Christianity

America The Leader Of The World? On Health Care Access, NO WAY!

Ronald 2 Comments

Americans love to brag that we are the leaders of the free world, and the model for other nations, and that we are exceptional, better than any other nation.

And then we look at the issue of access to health care, and discover, how backward we have been, and yet we have Republicans and conservatives doing everything possible to insure that access to health care is denied to tens of millions of less fortunate Americans! They are fighting ObamaCare as if it is the greatest evil possible!

And while many say they believe in a right to life, that does not, apparently, include the right to a decent life, with good health care options, that insure a long life, now does it?

The hypocrisy is so apparent, and yet, there are no apologies or alternatives offered by Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, or really ANY Republicans in Washington, DC, who offer no alternative and could not care less about people with pre-existing conditions, or poor, or disabled, or senior, or single mothers with children, who are being forced to go bankrupt and lose their homes over medical costs, because they have no health care coverage, or inadequate coverage

And these hypocrites have the gall to call themselves religious, claiming that their belief in Christianity or Judaism does not include concern about those less fortunate. Their only concern is how to avoid spending an extra penny or dollar that might help others obtain what they have always had, decent health care coverage!

When one examines what nations have universal health care, they include almost all nations in Europe, plus major nations in Latin America and Asia and Canada and Australia, and even a few in the Middle East! And yet, we are still fighting over this basic right that all people should have–access to decent health care!

The Republicans, Scrooge, And Food Stamp Cuts

Ronald 7 Comments

The Republican Party, particularly in the House of Representatives, has declared war on the Food Stamp program, pushing for a vote to cut about $40 billion from the program, in a vote due later this week.

This cut would come over ten years, and would deny basic food sustenance to poor people, with 76 percent of the beneficiaries being children, senior citizens, the disabled, and war veterans.

As Michele Bachmann said, if one does not work, one does not eat! Isn’t that the “Christian” thing to do? Of course, Jesus Christ would approve, or would he? Anyone sane and moral and ethical knows the answer!

And particularly, when Bachmann and her husband gain federal support for their program to help gays become straight, one of the biggest examples of corruption imaginable!

Meanwhile, corporations get supported by government, and the elite wealthy continue to become wealthier, at the expense of everyone else!

How could anyone with a heart, a sense of decency, vote for these Scrooge (Charles Dickens novel) like characters who do not give a damn about those less fortunate, whether for food stamps or health care or anything that makes lives easier for those who have miserable lives through no fault of their own?

Senator Lindsey Graham Faces Whacko Tea Party Opponents In Republican Senate Primary In South Carolina!

Ronald 35 Comments

Anyone who follows American politics KNOWS that South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is a solid conservative.

Graham tends to be critical of President Obama on most issues; was one of the leaders of the fight to impeach Bill Clinton in 1998, while a member of the House of Representatives; and is always a strong supporter of defense and foreign interventions, as is his good friend, John McCain.

But that is precisely the problem he faces now in the upcoming battle for the Senate nomination of his party for a third term election in 2014. That is, he SOMETIMES agrees with the President; is TOO GOOD a friend of John McCain, seen by many conservatives as not conservative enough; and infuriates those who are isolationist and non interventionist in the libertarian movement led by Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.

So therefore, Graham is labeled not acceptable to the Tea Party whackos who want to defeat him and put someone more right wing than he is in the Senate! Graham also has the gall to support immigration reform, and support the President on civil liberties policies..

So we have South Carolina State Senator Lee Bright taking on Graham, and this Tea Party activist has gone off the deep end, and demonstrated total insanity in his assertions that Graham is a “Community organizer” for the Muslim Brotherhood!

Think of how crazy and looney that assertion by Bright is, and it is clear that Bright is far from “bright”!

First, Graham Is NOT a community organizer, while Barack Obama was, but somehow these right wing nuts think anyone who helps poor people in urban neighborhoods is, somehow, not legitimate. Apparently, only if someone is involved in the corporate world and makes tons of profit and steps all over workers and consumers, is a person worth anything!

This is a very sick, twisted way of looking at fellow human beings, wishing to do nothing to help those less fortunate, and yet, one can be sure that Bright think of himself as a “good Christian”, which he most certainly is not, as if he examines the life of Jesus Christ, what does he think Jesus was?—A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER!

And to say that Lindsey Graham is working for the Muslim Brotherhood, when Graham is one of the most outspoken critics of that Middle Eastern group, makes Lee Bright certifiable to be committed for a mental examination as to his sanity! It is a totally preposterous idea, but just as much to say that Barack Obama is a Muslim or a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, when Obama has been responsible for the death of more Islamic terrorists and, sadly, some innocent bystanders, than George W. Bush did in his eight years in the White House!

As one observes the total lunatic nature of the Tea Party Movement, one realizes that there is a serious mental illness prevalent among people who claim to follow Christianity, but have no clue as to the teachings of their Lord and Savior!

