I Thought Republicans Were For Rallying Around Our President In Time Of Crisis

I thought Republicans believed that in a time of crisis all Americans should rally around our President. I can recall Republicans who said we had to get behind George W. Bush and all his wars so we could avenge the attacks of September 11, 2001. I might even be able to recall suggestions—subtle and otherwise—that people who did not support George W. Bush were not fully loyal.  

Well—This does not seem to be the case for Republicans anymore as President Barack H. Obama works to fight our economic crisis. Where is the Republican message of “country first” that John McCain kept pushing at us for all those months?

I guess supporting our President in these hard times for our nation is not as important as the Republican religion of tax cuts as the cure to every ill, and the Republican fear that a government that helps people will show a path outside of ceaseless brutal competition with each other.

Patriotism is sitautional with Republicans in Congress. That is if loyalty to the nation is what motivated them in the first place after September 11. Maybe what they saw was Karl Rove’s vision of a permanent Republican majority in a nation always afraid of another terrorist attack.

Barack Obama should not get everything he wants just because he says so. The Democratic majorities in Congress must be independent in a way that the previous Republican majorities were not. Just don’t expect much constructive input from Republicans. Whatever it is that truly moves them, the good of the nation is not so high on the list.

Are The People Who Run Texas Human Beings?

Are the people who run the State of Texas human beings in the sense that we associate humanity with the possession of basic morality and regard for life? In the ten years I’ve lived in Texas I’ve wondered about this more than once. A recent Houston Chronicle story about the debate over expansion of children’s health insurance, taking place in that malignancy known as the Texas Legislature, made me ponder this question again. 

One in five children in Texas lack health insurance. It’s another way we hate children for not having the ability to pay their own way.  Children are in this regard as despicable as old people and wounded veterans. Drains on society. Is their any more certain death sentence in our society than the widespread expression of care and sentiment?  

From the Chronicle article—

The debate over children’s health care this year will be as arduous as ever, but so is the ante: More than 160,000 Texas children whose cash-strapped parents can’t get state help to pay medical expenses for maladies as common as chronic ear infections or as daunting as cancer treatment. The argument among legislators will be whether to raise income-eligibility levels so that those children can join the 451,000 now covered by the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Supporters say reducing the number of uninsured youngsters — now one in five — would benefit not only the children’s physical health but the fiscal health of Texas taxpayers. The federal government picks up 72 percent of the cost and providing health care in doctors’ offices is almost always cheaper than treating children in public hospital emergency rooms.

Critics worry about undermining employer-sponsored health coverage and point to the growing costs for the state. CHIP enrollment increases over the past two years have driven the state’s tab from $102 million to $267.5 million. There are no monthly premiums but families pay an annual enrollment fee of $50 and most co-payments for doctor visits or prescription drugs range from $3 to $10. A pending federal bill that renews CHIP is expected to allow Texas to increase income limits so more can enroll. The current limit for a mother and two children of $35,200 could be increased to $52,800. Rep. Ellen Cohen, D-Houston…Cohen this week plans to introduce a bill that would expand CHIP and take advantage of anticipated new federal funds. “Since 2003, Texas has turned away almost $1 billion of federal matching funds by failing to invest in CHIP,” Cohen said. “As a result, we are left with the highest uninsured population of children in the nation.” Gov. Rick Perry’s spokeswoman, Allison Castle, said the governor does not support expanding CHIP’s eligibility standards because of the higher income families who would be covered. She said Congress is trying to lure the state into expanding programs in tough times and doing so would put the state on a “slippery slope to socialized medicine.”

Children living in middle-income families are increasingly joining the ranks of the uninsured. That is largely because employer-based health insurance premiums have more than doubled since 2000. The average annual cost to employees is $3,355 and the cost to employers is $9,325, for a total cost of $12,680, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Only half of Texas private-sector employers offer insurance, and among small businesses, the percentage drops to 34, the federal government reports.

The “slippery slope to socialized medicine.” Sure. We can’t have that. We”ll just have all these kids without health insurance.

Paul Blart—Making Fun Of People Like Ourselves

A popular movie in recent days has been Paul Blart: Mall Cop. And let me say right off that I have not seen this movie and I’m not going to see this movie.  Some books can indeed be judged by their covers. Some movies can be judged by their advertisements and previews.

Here is review of Paul Blart by the New York Times critic who had to see the movie as part of his job—-  

“Fat people are funny. Fat people who fall over are funnier. Fat people who fall over and have humiliating working-class jobs? Stop, you’re killing me! This would seem to be the entire guiding principle behind “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” a tossed-off comedy from Adam Sandler’s production company.. In the title role, Kevin James plays a lovable New Jersey doofus whose dreams of joining the police are foiled by a hypoglycemic condition that causes him to pass out in ostensibly hilarious contexts. Reduced to working security at a huge, bustling shopping mall located in some economically vibrant fantasyland, Blart falls in love with the perky proprietress of a hair-extension franchise (Jayma Mays). Enter — because why not? — a gang of thieves plotting to hack into the mall’s credit-card profits. Put down the nachos, Paul Blart! It’s time to, well, to fall over some more and bump into things and make silly faces and save the world and get the girl.”

I’m all for silly. Silly is good. I know people need relief from the endless hassles and stress of day-to-day life. Yet I don’t know why we get a kick out of making fun of people like ourselves. My inner-Marxist will come out here, but this is just what the rich want us to do. They want us to not respect ourselves. Us hating the person we see in the mirror makes it easier for our wages and what is left of our retirement benefits to be chopped even more.

I sure get tired of criticisms of and jokes about auto workers, postal workers, government employees, allegedly disinterested retail employees and, in this case, mall cops. 

We haggle over pennies for the lowest prices, do online what we could use a real live employed person to do almost as easily, and, as a whole, have little respect or regard for our fellow working people.

It seems sometimes that nothing is more scary than respecting people who remind us of ourselves. Because if we did, we might then have to confront the lack of respect with which we view ourselves and the people closest to us.