Some interesting developments....

Well I don't think anyone can say it hasn't been INTERESTING since President Obama kicked off his term. Did anybody really not think it was gonna be a bumpy ride? I'd like to drop a comment on a couple of things.

First off, Obama has lifted some of the travel restrictions to and from Cuba. Now, you still aren't legally able to take a tourist jaunt to Havana, but this order will allow relatives and people of Cuban descent to travel to and from the island, as well as allow more information flow. This represents a thaw of historically frozen relations between the USA and Cuba, and will hopefully make things easier for those of Cuban descent to be in touch with their families.

Second off, I'd like to comment on the Conservative hysteria that is starting to grip people in this country. The Tea Party movement? What the hell? Okay, so you folks think Washington is spending too much money. Alright. How much did George W. Bush rack up on the national debt? Quite a bit. This entire economic mess is the result of conservative, non-regulatory policy, and now I'm supposed to believe that Republicans have a single SHRED of credibility on the issue? I don't think so. Not to mention, under Obama's tax plan, the only people seeing a tax increase are the top 2 percent of Americans, this is essentially rolling back the huge tax cuts given to these folks by President Bush to the levels they were paying under President Clinton. Gee I think we all did pretty well under Bill Clinton, right?

But regardless, this is all feeding into a collective hysteria that is being fed by the right wing components of the media, particularly Talk Radio and Fixed News (Fox News). This is getting scary. At a "tea party" rally organized by Glenn Beck and his "9-12" project, certain members of the crowd voiced some interesting opinions. Among these opinions: TV Converter boxes are brain wash devices, colleges and universities are "brain washing" kids to the liberal point of view, and of course the good old stand by....lets burn books! Wow I seem to remember another group of people that liked to burn books...oh I think they were around in the 1930's and 40's. Are we really getting to that point in this country where the only viable solution for the radical right wing is to burn books? In the video the woman in question says we should burn...the college books, you know, the evolution crap.

So how far is it to jump from the current right wing position of "The non-Christians and liberals don't think like we do, and they're going to take our guns and our country away" to the position of "They're going to take our country and our guns away unless we get them first?" Well does that sound like anti-semitic Nazi propoganda to anyone else?

Guess what! I have a faith and I vote democrat, I believe in Evolution, and I'm pro-choice. God hasn't struck me down yet, I can darken the door of a church without being destroyed. I just wonder if the religious right is going to wake up and see that they're being used by the uber-rich, or if they really are going to push this as far as they can. Hell, even Rush Limbaugh says Joseph McCarthy was right to round up up communists in the 50's. Heaven help us if they come back into power, we'll be the Christian version of Saudi Arabia. You can't argue with someone who thinks God is on their side.

I'll leave you with the wit and wisdom of Family Guy:



Also an interesting read from Daily Kos on the Subject.