Collection of Thoughts

A varied collection of thoughts on recent events.

Government Help for Homeowners

President Obama recently outlined a plan to help homeowners who are struggling to keep their homes, under the weight of over-priced mortgages and the fear of foreclosure.

In reaction, a lot of people start asking, why am I (taxpayers) paying to bail out someone who got in over their heads? It was their stupid decision, they claim.

When did Americans become so selfish?

A few observations: If all of us do not make sacrifices to help solve our collective problems, we will all fail and suffer. This is beyond one person's house going into foreclosure, this is about an entire system failing, bringing everyone down with it. A lot of these bad decisions were made because of deceptive salesmanship, with banks and mortgage lenders duping home-buyers into mortgages they could never afford. Most people are not financial experts and may not even understand the fine print. They had to place trust in those people who knew better, and that trust was taken advantage of to increase the bottom line. Was there some stupidity involved? No doubt. But I think people should be a lot more angry at mortgage lenders for what we all have to sacrifice for presenting the false opportunity to begin with. Thirdly, Obama's plan is to help people honestly struggling to keep their homes, in good faith. This plan is not to help the people who knew they couldn't afford a home and got in over their head anyway.

What happened to the idea of Americans all coming together in hard times, working and sacrificing together, in order to save a country we all love--at least as an ideal? Is it that the cause is not noble enough, as was World War II and 9/11? Or that the cause is so ignoble, a result of so many factors of our own foolishness? The fact remains that the U.S. needs saving, and it won't be saved if Americans start categorizing themselves into groups who do and do not bear responsibility, and groups who do and no not need to help. As Americans we are one group, and we all bear responsibility for this country's health.

Funding for Stem Cell Research

I am thrilled that President Obama is reversing George W.'s ban on government funding for stem-cell research. Another little way in which he is taking us back out of the dark ages imposed by the ignorance and radicalism of Bush.

As for ethics, in most cases, the stem cells that would be used would come from embryos that would otherwise be thrown away. Embryos are not children, while they have the potential to become so. At that point, it is a clump of cells no more valuable than unused ejaculate or unfertilized eggs that pass from women once a month. Weigh that against millions of adults and children, fully established in their lives, who are suffering. There is no comparison. Our duty to help people alive but in need supersedes our need to protect what only might be.

How can anyone reasonably justify why millions may have to die for something that doesn't even yet live? Alone, it is the potential for one life. But with science, it is the potential for millions.


Rush Limbaugh & the Republicans on the Economy

Why do I bother?

Anyone who says that the U.S. President ought to fail in a time of crisis is un-American, plain and simple. Rush may not agree with Obama's policies and his actions regarding the economy, but it seems clear no one truly knows what course of action, precisely, will save our economy. Therefore, I find it particularly stupid and arrogant for someone to take such a position. For the President to fail is for the United States to fail, and for some fat, wealthy wind-bag like Rush to wish for it is heartless to the millions of people who would suffer for it.

What would have happened if a Democrat wished Bush failure after 9/11 or the invasion of Iraq? Can you imagine the uproar? Never mind tared and feathered, they'd have been arrested as a member of Al Qaeda and sent to Guantanamo.

The Republicans are a useless joke at this point. They prefer to fight for the sake of fighting, argue to do nothing, and attack Obama's efforts to do something without even giving a viable alternative that represents a break from the corrupt, failed policies that got us here in the first place. Their mantra now seems to be, "Let it fail."

On "Meet the Press" this week, Newt Gingrich made a list of Republican Party leaders; included were Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal, Louisiana governor best known for his dopey-faced, ingenuous, do-nothing rebuttal to Obama's message to a joint session of Congress. They seem to think the answer is in putting their party behind a minority mascot, apparently thinking it's all a matter of image and not of substance. If that's true, I'm actually not scared, because it means they haven't learned a thing about November's ass whooping and will continue to see ass whooping in future. Really, it's just sad and pathetic.