I know people in Oklahoma who are near the disaster area, and they have family IN the disaster area. A friend on Skype showed me his friend's business, destroyed. He showed me his family's area, where whole neighborhoods were devastated.
The people affected by the disaster have my sympathy--and some of my money now. When a disaster strikes, I like to find out what I can do that will actually help people. Give blood when appropriate, money when appropriate, volunteer time when possible. I applaud people who have helped out in disasters, tirelessly and selflessly, and I encourage people to help in Oklahoma.
But please, if you feel the need to pray, keep it to yourself.
Here's the thing: every time a disaster happens, the media, politicians, and everyone who happens to be religious seems to want to encourage everyone to pray, or feels the need to say "Our prayers are with the victims." What is the point? Prayer certainly didn't stop the disaster from happening. It's not going to fix a home or restore a business. It's not going to heal the injured. It's not going to bring back the children who drowned in a school in the disaster area.
Prayer doesn't fix a thing. It never has.
Human labor, human kindness, human ingenuity, and human generosity have always been instrumental in restoring areas hit by disasters. No miracles are taking place; human beings are coming together to make things better again.
If you want to pray, pray. If it makes you feel better, by all means, go ahead...but do something to help, too. Don't bother encouraging others to pray as if it's an important part of the disaster relief. It's not.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
On a mission
I had a friend make the claim that Fox News doesn't lie. Although there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary all over the Internet for anyone who wants to bother doing research (complete with video evidence), I am making it my mission to prove that Fox does, indeed, lie.
I am picking one show every week and recording it on my DVR. I will review each show, giving myself the weekend just in case, and review claims made by Fox News contributors and talking heads. I will do my own analysis and prove my case.
I know this is like shooting fish in a barrel; this is the channel that scoffed at Hillary Clinton's medical condition, calling it "the Benghazi flu". Is that a lie? It's definitely a distortion of the truth based on a lack of information. It's irresponsible journalism, at the very least.
Two other incidents come to mind immediately: they aired sound bites of Barack Obama on two occasions, omitting context that would change the understanding of the part they chose to show their viewers. One was his infamous "you didn't build that" speech, where the context made clear that he was talking about roads, bridges, and other infrastructure businesses use that the taxpayers provide. The other was an interview where he talked about immigration law enforcement and presidential powers.
In any case, I'm going to decide this week which show I will analyze next week.
I am picking one show every week and recording it on my DVR. I will review each show, giving myself the weekend just in case, and review claims made by Fox News contributors and talking heads. I will do my own analysis and prove my case.
I know this is like shooting fish in a barrel; this is the channel that scoffed at Hillary Clinton's medical condition, calling it "the Benghazi flu". Is that a lie? It's definitely a distortion of the truth based on a lack of information. It's irresponsible journalism, at the very least.
Two other incidents come to mind immediately: they aired sound bites of Barack Obama on two occasions, omitting context that would change the understanding of the part they chose to show their viewers. One was his infamous "you didn't build that" speech, where the context made clear that he was talking about roads, bridges, and other infrastructure businesses use that the taxpayers provide. The other was an interview where he talked about immigration law enforcement and presidential powers.
In any case, I'm going to decide this week which show I will analyze next week.
Examples of Obama's bipartisanship
Recently, I had a discussion with a friend and co-worker who claimed that President Obama has never acted in a bipartisan manner in his relationship with Congress. This statement floored me, since I recall Obama giving in way too much to Republicans during the first couple years of his first term, so I decided to do some research and find examples of when President Obama has made bipartisan efforts.
I should note that even with compromise, many bills did not pass because Republicans simply said no to them. Several made it their stated goal to make Barack Obama a one-term President. In spite of this strategy, several bills received bipartisan support under President Obama's leadership.
The Recovery Act: A review of this 2009 bill's vote history in Congress will reveal that bipartisan support was necessary to pass it. It received a super-majority of votes. This bill prevented a global depression.
The Lily Ledbetter Act:: Here is the vote history for this bill. The legislation reversed a Supreme Court decision that changed the rules regarding when an employee can sue for pay discrimination.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal: The bill that made it so homosexuals do not have to lie to serve in the military (lie of omission, in this case) received bipartisan support.
