Today's Liberals VS Today's Conservatives

I saw this on a friend's Facebook page today. Although many of those who fought for the things we take for granted would not be considered liberals today by a thinking person, certainly the teabaggers and their ilk would consider them so. One would not be able to get one of them to read more than a line of this without a violent explosion.

A Day in the Life of Joe Conservative

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance -- now Joe gets it, too.

He prepares his morning breakfast: bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.

If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment checks because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state funded university.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the taxpayer funded roads.

He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans.

The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved conservatives have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

--Author is Anonymous

MLK Today?

In the wake of the terrible shooting in Tucson nine days ago and on this day in which we celebrate the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. there is much talk about his philosophy of peace and nonviolence. A friend just posted his "I have a dream.." speech on Facebook and rued the fact that he isn't here today. It got me to thinking. What if he were still alive today?

In my humble opinion he would continue to be much maligned as he was in the 1960s, both for the color of his skin and because of his views on non-violence. Were he alive today, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Sarah Palin and others would call him a racist and rant and rave against him on a regular basis. He would be called a wimp because of his views on non-violence. They would say that violence is necessary to achieve their goals. It is necessary to continue the wars that they love so much. He would be tagged a socialist, a communist, and all of the other misused "ists" that they can come up with. He would be characterized as a "trouble maker," stirring up African Americans, Latinos, and other minorities against whites. In short he would still be a target.

This country has in many ways returned to the racist, violent days of the 1950's and 1960's. In those days the right wing press railed against integration and African Americans on a daily basis. Today it has broadened its horizons to include gays, Latinos, Muslims, and other non-Christians. Today its rants reach many more people because of the Internet and cable news. Were Martin Luther King to return to this earth on his birthday, he would find great changes have taken place, but in many ways things are still the same.

Death Panels, Birthers, and Common Sense

Since President Obama was elected, the nuts have come out from under their rocks. People you thought were normal, commonsense types have gone completely berserk. There are more conspiracy theories than you can count and many people that I know have swallowed them hook, line and sinker. There were Sarah Palin's death panels. Supposedly, if a national health care law was passed, there would be government panels who would decide if you deserved health care or not, especially if you were a senior citizen. Makes complete sense, doesn't it?

Then there are the birthers, those who would have you believe that the President is not an American citizen. The fact that he was born in Hawaii, has a birth certificate, and his birth announcement was published in a Hawaii newspaper has no effect on those who buy this claim. The coup de grace of course is the fact that his mother was an American citizen, which automatically makes him a U.S. citizen. No president's citizenship has been questioned like this. Even politicians who were considered to be somewhat sane, have jumped on the birther bandwagon, and, now, with the recent T-publican gains in state legislatures, there is talk of bills being introduced in state legislatures, requiring future presidential candidates to show proof of citizenship before their name is placed on that state's ballot.

Intertwined with the birther movement is the Obama is a Muslim foolishess. The President attends Christian services regularly and has for years. He often invokes his Christian faith in speeches. Yet, the Muslim haters regularly accuse him of being a Muslim, using his middle name and fake documents as proof. I often receive emails, falsely claiming that he is giving Muslims special treatment and planning a Muslim takeover of the U.S.

In today's news, comedian, Rush Limbaugh questions the President's Thanksgiving proclamation, saying,

"[Obama] said that Thanksgiving is about the Indians saving us, with their agriculture and everything else. The true story of Thanksgiving is socialism failed. Of course we showed them gratitude! We shared our bounty with them, not because we didn't know how to make it. It was because we first failed as socialists. Only when we turned capitalists did we have plenty. The Indians didn't teach us capitalism."

Now I ask you. Does this make any sense whatsoever? Yet, I'm sure there were people listening to this buffoon, nodding their heads in agreement: "Darn right. Them socialist Puritans deserved to die for being Socialists." Socialists? The Puritans? I'm still scratching my head on this one. Talk about revisionist history!

Common sense. Such a great concept. However, common sense requires, as we used to say, "using one's head for something besides a hat rack." In this particular case, putting ones prejudices aside helps a bit as well.