The only blessing for Graham is that Bright is only one of three primary opponents, all nuts and looney, and that should help him to gain the nomination for a third term, by the division of votes among his opponents!

Religious Right Wing Christians Join Russia, Uganda, Saudi Arabia And Other Nations In Advocating Persecution Of Gays And Lesbians!

Ronald 2 Comments

As Gay Rights advance in 13 states and nationally in America, and also in much of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and parts of Latin America, we also witness the horrible persecution going on in Uganda and other African nations; Saudi Arabia and other Middle East nations; in much of Asia; and sadly, in Russia, which will be hosting the Winter Olympics in February 2014, threatening athletes, journalists, coaches, visitors, as well as victimizing Russian citizens on the basis of their sexual orientation.

This reality brings back memories of gays and lesbians being the second largest group of victims in the Holocaust during World War II, with only Jews surpassing the number of victims of the Nazis under Adolf Hitler.

As terrible as this persecution and discrimination is, the fact that the right wing Christian conservatives in the United States are very willing to endorse this persecution, and claiming to follow the teachings of their Jewish icon, Jesus Christ, is infuriating, and makes one wonder how anyone who studies the teachings of Jesus could possibly be for persecution, and even worse for gays and lesbians in America and world wide. Their ability to promote such hate and to use poisonous invective against gays and lesbians is mind boggling.

What hypocrisy, what immorality, what lack of ethics, what sick minds would advocate violence and mistreatment of people based on their sexuality!

Republican Lunacy Is Getting Worse By The Day!

Ronald 6 Comments

All that one needs to do is wait, and the Republican Party harms itself and its reputation!

Examples abound, such as just recently, the following:

Virginia Lieutenant Governor nominee E. W. Jackson, a minister, has stated that one cannot be a Christian and also be a Democrat!

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who looks and acts more like former Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy as each day goes by, makes clear that he wishes, with other Tea Party radicals, to force the federal government into being shut down, until and when ObamaCare is defunded, no matter what damage it does to the American economy and our system of national defense, and payments to the elderly and disabled under Social Security and Medicare!

And Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus has threatened to forbid any Republican Presidential debates to be conducted by NBC and CNN, if they go through with plans, in their entertainment divisions, with specials on the life of Hillary Clinton, failing to see that the news division and the entertainment division are separate, and that neither station will give in to his threats! All it can do is undermine GOP attempts to gain public support, as if these two major networks are not engaged in the political campaign, it is the party that loses, more than the stations!

What is wrong with these Republicans, and many other examples, and that only a small coterie of Republicans, such as John McCain and Chris Christie, seem to have any sanity and common sense?

This portends a civil war for the future of the GOP, which will overshadow the 2016 race, as the Republican Party is self destructing before our eyes, more every day!

The True Causes Of Poverty, And Do Not Judge Harshly Nor Forget Our Responsibility To Those Who Are Poor!

Ronald 6 Comments

Despite all of the condemnation and harsh judgments that are too often expressed toward poor people, it is a sin of the Judeo-Christian ethic to have such thoughts, and to forget our responsibility to the less fortunate among us!

We must never forget the true causes of poverty, which include:

Job Loss
Single Motherhood
Working a Minimum Wage Job
Major Medical Illness Or Tragic Accident
Outsourcing into a lower wage job
Disability
Death of Spouse
Divorce

All of the above can happen to anyone, no matter how much fortunate people try to deny it. And to abandon people in trouble by cutting food stamps, wanting to get rid of the minimum wage rather than raise it, trying to deny health insurance to those who need it, not trying to make housing conditions better for the needy, and basically dismissing them as an annoyance to be avoided, is to work against the basic tenets of what Judaism and Christianity promote!

There is no greater contribution one can make than to work to deal with the scourge of poverty, and in America, there is no excuse for its continuation, affecting one out of six Americans!

21 States Are Refusing Federal Funding To Expand Medicaid Coverage To The Needy In 2014!

Ronald 2 Comments

21 states, all “red” Republican states, and governed by Republican Governors and legislatures, are refusing to expand Medicaid coverage for the the needy in their states for 2014, even though the federal government is covering the cost 100 percent for the first three years, starting next year, and 90 percent after that until 2020!

So millions of needy people will have no ability to have health care coverage under ObamaCare, as the Supreme Court gave the states the authority to decide if they wished to accept the Medicaid coverage expansion from the federal government.

Republicans, who claim to be “pro life” are willing to risk the lives of those less fortunate, including children, the elderly, and the poor, and yet they all claim to be “religious”, but are not acting with the compassion of Jesus Christ, particularly when the states have no cost for three years, and very little cost after!

So the following states have rejected this coverage:

Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
Alabama
Mississippi
Louisiana
Texas
Oklahoma
Kansas
Nebraska
South Dakota
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
Utah
Missouri
Wisconsin
Maine
Alaska

These states are governed by such “Bully” Governors as Bob McDonnell of Virginia; Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Rick Scott of Florida, Rick Perry of Texas, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and Paul LePage of Maine–all totally despicable in their lack of concern for their less fortunate constituents!