Debt Ceiling: The Budget Control Act of 2011 received overwhelming bipartisan after a great deal of compromise between the Obama administration and both parties in Congress.
Wall Street Reform: Here is the Dodd-Frank Act's vote history in Congress. Once again, bipartisan support.
Food Safety Modernization: This act passed in the Senate by voice vote, it received so much bipartisan support.
One could argue that members of Congress reached across the aisle to compromise, but the above are examples of bills where President Obama led quite publicly. There are several other examples, but these all passed with a super-majority in the Senate.
The Recovery Act: A review of this 2009 bill's vote history in Congress will reveal that bipartisan support was necessary to pass it. It received a super-majority of votes. This bill prevented a global depression.
The Lily Ledbetter Act:: Here is the vote history for this bill. The legislation reversed a Supreme Court decision that changed the rules regarding when an employee can sue for pay discrimination.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal: The bill that made it so homosexuals do not have to lie to serve in the military (lie of omission, in this case) received bipartisan support.
Debt Ceiling: The Budget Control Act of 2011 received overwhelming bipartisan after a great deal of compromise between the Obama administration and both parties in Congress.
Wall Street Reform: Here is the Dodd-Frank Act's vote history in Congress. Once again, bipartisan support.
Food Safety Modernization: This act passed in the Senate by voice vote, it received so much bipartisan support.
One could argue that members of Congress reached across the aisle to compromise, but the above are examples of bills where President Obama led quite publicly. There are several other examples, but these all passed with a super-majority in the Senate.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Prayer and Bible Study in Schools Do Not Prevent Murder
I've had enough of religious opportunists using the massacre in Newtown, CT as a rallying cry to inject prayer and Bible study into public schools. If that sort of thing would prevent murder, explain the following:
7 Dead, 3 wounded at a Christian vocational school:
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/04/02/several-shot-inside-oakland-christian-school/
1 Dead, 7 wounded as they participated in a prayer circle at a Kentucky school:
http://articles.cnn.com/keyword/heath-high-school
Girl shoots fellow student at a Catholic school:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=93650&page=1#.UM5-7G_Acko
Man kills 5 girls, wounds 5 in an Amish school:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/us/03amish.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Man kills head of Episcopal school:
http://jacksonville.com/slideshow/slides-news/shane-schumerth-gunman-episcopal-school-jacksonville-shooting#slide-1
Man kills a rabbi and three children in a Jewish school:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19360803
Man kills seven, wounds three at a Christian college:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9182343/Oakland-school-shooting-former-nursing-student-arrested.html
As I was finding more and more links, I found I couldn't stomach any more of these. I think it makes the point: murder has nothing to do with prayer and Bible study in schools. So please stop with that nonsense. It's bad enough the Sandy Hook shooting is fresh in my mind. To see all of these other incidents...and to have a visual from the details given regarding the shooting in the Amish school...I'm sick over it. There are more examples. I haven't gotten into any of the Muslim schools, for example, and I haven't checked the policy regarding school prayer in South American countries, where several shootings also occurred.
Now I'm going to go tuck my kid in and hope I don't ever have to deal with this kind of tragedy with my own child.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Friday, November 2, 2012
Why I'm voting for Barack Obama again in 2012
In 2008, Barack Obama was the first candidate who inspired me to not only vote for him, but work on his campaign. Even though in retrospect, Clinton did a pretty good job, and Al Gore and John Kerry would have both been far better than George W. Bush, they didn't distinguish themselves enough during their campaigns from the Republican candidate to inspire me to do anything but cast a vote. Obama was inclusive, genuine, and in line with my views on most issues--and let's face it: McCain pandered way too much to the extremists in his party in 2008, especially with his abysmally bad pick for VP. McCain in 2000 might have given Obama a run for his money; McCain in '08 just made Obama stand out more as a clear alternative choice.
