They are not pets, they’re just peeves.
The obligatory trashing of the Reverend Terry Jones, routinely and relentlessly demonized as an ignorant, fanatic, attention whore, guilty of murder, for burning a Koran (note the respectful capitalization. I’m even covering my own ass.) What about exhibitions of works of art insulting Jesus, Christianity, and conventional decency in general, subsidized, involuntarily, with my money? Are all of the people involved in such events, fanatic, ignorant attention whores? Not if you read the New York Times, or any other mainstream media outlet. At least Pastor Jones purchased the Koran and the matches with his own money.
To maintain good relations with my wife, whom I love, I always tune in to Brooks and Shields on Friday nights on the PBS News Hour (more of my money!). “Honey, your favorite wimpy ex-conservative is on.” Tonight Shields was on vacation and they had on some Democratic woman to replace him. She and David talked at some length about the Republican rider to the emergency budget bill that would defund Planned Parenthood. In the entire discussion, neither of them said one single word about why Planned Parenthood should be funded by the federal government, or, conversely, why Planned Parenthood should not be funded with my tax money. Not a single word about the merits of the issue. It was entirely about the politics, i.e., whose base was being pandered to by whom. Who Cares!? How about what is right? That’s what I care about. I think that’s what most people care about.
The same old, excrutiatingly predictable demagoguery of the Democratic party regarding Paul Ryan’s budget proposal. It will kill women and starve old people and deprive the nation’s children. The truth is that the Ryan budget continues to increase government spending and borrowing, just not quite as fast as the Obama budget.
If this kind of politics works for the Democrats, democracy itself is in peril. I am an optimist. I don’t think it will work. The people of this nation, not all that long ago, offered up 360,222 of their lives to preserve the union and end slavery. In that confrontation, the Democrats supported the 258,000 who lost their lives defending slavery and the right of secession. Such moments of national truth come up every so often. This is another one. I pray that the Republican spirit of Abraham Lincoln, as in times past, will prevail against the modern incarnation of the delusional, criminal spirit of the Democratic Party.