What's Really Important Just A Few More Things
I listened to Michael Bloomberg , the Republican mayor of New York City, yesterday morning being interviewed by Andrea Mitchell and I liked some of the things he had to say. He criticized the partisanship in Congress that has them split down the middle, essentially putting them at a stand still. He stated they are doing nothing about public education or other real issues facing the nation. He pointed out the ludicrousness of the campaign finance structure in which candidates are given money in exchange for giving favors to business. He believes, in essence, the focus should be on the nation and the people, not businesses. He said the candidates aren’t talking about how to fix crime in the cities, or how to help with environmental policies. He said he told Governor Spitzer of New York that he is not running for governor, and he says he is not running for president, but he sure looked very presidential. He could certainly shell out the money for a last-minute campaign. If he ran as an Independent he might just get my vote!
Two nights ago I watched Keith Olbermann on Countdown give his most scathing criticism of the Bush Administration to date. It is a must see for anyone who missed it. I consider Mr. Olbermann a voice in the wilderness, like John the Baptist, crying out with a truth that needs to be heard.
I laugh when I hear the right wing mantra about the “liberal media.” They label anything as liberal bias that just might be newsworthy because it actually represents the truth, however doesn't conveniently coincide with their own predeterimined perceptions. Most people by now realize the magnitude of this lie and its attempt to mislead and distract us from the right wing’s own misuse of the media. Their accusations against what they label the “liberal media” are merely projections of their own behavior on TV and radio, which they dominate. Print media, more likely to espouse more liberal ideas, is apparently not their forte’, perhaps because they don’t bother to read much. The president, for example, is a man who boasts how he doesn’t really read the newspapers, and he recently called C-span boring. Perhaps it’s not just reading that is uncomfortable, but anything substantive.
If anything, the print media has been grossly and irresponsibly lenient with the Administration and all of its failed policies. It enabled and participated in the false and misleading “information” campaign leading up to the invasion of Iraq, and has too often sugar coated coverage of the foreign and domestic policies decimating the nation. Even now the media continues to ignore the fact that the Republicans in Congress are the real culprits dead-ending that body, all the while criticizing the low ratings of the “Democratic Congress.” They seem to have forgotten there are at least two parties in Congress, and a small majority is powerless when the minority is determined enough to throw a monkey wrench into the works, especially when that majority isn’t in lockstep-sheep-like formation marching to the party drum.
On a final note, just a little tidbit I picked up from my better half. It seems that Texas presently leads the nation in the teen birthrate. According to Robert T. Garrett of The Dallas Morning News, “While the national teen birth rate has slowed, Texas has made far less headway, alarming public health officials and child advocates. Texas teens lead the nation in having babies. Last month, the nonprofit group Child Trends conferred another No. 1 ranking on Texas. In the latest statistics available, 24 percent of the state's teen births in 2004 were not the girl's first delivery.”
The reason I find this noteworthy is that Texas is one of those states, guided by its own particular brand of political attitudes and religious traditions, that sees abstinence as the only way to go. Garrett states, “Texas' policy is to deny contraceptives without parental consent wherever possible and to push an abstinence-only sex education program in public schools.”
In contrast, California, a state that advocates talking about contraception as well as teaching abstinence in public schools, saw the birth rate drop by 47 percent in the same time frame. According to Garrett, California “teaches abstinence but also explains contraception at school and has gone to dispensing birth control to teenage boys and girls – for free, no parental consent required – in community clinics and doctors' offices.”
In the present national climate of religious revival frenzy, primarily from the far right fringes where many are in favor of establishing public policies (particularly in schools) based on religious doctrine, I just found this interesting. I often wonder if in actuality there is indeed such a religious revival occurring, or whether this is just another political tactic being used by some to stir up and milk their base for all its worth?
In my experience, most people are happy enough to just be left alone to live their own lives in peace, without government involvement one way or the other. I could be wrong; it’s just a growing suspicion I have. I also wonder if Muslims all around the world really have any interest in a religious Jihad, or if that is also just another tactic being employed by those wishing to keep the pot stirred up to facilitate their own political machinations.
Do you ever wonder about these things?