Now that he's been President for nearly a full term, I have to say that there have been disappointments along with the successes. I am not proud of the continued practice of warrantless wiretapping, for example, which began under the Bush administration. The fact that nobody on Wall Street went to jail over causing the tanking of the economy disappointed me. Bailing out the big banks instead of the drowning homeowners (which would have actually bailed out the banks in the process, by the way) wasn't the best thing to do--but on that point, it may not have been possible, given that TARP was passed before Obama was in office, and much of what could be handled the way this administration handled it. There are a few other criticisms, but the biggest one involved Obama bowing a little too much to the desires of the right wing for the first half of his term, in his effort to reach across the aisle--which is what I think lost the Democrats the House in 2010. I think his continuation of the war on drugs is ill-advised and wrong for the country.
Having given some of my criticisms, allow me to say why I am inspired to vote for Barack Obama again in 2012:
Obamacare: There are people out there afraid of Obamacare. They're afraid that it's going to raise health care premiums and cause the loss of jobs. I disagree. There are many good things about Obamacare, and some will inevitably lower costs. The first is that people who can't afford to have a primary care physician--the people whom Romney would send to the emergency room for care that can't be refused, but isn't free--will now go to one for physicals and when they get sick. They can get preventative care, rather than waiting--as relatives of mine have--until it's so bad that they have to go to the emergency room or they'll die. Sometimes, as in the case of my aunt, they do die, because the cancer has spread throughout the body already. The infection has spread into the bloodstream and caused sepsis. The bronchitis developed into pneumonia, and even that was allowed to go too long. The ER is not the best option for people who do not have insurance, and it certainly isn't the least expensive. Emergency rooms are meant for patients who have had accidents or sudden onsets of serious conditions, not for people with the flu or bronchitis to get treated. The Affordable Care Act will cut costs overall because emergency room visits for non-emergencies will decrease.
Other good things about Obamacare include: women not having to pay higher premiums than men, more of the premium you pay actually going into care rather than executive salaries and dividend checks for shareholders, the ability to start a business or change jobs and not worry about your new insurance denying you coverage for pre-existing conditions, and not being denied coverage in the first place because of pre-existing conditions. I ran into this pre-existing condition nonsense for a condition that had never been diagnosed when I first started working for the company I work for presently, all because they had a policy in place that anything diagnosed within the first six months of employment was automatically considered a pre-existing condition.
The automotive industry: Thanks to President Obama, GM is now turning a profit. Had they gone through the normal bankruptcy process, they would have been liquidated, and millions of jobs would have been lost. I say millions, because it's not just auto workers whose jobs would have been gone. It's the bars those workers may have frequented after work. It's the restaurants they went to once a week or so. It's the convenience stores and gas stations near their places of employment. It's the huge number of vendors whose businesses rely on a thriving automotive industry: printing companies, auto glass manufacturers, aftermarket parts manufacturers and distributors...the list is long. My own company employs whole help desks for parts of GM, including their supply chain. GM itself is our biggest customer. Thanks to President Obama, my fellow employees are not at risk of losing their jobs.
The end of the war in Iraq: Obama kept his word on ending the war in Iraq, and I have hope that we will get out of Afghanistan if he remains in office. I also have hope that we will not enter into a new war with Iran because of the way he his handling that situation.
Osama bin Laden: I don't know about the rest of America, but I was infuriated with George W. Bush was asked about getting bin Laden, and he said, "I don't think about him much." We needed to get Osama bin Laden, and Obama's leadership led to Seal Team Six finding and killing him. People can say Obama had nothing to do with it all they want, but that's a stupid thing to say--the Seal team would not have gone over the Pakistani border without Obama's orders. It was a bold move, and one Romney said he would not have made--before it was successful, that is.
Gay rights: Because of Obama, gay people can serve openly in the military. While gay marriage is not legal across the United States, Obama has paved the way for it, and instead of waffling on that issue, Democrats now have adopted it as part of their platform--all because of the President's leadership. How does this affect me as a straight man? Well, for one thing, I like to see my friends happy. For another, I know what it's like to be in the closet. I was a closeted atheist for the first nine years after I rejected religion. Not being able to express to people who you are for fear of ostracism, bullying, or even physical harm is not a good feeling. Living a lie doesn't feel good. I don't want anyone to go through that, because I have empathy. Besides, let's face it, gay weddings are good for the economy. I'm oversimplifying it; there's so much more, such as partner benefits, the ability to make decisions for your loved ones (rather than having a family that may have shunned that loved one previously making them instead), being able to have visition in the hospital...the list goes on. I support civil rights for everyone, and I think it's high time the LGBT community was treated like any other class of full American citizens.
