Saturday, March 16, 2013

What's Good for the Goose


According to the state of Hawaii, two newspapers in Honolulu, the U.S. State Department and the woman who was in the maternity ward at the same time as Ann and saw Barack lying in the bassinet next to her own son, Barack Obama was born in the United States.

But, according to the "birthers", Barack was not eligible to be president of the United States because they claimed 1.) he was not born in the United States and 2.) according to the Liberty Legal Foundation, he was not eligible because his father wasn't born in the United States as they claim that both parents must be U.S. citizens at the time of the birth.

"Birthers" have been very adament about this throughout President Obama's presidency - that he was not legitimately the president because he was not a natural born citizen.

Which makes today's announcement from CPAC all the more interesting.  It's their announcement of the straw poll for president in 2016.  This is the list of people that they were willing to consider as viable presidential contenders carrying forward the Republican flag.

Check out who came in #6 in the running. Ted Cruz.

Ted Cruz who was born in Calgary, CANADA. Rafael Cruz, Ted's father, was born in Cuba and did not become a citizen until 2005. Thus, at the time of Ted Cruz's birth he was born outside of the United States and had only one parent who was an American citizen.

Given their vehemence concerning their concept of natural-born citizens, it's kind of amazing that Cruz would be on the list at all, let along as high on the voting ranks.

It would be interesting to ask them if they have finally realized their mistake and are willing to apologize to the president or if they are willing to admit that the importance of whether the candidate is natural-born is only important to them if the candidate is a black Democrat.

Would I vote for Ted Cruz, not in a million years. But that's because I disagree with his stand on issues not on his right to be called an American.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

What Price A Life?

There are times when you hear Republican pundits say something and you have to ask yourself, "Do they really know what just came out of their mouth?"

Today was one of those days.

Mike Huckabee in trying to explain why health insurance is a terrible idea equated people with pre-existing conditions to burnt out buildings or totaled cars.  Yeah, according to this former minister of the Gospel if you have a heart condition, tough. Diabetes, forget about it. Arthritis, you are condemned.  In Huckabee's eyes you have no right to ask for health insurance because you are damaged goods. Your life isn't worth protecting.

And it gets worse.  He goes on to say that if you have a life threatening illness like cancer and the cost of treatment would be expensive, then your life isn't worth saving as it would lower the stock-holders of the insurance companies dividends.

Since Rev. Huckabee has established that, at least in his religious conservative mind, there is a price on human life, I'd like to know who decides how much a human life is worth? The stock-holders of the insurance companies? The politicians? Political pundits, like himself - does he get to decide how much is too much? Who should live and who should die based on what's best for stock-holders?  Who sits on that death panel and makes that decision?

I wonder if during Rev. Huckabee's studies of the Gospel he might have gotten hold of a bad translation, as I see no comment from Jesus saying that the man with the withered hand could not be helped because he had a pre-existing condition. (Mark 3:3-5) He did not turn away from the man with leprosy because he had no money. (Matthew 8:3) He did not turn from the paralyzed man because his was a life threatening illness.(Luke 5:18-19)

It's a shame that Rev. Huckabee didn't pay attention to Matthew 25:41-46:

  41“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;42for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;43I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’44“Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’45“Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’46“These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Mike Huckabee suggested that health assistance is for the healthy, not the sick.  If he's paid attention to Mark 2:17, he would know that "it is not the healthy that need the doctor, but the sick."  But then again, Jesus wasn't trying to make a profit.  Huckabee apparently has forgotten all that he knew about how precious each person in this world is in favor of the income.  You'd think he would remember that selling out another for 30 coins of silver never really profited anyone.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Respect: Knowing When To Give, And When To Get


If I were going to list all the reasons that I had an issue with Ted Nugent being at the State of the Union address, it would take all day.  Most are pretty self-evident.  It's just poor manners to invite someone who has made threats against the life of the president.

But there was one thing that really got to me about Nugent last night.

It wasn't that he out and out lied about previous threats he has made against the president, the vice president and the secretary of state. Ted's never really understood that the comments he makes for attention can and will come back to haunt him.

No, it was that he didn't stand to acknowledge the troops.  ( I expected him not to stand for the president, the man was never taught that in polite society you show respect for the office even if you have no respect for the person in the office.) It was that he didn't even attempt to stand to show respect. The 102 year old woman did but not Ted.  And when he was confronted about it, he whined and claimed that his legs were shattered and that he was supposed to be having double knee replacement but came to the SOTU instead.  Problem with that excuse is there are videos of him after the SOTU getting around just fine - no cane, no walker, nolimping, nothing.

This man who was too big a coward to fight for his country when called and forced another to go in his place couldn't even rise out of his seat to show respect for members of our armed forces who placed their lives on the line.

Ted likes to shoot off his mouth and his firearms and act like he's a big guy but when the rubber meets the road, he's just sitting there like always in his own excrement.

I guess in a way he was right - he said that his legs were shattered - what he should have said was he doesn't have a leg to stand on and hasn't for a very long time.