contracted ONLY because they were trying to help their fellow Americans. As Jon Stewart said today, ” A new rule for Republicans: block health care for 9/11 first responders, and you don’t get to exploit 9/11 for political gain anymore. Period.”
I wonder how many Republicans, who are blocking helping these HEROES, will use the hate and fear of 9/11 in our next election cycle? I’m gonna say somewhere between all and every one of them. Let’s pretend like we’re shocked when it happens.
The Great Satan
While we’re here, let’s clear up one more hypocrite-conservative-thingy. It’s simple. If you are asked in your Republican debate how many of you believe in Evolution, and NONE of you raise your hand, then let’s go ahead and make some rules. If you don’t believe in Evolution, that means you don’t believe the world is older than 4,000 or maybe 20,000 years old, dinosaurs didn’t really exist, blah blah blah, got it.
Now, science has shown us that the oil underneath the ground is made of FOSSILS (thus, called fossil fuel) that takes around 650 million years to form. So they must be fake, right? Then why are you not only profiting off of these fuels, giving tax breaks to the companies making billions off these fuels, taking kick backs from the lobbyist who represent these fuels and fighting to keep anyone from regulating the business practices of those who drill for the fuels? That seems like a lot of work for something that doesn’t really exist, or perhaps it is one of these two options:
1. You believe in Evolution, and are willing to profit from it, but you are also willing to lie to your bible-thumping voters on national television, in order to win their votes. Which makes you a jerk. Or,
2. You really do believe that the earth was made by intelligent-design, which means that fossils and such are all attempts by Satan to ‘make humans question’ the work of the lord, and thus, you are profiting off the work of the Great Satan. Which makes you, well, an evil-profiteer. You decide.
Honor our troops, death panels, 9/11 heroes and intelligent design. Keep up the good work. Happy Holidays.
by Darin Lowery
Recent Comments