Women: Two major things Obama has done for women include the signing of the Lily Ledbetter Act, which allows women to sue for equal pay when they're doing the same work men do, and making contraception a part of Obamacare so women and their doctors are in charge of their reproductive health choices. My daughter is special needs, but I have hope that she will enter the work force someday. If she is doing the work men are doing, I care whether she will be making the same pay. She has that right.
Obama is also pro-choice, as I am. I see abortion as an equality issue. I think women should have the right to have say over what happens with their bodies, and that decisions in that regard are up to them and their doctors. While I think contraception and comprehensive sex education are the best options, I don't think women should be forced to give birth when men do not have to go through the same physical changes and hardships. And all this talk about rape lately? Republicans need to be as far away from decision-making regarding pregnancy as possible. A Romney presidency would mean anti-choice justices on the Supreme Court, should he get the opportunity to appoint them. We do not need Roe v. Wade overturned.
The economy: When Obama took office, we were losing jobs to the tune of 800,000 a month. That number had turned around to positive job growth for the second half of his first term. His policies are working, and I think they'd be a lot more successful without Republican obstruction in Congress.
Inclusion: Obama is the first President in my memory who has included atheists in his speeches, counting us as citizens who deserve consideration. That's important to me, because most politicians won't touch atheists with a ten-foot pole, even though we are law-abiding, tax-paying citizens.
I think this President deserves another four years. I think Romney will reverse the economic growth we've had, will do things to hurt the rights of women, will get us into war with Iran, and will never consider atheists as part of his idea of what it means to be American. I think he will reverse gay rights and appoint justices who will not only overturn Roe v. Wade, but also rule in favor or corporate interests. Romney will not make any of the criticisms I have of Obama better, either. The choice is clear for me in this election.
Now that he's been President for nearly a full term, I have to say that there have been disappointments along with the successes. I am not proud of the continued practice of warrantless wiretapping, for example, which began under the Bush administration. The fact that nobody on Wall Street went to jail over causing the tanking of the economy disappointed me. Bailing out the big banks instead of the drowning homeowners (which would have actually bailed out the banks in the process, by the way) wasn't the best thing to do--but on that point, it may not have been possible, given that TARP was passed before Obama was in office, and much of what could be handled the way this administration handled it. There are a few other criticisms, but the biggest one involved Obama bowing a little too much to the desires of the right wing for the first half of his term, in his effort to reach across the aisle--which is what I think lost the Democrats the House in 2010. I think his continuation of the war on drugs is ill-advised and wrong for the country.
Having given some of my criticisms, allow me to say why I am inspired to vote for Barack Obama again in 2012:
Obamacare: There are people out there afraid of Obamacare. They're afraid that it's going to raise health care premiums and cause the loss of jobs. I disagree. There are many good things about Obamacare, and some will inevitably lower costs. The first is that people who can't afford to have a primary care physician--the people whom Romney would send to the emergency room for care that can't be refused, but isn't free--will now go to one for physicals and when they get sick. They can get preventative care, rather than waiting--as relatives of mine have--until it's so bad that they have to go to the emergency room or they'll die. Sometimes, as in the case of my aunt, they do die, because the cancer has spread throughout the body already. The infection has spread into the bloodstream and caused sepsis. The bronchitis developed into pneumonia, and even that was allowed to go too long. The ER is not the best option for people who do not have insurance, and it certainly isn't the least expensive. Emergency rooms are meant for patients who have had accidents or sudden onsets of serious conditions, not for people with the flu or bronchitis to get treated. The Affordable Care Act will cut costs overall because emergency room visits for non-emergencies will decrease.
Other good things about Obamacare include: women not having to pay higher premiums than men, more of the premium you pay actually going into care rather than executive salaries and dividend checks for shareholders, the ability to start a business or change jobs and not worry about your new insurance denying you coverage for pre-existing conditions, and not being denied coverage in the first place because of pre-existing conditions. I ran into this pre-existing condition nonsense for a condition that had never been diagnosed when I first started working for the company I work for presently, all because they had a policy in place that anything diagnosed within the first six months of employment was automatically considered a pre-existing condition.
