(no subject)
I was having a really good day until I read my email and heard about some of the bullshit the radical right are pulling out in my country of citizenship. Honest to God, "death panels"? How is Sarah Palin allowed to speak in public? Don't answer that, she has the right to free speech- but sometimes I wish we could have a common-sense censor (or perhaps a truth censor?) who'd punch Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck in the face. Maybe it's worse than I imagine- after all, I only read the emails from my lefty mailing lists and I know those guys are sensationalizing to get more contributions. Still, calling people Nazis is NOT OKAY, EVER. And it's wrong to conflate issues that the President has, as far as I know, made no official statement on (and when I co-googled Obama and euthanasia to try and find any official position, all I got were pages of righty hysteria) with the program he is pressing.
Death panels. The fuck.
Ken Gordon can be a bit crazy for my taste, but his email this week is spot on.
"I was a member of the Colorado General Assembly for sixteen years. I am an extreme supporter of respectful debate and disagreement. I had many disputes with other Democrats who objected to some of my efforts to treat the Republicans with respect. “They didn’t do that for us when we were in the minority,” I would hear.
“And when they treated us disrespectfully, we thought it was wrong,” I would respond.
People of good faith who treat each other with respect can solve problems. People who do not listen to each other with respect, and do not act in good faith cannot.
...
In my email from last week I criticized both Rush Limbaugh and Randi Rhodes. I assert that it is wrong for either a Democrat or a Republican to make these arguments personal. The country cannot be governed by either side if the opponents abandon truth and respect.
The United States will fail if the people in power do not listen to each other and think that the other side is “evil.” And the people in power mirror the people in the streets.
Do any of you feel that it is ever justified to shout down others in a town meeting?
Most Americans are Christians. What would Christ have done?
How did we get to this point? Someone answer this for me. Democrats and Republicans have worked together countless times in our history for the benefit of the country. Yet it isn’t happening now.
The zealots on either side think that their goal is to beat the other party.
It is not.
The goal is to govern the country and participate in the world community in a way that maximizes education, prosperity, health, justice and freedom. In that project the zealots are failing and helping to cause our country to fail.
...
“All for one, and one for all,” may have been a more or less accurate description of the United States when we confronted real fascists during World War II. It may have approximately described the United States during the Cold War.
It does not describe us now.
The people of the United States need to appreciate the necessity of respectful debate and they need to withhold their support and votes from leaders who do not engage in good faith.
We have to stop playing the small game of partisan politics, because the big game will determine our health, our prosperity, the condition of the planet and whether our children die in wars. We are neglecting the big game because we our stuck in the small game.
I don’t care if you are a Democrat, a Republican, or something else, if your elected officials spend their time bashing members of the other party do not cheer them on."
Also see truthout for more comments.
Anyway, I had a great morning- spent the class time chatting with the last three students left, was totally flabbersquocked by the TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE ad in the paper that it's out TODAY?! blindsided with joy! I mean, not totally, because we all know the movie is going to be a Hollywood rom-sellout of the book (last I checked, Ingrid's not on the character list on IMDB, for example...) but will still see it, of course. And Jens's friend Tharani is coming for the weekend, so that's gonna be cool... and we're going to see Sam Sam the Bubble Man today at the Science Gallery. I'm most looking forward to the advertised fire bubbles.
Death panels. The fuck.
Ken Gordon can be a bit crazy for my taste, but his email this week is spot on.
"I was a member of the Colorado General Assembly for sixteen years. I am an extreme supporter of respectful debate and disagreement. I had many disputes with other Democrats who objected to some of my efforts to treat the Republicans with respect. “They didn’t do that for us when we were in the minority,” I would hear.
“And when they treated us disrespectfully, we thought it was wrong,” I would respond.
People of good faith who treat each other with respect can solve problems. People who do not listen to each other with respect, and do not act in good faith cannot.
...
In my email from last week I criticized both Rush Limbaugh and Randi Rhodes. I assert that it is wrong for either a Democrat or a Republican to make these arguments personal. The country cannot be governed by either side if the opponents abandon truth and respect.
The United States will fail if the people in power do not listen to each other and think that the other side is “evil.” And the people in power mirror the people in the streets.
Do any of you feel that it is ever justified to shout down others in a town meeting?
Most Americans are Christians. What would Christ have done?
How did we get to this point? Someone answer this for me. Democrats and Republicans have worked together countless times in our history for the benefit of the country. Yet it isn’t happening now.
The zealots on either side think that their goal is to beat the other party.
It is not.
The goal is to govern the country and participate in the world community in a way that maximizes education, prosperity, health, justice and freedom. In that project the zealots are failing and helping to cause our country to fail.
...
“All for one, and one for all,” may have been a more or less accurate description of the United States when we confronted real fascists during World War II. It may have approximately described the United States during the Cold War.
It does not describe us now.
The people of the United States need to appreciate the necessity of respectful debate and they need to withhold their support and votes from leaders who do not engage in good faith.
We have to stop playing the small game of partisan politics, because the big game will determine our health, our prosperity, the condition of the planet and whether our children die in wars. We are neglecting the big game because we our stuck in the small game.
I don’t care if you are a Democrat, a Republican, or something else, if your elected officials spend their time bashing members of the other party do not cheer them on."
Also see truthout for more comments.
Anyway, I had a great morning- spent the class time chatting with the last three students left, was totally flabbersquocked by the TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE ad in the paper that it's out TODAY?! blindsided with joy! I mean, not totally, because we all know the movie is going to be a Hollywood rom-sellout of the book (last I checked, Ingrid's not on the character list on IMDB, for example...) but will still see it, of course. And Jens's friend Tharani is coming for the weekend, so that's gonna be cool... and we're going to see Sam Sam the Bubble Man today at the Science Gallery. I'm most looking forward to the advertised fire bubbles.