The Real Religion of Conservatives . . .
Sunday Morning Coming Down
Facebook posts continue to trigger astonishment, like other evidence of failure to "practice what we preach." Example: One person shared three consecutive posts: A photo of a little girl with the message "Click 'like' if you love Down Syndrome children." Are you kidding me? Children and adults living with Down Syndrome are the manifestation of love in its purest form. What's not to love? Next post is a diatribe against the ACA written by Dr. Ben Carson who's gaining name recognition pretending to be an "expert" on all the "bad" things involving the ACA. And last, a photo of this message written in the snow: "I Love Jesus." There were instructions to share or "like" if you're not ashamed to love Jesus.
The poster of these items is but one of the Americans who loathe the President and long to see him and his programs fail. I think the term Teapublicans fits this segment of our population; They see themselves as "patriots" and see us liberals as "intellectual elitists" or "socialists"—both of which I take as a compliment. Their attitudes range from smug to jubilant about the severe budget cuts denying thousands of young children the benefits of Head Start— and denying even more hungry children as well veterans, the elderly and disabled a hand up in the form of food assistance through SNAP. (Excellent opinion piece by Nicholas Kristof: http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/why-food-stamps-are-a-great-investment/?smid=fb-share&_r=0 ) Ironic isn't it? Yet the irony is totally lost on Teapublicans living in the opposing extremes they've adopted.
They can click away to prove they aren't "ashamed" of loving Jesus, but I believe Jesus would be ashamed of their contempt for, or indifference to, the poor. Teapublicans are beginning to gear up to celebrate the season of his birth and revving up their indignation about an imagined "war on Christmas." Fox News is already stoking the holiday furor. It takes a lot of bitterness to find offense in a greeting intended to be a message of good will—Happy Holidays! A message of inclusion. Teapublicans aren't big fans of inclusion.
(Thanks to Being Liberal for sharing this on Facebook.)
When Pope Francis talks about humility and inclusion, about putting
the emphasis on love and service rather than judgment, he's pronounced
"too liberal" by (can you guess?) Sarah Palin, brilliant sage, religious scholar, and half-term governor of Alaska. Even my fingers were laughing as I typed that.
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On Race and President Obama
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Gun Sense or Nonsense?
I think about gun violence a lot these days. Most of you are concerned about it, too, and becoming activists for solutions. Maybe, like me, you've already joined Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America; there's a chapter in your state! Check out video of founder Shannon Watts's impressive appearances on various television shows— after Texans toting semi-automatics gathered to intimidate four members of Moms Demand Action. They were meeting for discussion. Unarmed. As I said in an earlier post, they were armed with good common sense, a mission, and courage—no firearms. http://momsdemandaction.org/
Here's some information on gun deaths, statistics kept since the late 1960's:
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Sorry to leave you with those sad statistics. Maybe more of us will get active with Moms Demand Action as a result?
Have a peaceful, restorative Sunday, dear Lefties.
It is a sad and sorry commentary. But this where we presently live. When all seems glum, I always think of one of my favorite Sunday school songs, Brighten the corner where you are. Some days that seems to be about all I can do: brighten my corner and hopefully that of another soul's.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking time to comment and sharing your thoughts. Well said. We Lefties need to take care that the toxic negativity doesn't cause us to abandon our "light" and sink into cynicism.
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