Time For Another Blog Rant

I've been hearing, seeing or reading a lot of crazy and ignorant statements lately and it's really starting to piss me off. Had a coworker the other day say that poor people choose to be poor. Excuse me? Yes, there are poor people out there who do choose that life style. But on the other hand, there are people out there who did not choose that lifestyle at all. They did everything right according to the American Dream and lost everything when the economy crashed. They do not choose to be poor. And when I tell people that they say that "They should just go out and find a job." Oh really? We have a 4 to 1 ratio when it comes to people looking for a job and jobs available. How the hell are you supposed to find a job when it comes to that type of statistic? Plus, not all jobs out there give you a living wage. I have no idea how people manage to live off of minimum wage. I know that I sure as hell can't. For over a year I made below the poverty line and it sure as hell wasn't a fuckin cake walk.

The whole Jesus, Christians and republican thing also bugs me. I saw today where someone said that throwing Jesus and Christianity into the same convo as the GOP is a dead argument and to get another one. You also have people out there who assume that voting republican is voting Christian. If you take a look around with how the current crop of GOP candidates are acting it sure as hell is a current argument. They are saying that they're running on these principles when their actions are saying that they aren't. The stuff that they stand for has very little to with what Jesus would want or believe I feel. How they fight for legislation that hurts the poor, the sick and the elderly, but when it comes to Christmas preach about good will towards men and then go on about the war on Christmas? They really need to go and read Matthew 25:31-46 (New International Version) and see what Jesus had to say about people like them.

Then there's all this stuff about separation of church and state and about how we were founded by a bunch of Christians and we're a Christian nation. People really need to go educate themselves on this topic. A good start is this wonderful article that I read on AlterNet today about 5 of the Founding Fathers. It goes over some of the things about how they felt about Christianity and what their religion was. If you don't agree with what the article says, do your own homework. But don't go off of what everyone else has to say about it. People not doing their own research or questioning what they're told is really getting old. Many people also need to go read Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli. If you don't like the fact that I used Wikipedia as my source, go Google it yourself.

Drug testing poor people. Been hearing this a lot lately. People want to make such a big fucking fuss over this. But apparently it's ok to give the banks 13 Billion Dolllars in secret loans from the Fed on top of the TARP money they had already gotten from congress. You rarely hear about wanting to drug test these people but you hear about drug testing welfare recipients all the fucking time. Last I knew, they didn't crash the fucking economy, take billions in bailout money and then give themselves huge ass bonuses with that money. It's the bankers who we should be drug testing before they get any bailout money from We the People. I also believe that our wonderful representatives should be drug tested also. They get a hell of a lot of money and do more harm to us than anyone else.

I also saw today that liberals have too much government control and not enough self sufficiency. Last I checked, it was the GOP who believed in too much government control. They say small government, but what they really mean is government so big so they can abolish local governments that the people elected, have the War on Women go to an extreme right direction, and lets not forget about the war on gay rights. But oh no, it's those 'hippie liberals' who believe in too much government control. Liberals on the other hand, fight for our rights. There will always be some government control but we have the right to choose how much we want by voting various people into office. And when it comes to self sufficiency, yes people need to have that to a point. No one can be 100% self sufficient. You will always have to rely on someone else for something. But the purpose of our safety nets is to help those in need. I'd rather we didn't turn into a bunch of assholes that will let people die in the streets. We're better than that dammit!

Young people today apparently also have no work ethic. But how are they supposed to get one if they can't find a job? I already mentioned how bad the job statistic is. Plus there's companies out there who want you to have job experience. But how are you supposed to get it if you don't have any because no one will hire you? People also push kids to go to college because it's the right thing to do and it seems pretty ingrained into the American Dream. But how the hell is anyone supposed to be able to afford it anymore? It's gone up 400% since 1982. It's impossible to live off of minimum wage and go to college full time. Some people might be able to do it if you live at home but if you live out in the country you're going to have some pretty slim choices on where to go to college. A lot of the manufacturing jobs have gone overseas so there's little hope there depending on where you're at in the country. The only choice left really is to find what job you can even if it's minimum wage. Not that you can have much off a life living off of it.

"What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican Party? I'll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got Africa-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act.

What did the Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try and hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor."
~Lawrence O'Donnell Jr.