Go For It!

Go For It! This is President Obama's response to opposition to Healthcare Reform.

Now, first and foremost, for my job, Healthcare Reform is not a bad thing at all. Yes, I'm in the insurance industry, but the reform, whatever it might be, is most likely going to increase rather than decrease our business. Job. Security. Go Healthcare Reform!

Now, I'm not a huge fan of Healthcare Reform. I believe there should be limits on healthcare. I also believe the reform is only a band-aid on a gaping wound. The reform is only consider one small part of the problem, rather than the overall problem. The band-aid's not gonna fix the problem.

But, back to go for it! Last time I checked, arrogance (or whatever) went before the fall. Over confidence that healthcare reform is going to succeed probably isn't the wisest move on President Obama's part. Never, ever underestimate your enemy . . . or the memory of your opponents.

Healthcare Reform is a very touchy issue - death threats, rocks through windows, hit lists - with many people. It shouldn't be taken lightly. Go For It! seems a fairly lighthearted attitude, and a bit arrogant. Will he be so confident if the moves by his opponent succeed in delaying the reform? If the courts take up the unconstitutionality of the reform? If the idea of separation of church and state doesn't exist based on the language in the new bill? Hmmmm . . .

Perhaps a more understated - we'll see - response would have been better. In the end, taunting a hungry lion with a piece of raw meat isn't always a good thing. I'm just saying . . .

S

Reactive Behavior

So, healthcare reform has the nation galvanized . . . in good ways and bad ways, but more bad than good. Such is life.

Every since the House passed Healthcare Reform, well . . . rocks through windows, racial slurs, derogatory comments, death threats, and Sarah Palin's hit list.

First - rocks through windows, death threats, derogatory comments, etc. GROW UP, PEOPLE! You're not in Kindergarten. You're grown adults. Your actions are that of children. Heck, children are better behaved than you.

Second - Sarah Palin. Now, should Sarah Palin, at her age, have what's called a hit list on her Facebook page? No! She's not in the mafia - heaven help us if that happens - and she's not a teenage girl. Hit lists are for those two groups. Period. Mrs. Palin, and the other extremists, need to grow up, get a life, and figure out proactive, not reactive, ways to deal with their discontent with Healthcare Reform and the current administration.

Third - the Tea Party. This group of discontents needs to get a life. Okay, the majority of them, not all of them. Many of the reactive instances lately have been allegedly committed by these members. There is not a place for such reactiveness (yes, I know, not a word, but it works, get over it) in today's society. We're not in the Stone Age, people. We don't hit people over the head with clubs to a) get their attention or b) get a mate. If you want a mate, try eharmony.com - they're pretty discriminatory as is, and would fit right in with the extremist ideals of many members of the Tea Party . . . and the G.O.P. for that matter.

So, in short: GET A LIFE! Violence is not the answer. Hit Lists are not the answer. Rocks through windows, death threats, slurs of any type . . . are not the answer. Go raise money for a political candidate. Be proactive, not reactive. GROW UP!

Normally, I just direct people to the article in question and just rant away here. Well, not today.

I'm always amazed at the lengths people will go to defend their prejudice and deny their ignorance. The Catholic Church is no exception.

Personally, people take the Bible out of context - a snippet here, a snippet there, everywhere a snippet - to defend their ignorance and oppress individuals. Equality only exists for the allegedly enlightened . . . at least in my opinion.

Well, I'm pretty sure the Bible wasn't meant to be taken out of context to unfairly limit equality to people, or make one group feel better about their oppressive natures and denial of equal rights to people. I'm just saying . . . .

So, a Catholic school in Colorado has ejected a little girl from the school because her parents are - gasp, the horrors, say it isn't so - lesbians. Oh, yes, they did!

The article is below and I'm going to put my comments in bold between certain paragraphs!!


(CNN) -- The archdiocese of Denver, Colorado, is defending its decision not to re-enroll two children in a Catholic school in Boulder next year because their parents are lesbians.

"The Church does not claim that people with a homosexual orientation are 'bad,' or that their children are less loved by God," wrote Archbishop Charles J. Chaput in an article to be published in Thursday's edition of the Denver Catholic Register. "Quite the opposite. But what the Church does teach is that sexual intimacy by anyone outside marriage is wrong; that marriage is a sacramental covenant; and that marriage can only occur between a man and a woman. These beliefs are central to a Catholic understanding of human nature, family and happiness, and the organization of society. The Church cannot change these teachings because, in the faith of Catholics, they are the teachings of Jesus Christ."

Thou shall not judge, lest ye be judged - hmmm, I guess they haven't got that far in the Bible. I'm just saying . . .

I mean, seriously, people, this man can sleep at night with this drivel being his life's blood????? Oh, they're not 'bad', just not acceptable. Yeah, that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy!!!


He added people with a different understanding of marriage and family life "have other, excellent options for education and should see in them the better course for their children."


'Other options'??? Oh, please! I'm sorry, but the Archdiocese of Denver really needs to get a life, and a better spokesman.

The issue centers on the Sacred Heart of Jesus School, where the children are currently enrolled, the older of whom has been enrolled in kindergarten for next year but will not be allowed to enter first grade and the younger of whom is in preschool but will not be allowed to enter kindergarten.

"The Archdiocese of Denver has acted very unjustly in singling out this child for exclusion," said DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke in a written statement Monday, before it became clear that two children were affected. "Until every student's parents are tested on Catholic teaching, this action by Catholic officials cannot be understood as anything other than discrimination on the back of a child. At a tender age, this child has learned that Catholic officials are willing to inflict pain on children and families."

Woo-hoo! Agree! Agree! Agree!!

The decision was made public last week.

"These actions by the Denver Archdiocese harm the student by taking the child away from friends, teachers and community," said Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "It's deeply troubling to see any school remove a child from their educational program simply as the means of rejecting that child's parents."

In a posting of his sermon, the Rev. Bill Breslin, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, supported the decision. "The issue is not about our not accepting 'sinners,' " he said. "It is not about punishing the child for the sins of his or her parents. It is simply that the lesbian couple is saying that their relationship is a good one that should be accepted by everyone; and the Church cannot agree to that."

Who is he to judge whether a relationship is good or not?? I mean, seriously! The Catholic Church is infamous for it's delicate dealing of pedophilia within the Church for centuries. Oh, let's just transfer this priest to another parish, surely he's learned his lesson. So, why should their ill treatment of a child be any different in a different situation? The Catholic Church is famous for covering things up, only this time, they're right out in the opening allegedly implying that they know what's best . . . for them, not the rest of us. Go figure!

About 30 opponents of the move, "mostly hetero allies of the gay community," protested Sunday outside the church during Mass, said Dave Ensign, board president of Boulder Pride, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center and services organization.

Ensign handed out flyers to the protesters and then joined the parishioners as they listened to the sermon defending the church's move. "I was disappointed, but it was pretty much what I was expecting to hear," he said. He added that the larger community's reaction has been positive. "When people hear about this, they speak up and I think that says a lot about our community," he said.

The children have not been identified publicly.

In the end, the children (as usual) are the ones hurt while the allegedly ignorant skip on their merrily way down the path of judgment toward others as they take the Bible out of context.

Now, I know this isn't a reflection of all Catholics. I know there are many Catholics out there, my family among them, that do not agree with the archaic teachings of the Church, nor the instance by the Pope to remain in the Dark Ages, rather than move forward into the 21st Century . . . and beyond. The sad thing here, the children, as normal, pay the price for the alleged ignorance of adults!

S