of tempests and tea parties

i have been thinking in broad strokes lately--- and conversely, i have been hunkering down and working on personal issues. it would suffice to say that i am just plain exhausted. i have a feeling many folks are worn down and worn out by life- and it just shouldn't be that way. there really isn't any reason for it either- but for the greed of a small percentage of the entire human population. of course, we see it on a global scale with price gouging during disasters; private contractors simply stealing money allotted for projects to help folks; the financial implosion across the world, etc., etc.,

i started to think about what that means for me- i have to constantly be on the alert for my financial institutions levying fees and fines for any and everything; i have to pay fees and surcharges on any government or utility 'privelege' of using- more for simply using electricity in my home or renewing my driver's license; i have to be on the alert for disreputable gutter companies or price shop to not get taken advantage of to have my gutters replaced; i have to worry about taking my car to the garage for a check engine light coming on so i don't get ripped off; i pay pretty close to double for groceries than i did 10 years ago- and i have to worry whether or not my food has been genetically altered or filled full of antibiotics--- or has some viral disease like mad cow or fish fungus. whew!!!

not to mention- we have a horribly broken government system from the local governments on up and are constantly fighting against our neighbors, colleagues, and often friends and family members against a dangerous and regressive ideology. did i mention i am freakin' pooped? when you live with the stress of waiting for that other shoe to drop- and put other life losses on top of all of the above- i think we have a pretty fair idea of how most americans are living these days. even those of us who haven't lost our jobs and homes- are kind of waiting for the whole shebang to collapse and anarchy rein- and we all lose everything. it's that kind of decade i guess.

anyhoo, had to have mom's sink fixed and was lucky enough to have a buddy who could do it. got me thinking about capitalism and whatnot- and yes, i do need to have the car and gutters fixed. and, i am still looking for a part time job to pay for it... welcome to the western world where suburbanites want so badly to keep their mcmansion gated subdivisions safe for their 2.3 kids and dog and suv- that they join tea parties because they are promised a bag of lies. we, the people, have all been sold a bill of goods- the american dream- and the fact that we have woken up from that and can see that it amounts to owning swamp land--- is lost on the leaders of the tea bag movement and their minions.

the fight has just begun- and i hope that upcoming social civil wars don't devolve into actual bullets flying. and, i also hope that evolution speeds up a bit and the conservative mindset is just a painful blip in the human history.

it's that time of year

i find myself thinking more in 'seasons' than in months these days :) i suppose it's because i am starting to think in terms of 'gardening' instead of just grocery shopping. i really hate grocery shopping. and, i have a feeling more and more folks are feeling the same way because i have seen reports at various news agencies about the rise of the backyard garden here in america. suburbanites taking back their yards from the sculpted hedges and flowers with names i can't pronounce that aren't indigenous; urbanites container gardening and taking vacant lots for community plots- family farms hanging on by a thread and attempting to go organic.

that has got to irritate big ag quite a bit. but i don't care. i have no desire to put genetically altered, hormone and antibiotic stuffed meats, dairy and vegetables in my mouth. i suspect many other folks don't either. at any rate, it's a trend towards more self sufficiency- more awareness about the environment but also about our own relationship with our planet and nature- and how we effect each other.

and, while i know that evolution takes a long time when left to it's own devices, i honestly see the writing on the wall for the right wing mind set. negative, mean spirited, aggressive, sociopathic power hunger along with greed isn't going to survive in a world where we are going to have to work together to simply to exist as a species.

and, i, for one, will not be sorry to see that dinosaur- um elephant- go extinct.

Acting In God Faith: Doing God's Work (Again)

This is indeed laughable:

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DeMint Laughably Claims Republicans Have Been Acting In ‘Good Faith’ To Improve Health Care Reform

Republicans opposed to health care reform have long said that their “objective is to slow this down” in order to “defeat” reform. Earlier this month, Politico’s Chris Frates obtained a copy of a memo authored by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) outlining exactly how Senate Republicans can kill health reform using various parliamentary tactics such as offering “an unlimited number of amendments — germane or non-germane — on any subject.”

Over the past few weeks of Senate debate, Republicans have put their plan into action, using procedural stunts like Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) demand that Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 767 page single payer amendment be read in full on the Senate floor. On Fox News today, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who took delight in Coburn’s effort, claimed that Republicans weren’t just being “obstructionist,” but were working in “good faith” to make “progress” on the legislation:

HOST: Alright, so we read that quote from your spokesperson about how you’re basically being obstructionist and it sounds like you think that’s a badge of honor at this point. But let’s face it. Are you just postponing the inevitable and do the American people really just want you to obstruct it or are they looking for progress here?

