Starting the Week Off Right

Via Digby, this story shows that it's not all con men and grifters in the world:

He is faster than a speeding stroller, more adorable than a kitten, and able to get a stranger's attention with a single courtesy. This is America's latest superhero -- and the only superhero with the power to feed the homeless.

By day, Austin Perine is a mild-mannered 4-year-old from Birmingham, Alabama. But once a week, he turns into this alter ego: a superhero set on feeding as many homeless people as possible. He likes to go by the name "President Austin."

"That's his idea of what the president is supposed to do," said TJ Perine, Austin's father. "I was like, buddy, you have no idea, but hey, I'm going along with it."

And of course, there's video.

There’s a tiny superhero with a special gift for capturing the hearts of the homeless in Alabama

Steve Hartman caught up with the caped crusader @OnTheRoadCBS https://t.co/Wjjs1fbN9B pic.twitter.com/s3Lsh51a0L

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 4, 2018

Antidote: It's What I Keep Saying

We take care of each other:

A tiny baby elephant got trapped in a water trough, and lions were closing in — when the most amazing thing happened 🐘💞 pic.twitter.com/URK2wfUAlp

— The Dodo (@dodo) July 31, 2017

At least, we're supposed to.

Stray, but somewhat related thought: Judaism, the parent religion to Christianity (and Islam, as it happens), was a tribal religion: exclusive, xenophobic to the point of being out and out racist, strongly patriarchal and authoritarian. Along comes Jesus*, who preaches inclusivity, love, compassion, charity, generosity -- all attributes that one might find in early Judaism, but in that case limited to the members of the tribe. Jesus expanded the definition of "us."

And modern evangelical "Christians" have gone back to the worst aspects of early Judaism, while the Jews have gone the way of early Christianity.

It's an idea that requires more thought/development, but I think it has the seeds of truth.

* Oh, and about the perennial debate over whether Jesus actually existed: it doesn't matter. The myth is there.

Republican Are Just the Nicest People

This, from Digby, pretty much nails it:

Republicans have been trying to destroy the American safety net for decades. They’ve been hostile to Medicare and Medicaid since the day they were passed. They’ve been running against Social Security for 82 years. (They just tried to privatize it in 2005!) They will never stop attacking the ACA either.

This isn’t just about profits or ” free markets.” Consider that this Senate bill was opposed by all the so-called stakeholders: the insurance companies, the hospitals, doctors and even big business. It still has 48 out of 52 votes in the Senate. Conservatives simply do not believe that people have a right to health care. They see it as a commodity like any other, something which you should not have if you cannot pay for it.

By way of crude illustration, recall when libertarian godhead Rep. Ron Paul ran for president in 2008. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked him during a debate what an uninsured man who became catastrophically ill and needed intensive care for six months should do. Paul replied, “What he should do is whatever he wants to do and assume responsibility for himself. That’s what freedom is all about, taking your own risk. This whole idea that you have to take care of everybody …” The audience then erupted into cheers, cutting off Paul’s sentence. Blitzer followed up by asking “Congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die?” Members of the audience clapped and shouted “Yeah!”

This sort of throws into sharp relief something that's been at the back of my arguments on the "Christian" idea of morality, and the lack of humanity in the Republicans' ideology, which has only gotten more extreme in the Age of Trump (although, if you look at it, he's a symptom more than anything else -- this extremism long predates him). As an illustration of what we're dealing with, this is instructive:

I'm a physician. If someone has a right, that means you take my skills and the fruits of my labor.

And this man's a doctor.

I've said it enough, but I'm going to repeat it: the right has no real concept of morality, other than following arbitrary rules cherry-picked from the 4,000 year old tribal taboos of a bunch of Middle Eastern nomads, because otherwise Daddy will spank you: morality based on fear. I suppose this is the more-or-less inevitable result of a group of religions based on servility and obedience.

In the real world, the more I study animal and human behavior, the more I'm convinced that our morality is pretty much hard-wired, and as social animals, there's one basic precept: we take care of each other, because there's a kind of synergy between the benefit of the individual and the benefit of the group: they seem to mutually reinforce each other.

Which leads me back to the contemporary Republican party, tainted as it is by libertarianism (and yes, I consider that a taint: I've long held that libertarianism is a morally bankrupt ideology). They've become the party of the aberrant. All the racism, anti-immigrant rhetoric, the "me first" attitude (disguised as patriotism, which is bullshit) -- all that simply represents a trend that draws the boundaries of "us" in ever narrower terms, which has been exploited by the demagogues on the right, who themselves have only one guiding principle: power, for power's sake.

America was predicated, if only subliminally, on the expansion of the idea of "us": the point was, we were no longer to consider ourselves as English, or Irish, or French, or German, but as Americans. The right has fractured that idea back into its component parts, playing to that minority that, sadly, has always been with us and that is incapable of taking that conceptual step.

(And, to pile irony on top of atrocity, note that so many of them profess a religion that was to be inclusive, that welcomed all: they've perverted that idea into just another little fragment of what should be an overriding "us".)

Add in the worship of unrestrained capitalism, and you have an oligarchical nightmare in the making.

And they call it "Taking back America" -- from other Americans.

I've started wondering again whether New Zealand is far enough away.

