To hear some people tell it, this great republic of ours is on the brink of disintegration. We’re just days away from the annihilation of the Constitution and being run by the United Nations or George Soros. Or worse — both!
While I disagree that George Soros or the U.N. are the enemy, to a large extent, I agree with the doom-and-gloom crowd. I think we’re at a crossroads and it’s time to choose freedom. It’s time to remind the government that they serve our needs. Not the other way around.
Now, I’m not calling for armed insurrection, but it’s worth noting that we overthrew our English overlords for much less than our own government is doing to us right now. Yet there are many who are perfectly content to let government run their lives because it’s easier than being responsible for themselves. They’ve got a bowl full of Dinty Moore and Major League Baseball on their television. Who needs freedom?
The ancient Roman strategy of bread and circus served the Empire of Rome well. And it serves Congress well, too. As long as we’ve got food to eat and something to keep us entertained, we’ll ignore the fact that Congress is draining us of all that’s truly important — our worth and our liberty.
While we spend all our time bickering over who should have the right to marry (a religious institution that I don’t think government should have a say in in the first place), Congress tried to gut the First Amendment in the form of SOPA and later, CISPA.
While those of us with limited means fight to get what we can from the 1 percent, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), allowing for indefinite military detention without charge or trial.
The NDAA is ugly. It’s like the Patriot Act had a little brother and that little brother is really mean. It’s an affront to the Fourth Amendment among other things. It stops just short of declaring the United States a war zone and imposing permanent martial law. And we should work to stop it. Just like we should work to stop a lot of the things that the state and federal governments are doing to us. But we’re bogged down talking about birth control.
Combine the two ugly acronyms — NDAA and CISPA — and you get A SIC PANDA. You also get a nation where you can be arrested and detained for anything or nothing and have no due process, nor an ability to even complain about it publicly.
You may say I’m being dramatic and exaggerating the issue and that we’ll never let it get that far. I’d like to think that was true. But I didn’t think we’d ever let it get this far.
It got this far because we were distracted — by American Idol, gay marriage, abortion and the NBA playoffs. We need to start paying attention to the things that matter.
Showing posts with label birth control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birth control. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Rush to judgment is wrong
Rush Limbaugh has stepped in it again.
The question is, will he be able to step out of it? Or were his comments about Georgetown student Sandra Fluke too far outside the realm of what is considered acceptable for him to come back from.
For those who missed it, Limbaugh said Fluke — who testified before Congress about the need for birth control coverage provided by insurance companies — was a “slut” and a “prostitute.”
As of this writing, El Rushbo has lost no less than seven advertisers for his daily talk show. While he has apologized, it came off as forced and insincere, which it most likely was.
I wanted to write a column in defense of Rush. I really did. After all, he only said what half of the country seems to believe. The problem is, I can’t defend the half of the country that seems so clearly wrong to me.
Somehow we’ve reached a plateau where contraceptives are a dirty word, only taken by women of ill repute and only worn by men of questionable character.
I’m not entirely sure how this came to be, but somewhere in our not-too-distant past, we stumbled upon a place where it’s okay to think (and apparently speak) ill of people for living a different lifestyle than you. Ironically, this is veiled under the guise of “religious freedom.”
The same half of the country that is always crying about abortions seems to believe that anything that might prevent pregnancy — short of abstinence — is immoral and should therefore be banned. In the same breath that they denounce abortion, they also suggest that the thing that best prevents the leading cause of abortion — unwanted pregnancy — should not be used.
I can, therefore, only assume that that half of the country thinks that women should be barefoot and pregnant often (thus making more jobs available to men, I guess). Either that or they’re abstinent.
Actually, the abstinent theory might hold some water. It would explain why they’re so angry all the time.
Limbaugh and his puritan cohorts might have the First Amendment right to say what they believe, including calling law students names, but it certainly doesn’t give them any moral standing, does it?
The Puritan Right has darn near idolized Limbaugh for nearly two decades now. And they have — in fact — put him before God. I find it ironic how hateful some people think God is, prime example being the Westboro Baptist crowd.
As much as I want to defend Limbaugh’s First Amendment right and note the fact that he’s simply saying what half of the country is thinking, I am reminded that there is such a thing as being right. And defending someone who’s so very wrong just because a lot of people believe in what he is saying is definitely not the right thing for me to do.
I don’t expect any real apology from Limbaugh. Or his sycophants. I can only hope that they evolve into a more enlightened state — one in which genuine dialog trumps demagoguery.
The question is, will he be able to step out of it? Or were his comments about Georgetown student Sandra Fluke too far outside the realm of what is considered acceptable for him to come back from.
For those who missed it, Limbaugh said Fluke — who testified before Congress about the need for birth control coverage provided by insurance companies — was a “slut” and a “prostitute.”
As of this writing, El Rushbo has lost no less than seven advertisers for his daily talk show. While he has apologized, it came off as forced and insincere, which it most likely was.
I wanted to write a column in defense of Rush. I really did. After all, he only said what half of the country seems to believe. The problem is, I can’t defend the half of the country that seems so clearly wrong to me.
Somehow we’ve reached a plateau where contraceptives are a dirty word, only taken by women of ill repute and only worn by men of questionable character.
I’m not entirely sure how this came to be, but somewhere in our not-too-distant past, we stumbled upon a place where it’s okay to think (and apparently speak) ill of people for living a different lifestyle than you. Ironically, this is veiled under the guise of “religious freedom.”
The same half of the country that is always crying about abortions seems to believe that anything that might prevent pregnancy — short of abstinence — is immoral and should therefore be banned. In the same breath that they denounce abortion, they also suggest that the thing that best prevents the leading cause of abortion — unwanted pregnancy — should not be used.
I can, therefore, only assume that that half of the country thinks that women should be barefoot and pregnant often (thus making more jobs available to men, I guess). Either that or they’re abstinent.
Actually, the abstinent theory might hold some water. It would explain why they’re so angry all the time.
Limbaugh and his puritan cohorts might have the First Amendment right to say what they believe, including calling law students names, but it certainly doesn’t give them any moral standing, does it?
The Puritan Right has darn near idolized Limbaugh for nearly two decades now. And they have — in fact — put him before God. I find it ironic how hateful some people think God is, prime example being the Westboro Baptist crowd.
As much as I want to defend Limbaugh’s First Amendment right and note the fact that he’s simply saying what half of the country is thinking, I am reminded that there is such a thing as being right. And defending someone who’s so very wrong just because a lot of people believe in what he is saying is definitely not the right thing for me to do.
I don’t expect any real apology from Limbaugh. Or his sycophants. I can only hope that they evolve into a more enlightened state — one in which genuine dialog trumps demagoguery.
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