DEMINT: We’ve tried to work in good faith with the Democrats for the last few weeks, debating a bill on the floor, proposing amendments. But its turned out that this bill is just a decoy and that the whole strategy’s bait and switch. They’ve been working on a bill behind closed doors that we haven’t seen. That no Democrat other than Harry Reid has seen. And what I mean by obstructing is at least slow it down in time, give us a time to even look at it or read it. But they’re gonna file this bill at the same time they file a motion to cut off debate. Before we even have debate. So the definition of obstruction is really maybe slow it down for a day or two, so we can at least see a little bit of what’s in the bill.

DeMint went on to claim Republicans “have not been in the way so far” and “haven’t held up anything.” Watch it:

DeMint is being willfully misleading when he says that Republicans are acting in “good faith” with their procedural tactics. In fact, he tweeted on Wednesday that the GOP will “do everything we can to stop this government takeover of health care.”

Just last week, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), the Republican whip, told Hugh Hewitt that “none” of the Republican “amendments are designed to make the bill better.” In an interview on WorldNetDaily’s radio show yesterday, Sen Bob Bennett (R-UT) admitted, “We’re not offering amendments in order to fix it.” DeMint claimed he was only trying to “slow it down for a day or two,” but Bennett explained what the real strategy is:

BENNETT: Well, we’re opposed to the bill. That’s the first thing that people need to understand. We’re opposed to the bill and we don’t think it can be fixed. We’re not offering amendments in order to fix it. We’re offering amendments in order force the Democrats to confront some of the bad parts of the bill and force them on the record. To say, oh gee, I’ve opposed this amendment that would have and then you fill in the blank because every amendment we propose is, we propose exposes one of the problems in the bill. Sure, we want to make sure that it does not get voted on in 2009 because the chances that it gets defeated if it gets voted on in 2010 are better. There’s nothing really complicated about that. I think even a journalist in the mainstream media ought to be able to figure that one out.

Perhaps DeMint is confused about what the term “good faith” means.

Good faith indeed on the part of Jim DeMint.

Nevertheless - I think DeMint knows exactly what he means by good faith (emphasis added):

GOP wants to ‘kill health reform through God’s intervention’

Prominent congressional Republicans have turned to Christian activist Lou Engle to help them bring God to their side in their battle to defeat health care reform.

In an online "prayercast" Wednesday night, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann joined a number of Christian leaders in praying that health care reform will be defeated. Leading the prayer was Engle, whose organization Call to Conscience describes itself as a "movement to bring holiness and purity back to America."

On her show Thursday night, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow played a clip of Engle, the prayercast's leader, discussing California's Proposition 8 last year. If same-sex marriage is allowed to stand in California, Engle argued, it "will release a spirit that is more demonic than Islam. A spirit of lawlessness and anarchy. And a sexual insanity will be unleashed into the earth."

"Liberals are debating whether or not it is smart and ethical to have a mandate without a public option," Maddow said. "On the Jim DeMint and Sam Brownback side of the aisle, they are approaching this rather differently."

During the prayercast, Sen. DeMint said, "If we have the government making decisions about the most personal and private part of our lives, it's so naive to think that that coverage is not going to include a number of things that cause people of faith a lot of heartburn, whether it's funding abortions, whether it's rationing care, whether it's funding medical marijuana, whether it's euthanasia."

Now, watch them piously pray:

Yes - there was our very same Jim DeMint.

Yes - there was the very same Michele Bachmann.

Yes - there was the very same Sam Brownback.

And yes - there was the very same Lou Engle ...

Other luminaries attending this prayercast included Tony Perkins, Randy Forbes, Harry Jackson and Jim Garlow.

Funny how these bozos never pray for anything positive - you know, like the end of disease? Or universal peace on Earth? Or other some such ideals?

Then again - what else can you expect from primitive minds?

Doing God's work indeed ... and then some.

Welcome (again) to our semi-Dark Ages.

(Addendum: one more note added in proof that those bozos just can't pray for anything actually positive and/or noble. And yes - this is the very same Tom Coburn here ... And then in response, here is the enlightened "base" wondering whether their bozos prayed hard enough. Words fail me.)

(Cross-posted from APOV)