Additionally, six other states are still debating whether to accept Medicaid expansion paid by the federal government, including the following:

New Hampshire
Ohio
Indiana
Michigan
Pennsylvania
Tennessee

This means Republican Governors, including John Kasich in Ohio, Rick Snyder in Michigan, and Tom Corbett in Pennsylvania, are actively working to deny coverage to their poorer populations!

Only 23 states, including Republican Governors Chris Christie in New Jersey, Brian Sandoval of Nevada, Susana Martinez of New Mexico, and Jan Brewer or Arizona are following through on commitment to the needs of their less fortunate, and those four Governors are to be commended, particularly Brewer in Arizona, who had a complete reversal in her view!

What a terrible state of affairs when conservatives and Republicans have no concern about those who are living but deprived, while at the same time, fighting to prevent abortions and force women to undergo ultrasound testing if they wish to end an abortion in the 24 weeks period allowed in the Roe V. Wade case. Additionally, North Dakota, Arkansas, Ohio and Texas, among other states, are trying to cut back, or have already done so, the amount of weeks of pregnancy in which a woman can have an abortion, and doing so in legislative sessions that are more run like a dictatorship, than a democratic means of passing legislation!

46th Anniversary Of Loving V. Virginia Supreme Court Case, And Still Racism Is Alive!

Ronald 24 Comments

In 1967, on this date, the Supreme Court declared interracial marriage constitutional, and yet even today, there are still 14 percent of the American people, in a poll, who deplore that people of different races may marry.

The answer is that we now have one of seven marriages as interracial, and if bigots do not like it, so be it, but the world is not going to bow to their hate and prejudice!

And the same thing needs to apply to gay marriage, which faces a Supreme Court test in the next two weeks!

Whatever the Supreme Court does by the end of June, gay marriage is here to stay, and if the bigots do not like it, who cares? It is none of their business whether two men or two women marry, any more than whether a man and woman of different races marry!

And since many of these bigots claim to be “good Christians” on both issues, they need to look in the mirror as to their religious beliefs, why in the name of Jesus Christ, a Jew, they feel a need to hate people because of their race or sexual orientation!

Religion And Prejudice: Again Evident In Reaction To Boy Scout Decision to Admit Gay Youths

Ronald 11 Comments

The news that the Boy Scouts Of America will allow gay youths as members is a half step, as it still bans gay youths once they reach 18, and gay scout leaders, and that will have to be adjusted over time.

But it is extremely disturbing to see Religion being utilized to promote prejudice, bias, hate and discrimination against gays, as if they choose to be gay!

So we see the Mormon Church, the Catholic Church, and evangelical Christians employing very “Unchristian” values, and also Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Muslims, refusing to recognize how many of each religious group are gay, including some of the protesting leaders, who are “in the closet”, and are true hypocrites!

And it is disturbing that one family, as an example, with five sons, is removing all of them from scouting, as, supposedly, the children asked to be removed, and if that is so, that means they have been taught to hate and to despise gay people, when they will have to cope with plenty of them over a lifetime!

And who can be sure that some of these kids, or others, are secretly gay, and totally paranoid and fearful of being found out, and might cause them to commit suicide because of their guilt and their burden that they know they will NOT be accepted by their own parents and other family members?

This is all very sick and disturbing, but after all, we all know that elements of organized Christianity were infamous for nativism, racism, sexism, and antisemitism in american history! So what else is new?

Fortunately, the number of young people who accept gays is a clear majority and growing, and organized religion is losing adherents rapidly, so when the more devout and older bigots in society pass from the scene, we will have a much more tolerant and open minded society, free of their prejudice, hatred, and bias!

A First: Two Vietnam War Veterans In Charge Of Our Foreign And Defense Policies

Ronald 15 Comments

Here we are, 40 years after the Paris Peace Accords ended US involvement in Vietnam, and we finally have two Vietnam War veterans in charge of our State Department and Defense Department, with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts taking over the State Department on Friday, and former Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska facing a Senate confirmation hearing tomorrow, in which he will be challenged by critics who never served in Vietnam, and could best be described as “chicken hawks”!

Hagel will have a rough reception, but he will be confirmed, rightfully, and he and Kerry will bring a different perspective to our foreign and military policies, the concept of thinking clearly and moving toward confrontation and engagement only when absolutely necessary for our national security and safety.

Kerry and Hagel are a repudiation of neoconservatism, which sees engagement in wars overseas as always a good thing, and constantly looking for places to send military force to promote American capitalist values and Christianity, and in so doing, antagonizing much of the “third world” nations of the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. That is why they are fighting so hard to stop Hagel, but they will fail to do that.

Kerry and Hagel know the horrors of war and the reality of military life, and Hagel has war wounds to prove it. They will be excellent advisers to President Barack Obama, and will help to promote sanity in our foreign and military policies. May we wish both of them good fortune as they chart the course of America at a time when rational, sane behavior is essential for America’s revival from a decade of war and economic turmoil.