A Little Bit of Today

I have watched with horror as the level of violence and hatred in this country has grown over the past few weeks.  What has happened to us?  Where is our civility?  Our thoughtfulness?  Our respect for one another?

I'm all for anger.  Anger is what liberates us from complacency.  Anger is the spark that leads ordinary citizens to action.  Anger is what gets us off of our couches, out of our homes and into the streets.  Anger is often the energy that propels this country forward.  But that anger is only effective if it is managed properly.  Channeled in productive ways.  Funneled into the proper avenues.  

We seem to be living in a time where threatening violence or using violent images to make your point is par for the course.  Robert Knight, the former head of The Concerned Women for America, wrote an article decrying ENDA.  The image that goes along with that article is a gun.  What point are the trying to make exactly?  Out of all the images in the world, why a gun?  What does a gun have to do with the Employment Non-Discrimination Act?  I fright to think of the connection they were making when they put that gun there.

At town hall meetings the rhetoric has grown more and more violent by the day.  Today there was a sign held up in Maryland that read:  "Death to Obama.  Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids."  That is not democracy.  That is not debate.  That is disgusting.  Pure and simple.

While this fury is real, its origins may not be quite as organic as some would believe.  An ex-insurance industry executive spoke to the Huffington Post about some of the "dirty tricks" that are being used to stir base emotions in people.  It's not difficult to make people afraid.  It's cheap and easy.  And has been used to great effect many, many times.  I fear for all of us if we allow ourselves to be duped by people who care not one iota whether our health care system gets the overhaul it needs as long as they continue to make money hand over fist off of this broken system.

And just a quick aside, I have to wonder about the motivations of the GOP regarding health care.  It seems that there's nothing scarier than the government coming into your home and making health care decisions for you and your family.  Unless it's the GOP that gets to do it.  Anyone remember Terry Schiavo?

Perhaps in response to some of the violence in the world, in the BBC's new version of Dennis the Menace, Dennis "will no longer be allowed to bully Walter the Softie" due to "fears he could seem homophobic."  For those of you who don't know, Walter tends to enjoy "picking flowers and holding tea parties for his teddybears" and the creators were concerned about "'accusations from certain quarters that it was a little like gay-bashing - this obviously wasn't the way we intended it to be perceived.'"  Bravo!

Alas, not everyone is as sensitive.  Republican Sen. Paul Koering of Fort Ripley, Minnesota has dropped out of the race for Governor of that state due to lack of party support.  Paul is as conservative as you can get.  "He's scored 100 per cent with Minnesota Citizens For Life. He's a 100 per center with the National Rifle Association. The Minnesota Taxpayer's League scores the two-term legislator as one of the top 10 anti-tax people at the capitol."  What's the problem, you ask?  Paul is gay.  After he came out of the closet, he "went to people and asked, 'can you still support me,' and they'd look at me and say, 'nope.'''  Fantastic.

And finally, just because I'm fascinated by science even though I don't understand it in the slightest, a little article about a newfound planet that orbits backwards.  Apparently "planets orbit stars in the same direction that the stars rotate. They all do. Except one."  Scientists are at a loss to explain this.