Terrorism

When it was released that the shooter in Norway was a Christian fundamentalist, Fox news responded by playing the martyr. Poor Christians being attacked by the "liberal" media, this should sicken you like it sickens me. The fact is, he was a Christian fundamentalist. Bill O'Reillly says that you can only be a Christian if somebody else says you are. He claims that declaring yourself a Christian does not count. I would like to remind him that Evangelicals, most of whom make up his audience, become "saved' by declaring that Christ is their savior and died for their sins. Most of the time in Christianity a personal declaration is not only all that is required, it is necessary to prove that you have indeed been "saved". Fox news can't' spend ten years spreading Islamaphobia by linking the actions of radical Muslims to the religion of Islam, and then get mad when someone says that the Norway terror attacks were linked to a radical Christian. The media are not in any way trying to link this guy with all Christians, they are simply reporting his motives. His motives which were set down in his own manifesto.

the other reason this bothers me is this. The Tea Party represent themselves as Christians, yet at a rally held Wednesday, I saw a sign that read "By ballot or by bullet". Hmm, Bill O'Reillly said that true Christians don't promote violence. So either these Tea Party members are not Christian or Christians do sometimes go to far.

Debt ceiling press conference.

While John Boehnner and Barack Obama spoke to the nation about the unprecedented debt ceiling fight, I was celebrating the pioneers entrance into Utah.

The Mormon pioneers had been blamed for causing problems in every state they lived in, so they wanted to be free. In much the same way, the poor in this country are being blamed for causing problems in regard to the debt. The vast majority of us just want to be allowed to live in peace. It seems that no matter what we give, it is not enough. The Mormons attempted to make peace by agreeing to certain rules established for them. In the end it was not enough, and they were driven out of Ohio, and later Illinois. In 1996 congress set up rules for the poor in an attempt to make peace with Republicans. Since then we have lived under these rules, rules written by Republicans. Now, as happened with the Mormons, we are being asked for more. We are being asked to give up our homes so that other people can have them. Any debt deal that takes away from those who can least afford it, and asks for no revenue, is asking for an entire class of people to give up on ever rising above poverty. This is too high a price, the common sense solution is simple, we need both revenue and some intelligent spending cuts. No job was ever created by taking food and shelter away from needy families.

I have said this before, but it bears repeating. At the time that our social safety nets were established, we had more revenue. Since then, the need for these programs has not decreased, but the tax rates have plummeted. If you stop bringing in money it is impossible to sustain any program. As Obama said, we need a balanced approach.

Cut Cap and unbalance

Last night the house voted on the cut cap and balance measure. This measure has the support of most members of the Tea Party, and wannabe members such as Orin Hatch.

This amendment is the dumbest thing that has ever come out of the house.

The idea behind this proposal is the flawed thinking that American families live within their means. This of course is not the case, a majority of families don't have enough revenue to live within their means. So they are in debt. See Republicans want us to believe that if we stop spending the money, the need will go away. Perhaps they are hoping that the baby boomers that are starting to retire will disappear once they find out that congress doesn't want to pay them the benefits they earned. Look the truth is, that we need revenue. Even if we cut spending we still have rent to pay so to speak.

Americans need jobs (revenue) just like the nation does. We used to pay our bills, back when the tax rates for the rich were higher. At that time the life of the working class was better, the job site was safer and pay was enough to have a home. When congress took down tax rates jobs started to be outsources, and pay stalled.

Come on guys. We are smarter than this, we can see through what the Republicans are saying.

Since they love imagery, here's some.

Imagine a family is expecting a baby. They tell their children, and everyone is excited. then they inform the children that in order to pay for the baby, dad will have to work more hours. Well dad says he doesn't want to work longer hours. The plan, cut cap and balance. Dad says things are going to be different, no more new school clothes, or shoes. Instead that money will go to the baby, that way dad doesn't have to generate more revenue, and the family doesn't go into debt.

See, do you see how stupid and selfish this is. This is the Republican plan.

The playboy club? Not here.

NBC has been on a whirlwind advertising campaign this summer. They are trying to drum up interest in their upcoming fall shows. One of those shows is called "The playboy club", this show is set in the 60's around Hugh Heffner and his first club. But Heff himself takes a backseat to the crime drama that forms the basis of the story behind the main characters.

This is a mob drama that has the playboy club as it's backdrop. The costumes are far more sedate than the outfits of today, yet KSL refuses to air the show on it's NBC affiliate in Utah.

They claim that because of the title of the show, that ties to pornography would be offensive to viewers and go against their standards of decency.

I would like to remind them that KSL is currently showing a reality based program called "love in the wild" On this show unmarried men and women spend copious amounts of time together in next to nothing. The point of the program is for these virtual strangers to preform tasks together and find "love". i find it odd that this program is somehow right in line with their strict decency standards. KSL claims that since they are embarking on a campaign to end pornography addiction airing this program would be a conflict of interest. Since the program is about the mob in Chicago, I fail to see the connection. If they were striving to end addiction to crime shows I could see their point.

What this comes down to is simple ignorance, rather than seek out more information about the shows content, management at KSL chose to ban the show based on it's title. this is not a new concept for Utah, Larry Miller banned a comedy called "Zach and Meeri make a porno" Because his audience were afraid of the word Porno.

In this day and age, when cable boxes have parental controls, and most Mormon families have DVR: it seems stunningly ridiculous to ban a show from prime time. All this does is lose advertising dollars for KSL and make it harder for people to access entertainment.

Orin hatch

Recently Senator Hatch spoke in congress about the poor needing jobs, he then said that the poor need to do more to pay off the debt. Well Hatch, I wonder if you have proposed any ideas for how to create jobs. The answer is no, you have been to busy expanding the role of government by stripping women of their rights. You are right the poor do need jobs, but tax spending for the rich has not created them. I wanted people to know that the poor have been paying for this bad economy since 2007.
In 2008 persons receiving SSI, or SSDI, were denied a cost of living increase. This increase has still not been given back. What this means is that as bills get bigger our ability to pay them shrinks. Starting in 2007 the state of Utah tried to cut food stamp and cash aid benefits to disabled adults. They have only partially succeeded. Funding for section 8 has been cut so severely that some families cannot find affordable housing in their communities. Medicaid benefits have been cut to disabled adults, this affects veterans as well as those "drug addicts" Hatch spoke of last year.
We have paid for a debt crisis that we did not start. We continue to pay, in cuts to education health care, housing, food, clothing, and on and on. Where does it stop, when will the Republican party decide that we have paid enough? Right now the budget plan calls for 85% reduction of spending and 15% raise in revenue. Now I am no math genius, but that does not look fair. Our social programs are sustainable if we collect revenue, if we continue to cut revenue than of course these programs become unsustainable. We have already made the sacrifice, it is time to raise some money.