The automotive industry: Thanks to President Obama, GM is now turning a profit. Had they gone through the normal bankruptcy process, they would have been liquidated, and millions of jobs would have been lost. I say millions, because it's not just auto workers whose jobs would have been gone. It's the bars those workers may have frequented after work. It's the restaurants they went to once a week or so. It's the convenience stores and gas stations near their places of employment. It's the huge number of vendors whose businesses rely on a thriving automotive industry: printing companies, auto glass manufacturers, aftermarket parts manufacturers and distributors...the list is long. My own company employs whole help desks for parts of GM, including their supply chain. GM itself is our biggest customer. Thanks to President Obama, my fellow employees are not at risk of losing their jobs.
The end of the war in Iraq: Obama kept his word on ending the war in Iraq, and I have hope that we will get out of Afghanistan if he remains in office. I also have hope that we will not enter into a new war with Iran because of the way he his handling that situation.
Osama bin Laden: I don't know about the rest of America, but I was infuriated with George W. Bush was asked about getting bin Laden, and he said, "I don't think about him much." We needed to get Osama bin Laden, and Obama's leadership led to Seal Team Six finding and killing him. People can say Obama had nothing to do with it all they want, but that's a stupid thing to say--the Seal team would not have gone over the Pakistani border without Obama's orders. It was a bold move, and one Romney said he would not have made--before it was successful, that is.
Gay rights: Because of Obama, gay people can serve openly in the military. While gay marriage is not legal across the United States, Obama has paved the way for it, and instead of waffling on that issue, Democrats now have adopted it as part of their platform--all because of the President's leadership. How does this affect me as a straight man? Well, for one thing, I like to see my friends happy. For another, I know what it's like to be in the closet. I was a closeted atheist for the first nine years after I rejected religion. Not being able to express to people who you are for fear of ostracism, bullying, or even physical harm is not a good feeling. Living a lie doesn't feel good. I don't want anyone to go through that, because I have empathy. Besides, let's face it, gay weddings are good for the economy. I'm oversimplifying it; there's so much more, such as partner benefits, the ability to make decisions for your loved ones (rather than having a family that may have shunned that loved one previously making them instead), being able to have visition in the hospital...the list goes on. I support civil rights for everyone, and I think it's high time the LGBT community was treated like any other class of full American citizens.
Women: Two major things Obama has done for women include the signing of the Lily Ledbetter Act, which allows women to sue for equal pay when they're doing the same work men do, and making contraception a part of Obamacare so women and their doctors are in charge of their reproductive health choices. My daughter is special needs, but I have hope that she will enter the work force someday. If she is doing the work men are doing, I care whether she will be making the same pay. She has that right.
Obama is also pro-choice, as I am. I see abortion as an equality issue. I think women should have the right to have say over what happens with their bodies, and that decisions in that regard are up to them and their doctors. While I think contraception and comprehensive sex education are the best options, I don't think women should be forced to give birth when men do not have to go through the same physical changes and hardships. And all this talk about rape lately? Republicans need to be as far away from decision-making regarding pregnancy as possible. A Romney presidency would mean anti-choice justices on the Supreme Court, should he get the opportunity to appoint them. We do not need Roe v. Wade overturned.
The economy: When Obama took office, we were losing jobs to the tune of 800,000 a month. That number had turned around to positive job growth for the second half of his first term. His policies are working, and I think they'd be a lot more successful without Republican obstruction in Congress.
Inclusion: Obama is the first President in my memory who has included atheists in his speeches, counting us as citizens who deserve consideration. That's important to me, because most politicians won't touch atheists with a ten-foot pole, even though we are law-abiding, tax-paying citizens.
I think this President deserves another four years. I think Romney will reverse the economic growth we've had, will do things to hurt the rights of women, will get us into war with Iran, and will never consider atheists as part of his idea of what it means to be American. I think he will reverse gay rights and appoint justices who will not only overturn Roe v. Wade, but also rule in favor or corporate interests. Romney will not make any of the criticisms I have of Obama better, either. The choice is clear for me in this election.
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