natalie's narrative

Obama's speech to schoolchildren

I just read the text of President Obama's speech he plans to give to U.S. schoolchildren tomorrow.  How DARE he say "God bless you."  I'm protesting - this is a violation of separation of church and state!!!  :)

Put it on the television screen they'll believe it

I've been listening to Slaid Cleaves a lot lately, and I like his song "Beautiful Thing."  The lyrics explain the political climate of our country so well:

Surrogates and shadowy henchmen galore
Party hacks and swiftboat and talk show whores
Look at all the lies it takes the job of making cakes

You can own the truth, you just gotta conceive it
Put it on the television screen they'll believe it
It's a beautiful thing, it's a beautiful thing

Wonder how our leaders would ever deceive us
While the profiteers count their cash and praise Jesus
The press sings another chorus of "Let Freedom Ring"

We send our boys away to come home in parts
Believe the lies with all our hearts
It's a beautiful thing, it's a beautiful thing

Dissension is a song only fools and traitors sing
Just look at all the benefits your global economy brings

Today we sing the gilded ages song
Twentieth century's dead and gone
It's a beautiful thing, it's a beautiful thing

We live in a land of hope and betrayal
I get up each morning and try to tell the tale
And so until my dying day whatever fate may bring

The dark age looms, there's evil out here
Somehow I still believe in the goodness of man
It's a beautiful thing, it's a beautiful thing
It's a beautiful thing, it's a beautiful thing

There are no words...

Again, the former Vice-President is being vocal.  Maybe he feels like he has to be in order to defend what he did for eight years:  Cheney: Torture probe "offends hell out of me."

Not only were his comments on torture and his views on Iran appalling as usual, but he stated this:

"In the intelligence arena, we ask those people to do some very difficult things,'' Cheney said. "Sometimes, that put their own lives at risk. They do so at the direction of the president...if they are now going to be subject to being investigated and prosecuted by the next administration, nobody's going to sign up for those kinds of missions.... It's a very, very devastating, I think, effect that it has on morale inside the intelligence community....''

If I remember correctly, didn't he out a covert CIA agent?  I cannot believe he would worry about the moral of the intelligence community!

Because I couldn't personally attend a townhall meeting, here's MY angry rant!

The response to the latest attempt at healthcare reform has been pretty disturbing to me.  People with guns outside of townhall meetings, people getting really worked up and yelling at congresswomen and men, comparing Obama to Hitler, rhetoric that could really incite people to violence...  it's disturbing.  Just watch Rachel Maddow or Jon Stewart and they will provide a nice summary of all the madness.

I think it's great when US Americans get involved and actually show some concern for what Congress is doing, because usually we have NO idea.  However, the level of vitriol is...disturbing.  It's the only word I can think of right now--it's just too appropriate.  One man held a sign outside a townhall meeting with the same slogan that Timothy McVeigh had on his shirt on April 19, 1995.  I am beginning to fear that something bad could happen to Obama or others, and the conservative politicians who incited these folks will just innocently hold up their hands.  Combining intense anger, our history of racism, and a pro-gun culture is a dangerous recipe.

I have two thoughts about conservatives' reaction to healthcare reform.  First, it seems extremely manipulative and exploitative of conservative politicians to spread half-truths about the Democrats' proposals.  These citizens will not be the majority, but they will be the loudest and the most attention-grabbing, which may help derail much-needed reform.  It seems like a lot of middle class, middle aged white people are getting scared and manipulated by politicians, and a lot of these people rely on soundbites rather than actually reading the proposed bills themselves.

Second, I am growing more and more disgusted because people are displaying this kind of reaction to opposing healthcare reform, while nobody did a damn thing when the Bush administration invaded another country, lied about why they invaded, and authorized torture.  I exaggerate, but I have not seen this level of anger in a while, and I'm sad that it is directed against reform and not against human rights violations.

We do need reform of the status quo of our current health insurance system.  Fifty million people--or more--are without health insurance, and we are the richest country in the world.  I am beginning to despise the conservative political view of the world, where each person fends for herself, you pull yourself up by your bootstraps and help yourself.  The conservatives' main complaint is that the government is not capable of providing quality health insurance, and that our government should be smaller.  I think everyone with that view should not be allowed to receive the H1N1 vaccination, drive on interstate highways, eat food that has been inspected before it crossed into our borders, and enjoy the protection of the most powerful military in the world.  The list could go on and on. 

Why couldn't moderates and liberals whip up this kind of anger (not violent, though) when the Bush regime was in power???  And why can't they round up some of counter-reaction (again, non-violent) to the current craziness?  The amount of money spent on Iraq and Afghanistan could have paid for universal healthcare.  I'm doing my best to dispel the rumors and by trying to educate myself, but I keep losing more and more respect for the Dems...

On a side note, I created a new tag for my posts, called "The Stupid."  Streak has used this phrase a lot lately and I wanted to steal it for myself!