Morality Is In Large Part About Our Views On Public Questions

My friend David Jennings, a top conservative blogger and reflexive mouthpiece for the so-called Tea Party here in Houston, wrote the following in his blog Big Jolly Politics a few days ago–

“Remember folks: these vile, vulgar, angry bigots on the left HATE YOU because you try to live clean lives and do right by other people. No amount of coddling to their wishes will change that.

The post was about a liberal blogger in town that Mr. Jennings feels is off the mark in a variety of ways.

I’ve been thinking for a few days about these two sentences from Mr. Jennings.

I live a clean life by conventional standards. I’ve been married for ten years and have never cheated on my wife. I don’t do any drugs. I don’t smoke. I drink in moderation. I go to work five days a week and I pay my taxes. I vote in every election. Regular readers of this blog know I never use obscenities in the blog. Anybody who has ever shared a meal with me  at a restaurant knows that I’m as polite as could be and that I tip 20%. I am, in fact, quite conservative in many respects.

I live a clean life and try to do right by other people. And from what I know of Mr. Jennings, he values courtesy and hard work as well.

Here’s the difference between a conservative and a liberal —-A conservative likely favors repeal of the recently Health Care Reform that—Among many other helpful things— will help millions of Americans with the elimination of lifetime caps on policies, and the prohibiting of the practice of kicking people off insurance because they get sick.  A liberal does not likely favor repeal of Health Care Reform.

I’ll side with the person who puts human life over small government ideology.

Let’s say that a conservative  is in his or her own private life a wonderful person. I suppose this is possible. No type of person has a corner on right living. But what good will the private conduct of someone on the right do for our fellow Americans when health insurance is needed? Or when we need social security? Or when we need parks and libraries that are sufficiently funded?

Lot’s of really bad people love their spouses and love their kids.

Politics is about how we will run our society. It is about far more than private life.

In addition to how you live your private life, a test of character is are you willing to pay the taxes required for a decent society and not just for your own perceived gain?

The right wants to privatize every aspect of our lives. A view of good conduct that stops at private conduct is an insufficient view.

Character is about how you view the public sphere just as much as about how you conduct your private life.

We are obligated to each other by the simple fact that we exist.

Of course we must work if we are able. We must be kind to the people in our lives.

We must also see that morality involves progressive taxation, needed investment in our schools and parks, acceptance of people of all faiths, and Health Care Reform that will help millions of Americans.

These are aspects of morality just as much as how we live our private lives.

Aliens Said To Disable Nuclear Missiles—I Wish They Would Turn Off The Texas Electric Chair As Well So That No More Innocent People Are Executed

A group of former U.S. and British Air Force pilots have claimed that aliens are disarming American and British nuclear missiles.

From the U.K newspaper Telegraph—

” …The beings have repeated their efforts in the US and have been active since 1948, the men said, and accused the respective governments of trying to keep the information secret. The unlikely claims were compiled by six former US airmen and another member of the military who interviewed or researched the evidence of 120 ex-military personnel. The information they have collected suggests that aliens could have landed on Earth as recently as seven years ago. ..One of the men, Capt Robert Salas, said: “The US Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it.” He said said he witnessed such an event first-hand on March 16, 1967, at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana which housed Minuteman nuclear missiles. Capt Salas continued: “I was on duty when an object came over and hovered directly over the site. “The missiles shut down – 10 Minuteman missiles. And the same thing happened at another site a week later. There’s a strong interest in our missiles by these objects, wherever they come from. I personally think they’re not from planet Earth.” Others claim to have seen similar activity in the UK. Col Charles Halt said he saw a UFO at the former military base RAF Bentwaters, near Ipswich, 30 years ago, during which he saw beams of light fired into the base then heard on the military radio that aliens had landed inside the nuclear storage area….”

I support these actions by our alien guests.

Given that they had the technology to visit the Earth, it is unlikely that they are concerned that we could use nuclear weapons to destroy invading alien ships.

I feel that the most likely scenario is that they are disabling nuclear weapons all across the world so that we do not blow ourselves up.

I encourage these benevolent visitors to not stop at just nuclear weapons.

I suggest that they disable the Fox News television studios.

I think it would also be good if they were to turn off  the Texas electric chair so that no more innocent people are executed.

From the Texas Coalition To Abolish The Death Penalty-—

“Most Americans trust our country’s justice system, but the fact that mistakes are made should lead many to question the “justice” involved in seeking the death penalty. No matter how good our justice system is, it is based on human reason and judgment and is subject to error. Jailhouse or “snitch” false testimony, mistaken eyewitness identification, misinterpretation of evidence, incompetent legal representation, unreliable expert testimony, and community prejudices and pressures all too often impact the verdict and sentencing. More than 125 people have been released from death row since 1973, due to credible evidence of their wrongful conviction, including 8 here in Texas. Independent investigations have also made very credible cases that at least 3 innocent people have been executed in the state.”

What would be best of all, if these visitors are truly are friends, would be if they would stop all guns and weapons of war from working.

I’d like to see the National Rifle Association complain about that.

If these aliens intended  to eat us or to take all our water, I don’t think they would be going around protecting us from our nuclear  weapons.

If the aliens would like to contact me to discuss what they can do to make the Earth a better place, they are free to leave a comment on the blog with contact information.

(Update—My friend Perry Dorrell, a top Houston political blogger who writes Brains & Eggs, reminds me that in Texas we execute people by lethal injection. I can’t imagine though that this would matter to such powerful aliens who are working hard for a better Earth.)