There Is an Alternative

Justin Trudeau seems to have a rational take on how to deal with the eroding middle class, refugees, climate change, and pretty much everything else:

Last year, at a time when Trump was being described as a long shot for president and the threat of Brexit seemed a distant possibility, Trudeau, 44, swept to a majority government on an ambitious platform that included addressing growing inequality and creating real change for the country’s middle class.

One year on, what has emerged is a government that seems to go against the political tide around the world; open to trade, immigration and diversity and led by a social media star whose views on feminism, Syrian refugees and LGBT rights have provoked delight among progressives.

But as he enters his second year in power, Trudeau – a former high school teacher and snowboarding instructor – is under pressure to show the world that his government has found an alternative means of tackling the concerns of those who feel they’ve been left behind.

He cited the signing of Ceta – the free trade deal between the EU and Canada – and a hotly contested decision to approve two pipelines as examples of this approach.

“We were able to sign free trade agreement with Europe at a time when people tend to be closing off,” he said. “We’re actually able to approve pipelines at a time when everyone wants protection of the environment. We’re being able to show that we get people’s fears and there are constructive ways of allaying them – and not just ways to lash out and give a big kick to the system.”

What a refreshing dose of rationality.

Another Must-Read: Compassion (Update)

From Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo. It's largely a scathing indictment of right-wing "morality" and how we lost our bearings, but this summation strikes me as apt:

What strikes me is how this research echoes something paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey said about Turkana Boy in speculating about the development of compassion in early Man:

Bipedalism carried an enormous price, where compassion was what you paid your ticket with. You simply can't abandon somebody who's incapacitated because the rest will abandon you next time it comes to be your turn.

There but for the grace of God. Compassion has an evolutionary advantage, Leakey suggests. Perhaps it is what helped us rise above the law of the jungle.

This goes back to my conviction that our morality -- the real thing, not the Bronze Age tribal taboos -- is hard-wired, or close to it: we're social animals, which implies that our primary moral imperative is to work for the benefit of the group, which necessarily (in most cases) works to our own good.

The American right seems to have dispensed with that idea.

Update: In support of that last statement, read this and this.

Point, Counterpoint

Remember Khizr Khan, the father of a fallen Muslim soldier who lit into Trump at the Democratic convention? Well, Trump responded, in typical Trump fashion:

Of course Donald Trump was going to go after Khizr Khan, the bereaved father who spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night. He had to, because Khan stands for everything anti-Trump. Patriotism, sacrifice, and integrity. Oh, and Khan is Muslim.

Trump did not disappoint, telling ABC News Saturday that he had "made a lot of sacrifices" by employing "thousands and thousands of people," and having "tremendous success."

Somehow, having tremendous success defrauding thousands of people doesn't strike me as much of a sacrifice. But he didn't stop there:

“If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me,” he rambled.

What a stupid thing to say. In their interview with Lawrence O'Donnell Friday, Mrs Khan explained that she can't even bear to go into the room where his picture is because the loss is still so utterly fresh for her. She didn't trust herself to maintain her composure so she let her husband speak. He, in turn, said that without her at his side he wouldn't have made it through the speech.

The Khans had more to say:

Khizr Khan continued: "Running for president is not an entitlement to disrespect Gold Star families and [a] Gold Star mother not realizing her pain. Shame on him! Shame on his family! He is not worthy of our comments. He has no decency. He is void of decency, he has a dark heart."

Ghazala Khan said: "Sacrifice -- I don't think he knows the meaning of sacrifice, the meaning of the word. Because when I was standing there, all America felt my pain. Without saying a single word. Everybody felt that pain."

Let's face it -- Trump is a clod. A loud, obnoxious clod.

Josh Marshall has an observation that I think is, unfortunately, very much on the mark:

I confess I struggle with the emerging back and forth between Trump and the Khans. It's good for the country because it shows what Khizr Khan aptly labels Trump's "dark heart." But I have no doubt that notwithstanding the well-wishes of so may the Khans will now be vilified, scrutinized and smeared by Trump's supporters.

We've already had one example of that, from a woman who has no right to comment.

I wish the Khans strength -- which they already seem to have in good measure, along with grace and courage. Pity the Republicans can't seem to entertain those qualities.

Footnote: Compare and contrast: Hillary Clinton's statement on the Khans:

Clinton issued a statement on Saturday that said, “I was very moved to see Ghazala Khan stand bravely and with dignity in support of her son on Thursday night. And I was very moved to hear her speak last night, bravely and with dignity, about her son’s life and the ultimate sacrifice he made for his country.”

She continued, “This is a time for all Americans to stand with the Khans, and with all the families whose children have died in service to our country. And this is a time to honor the sacrifice of Captain Khan and all the fallen. Captain Khan and his family represent the best of America, and we salute them.”

Today in Disgusting People:

That would be Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of one of those megachurches in Texas, who thinks that Real Christians™ should follow the teachings of the Real Jesus™ and turn over illegal immigrants to the authorities:

Jeffress said that he would not check the immigration status of every person who came to First Baptist Church in Texas, “but we’re also not going to harbor illegal immigrants who are criminals like some of these churches are doing.”

“Look, a lot of these liberal churches that harbor illegal immigrants who are criminals say they are following the example of Jesus, the only problem is they are following the Jesus of their imagination rather than the Jesus of the Bible,” he insisted.

Strange. I remember the Jesus of the Bible saying things like:

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

It gets worse:

“The real Jesus of the Bible said ‘render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,’ that is obey the government,” Jeffress continued, adding that the “real Jesus” cared more about American citizens who were victims of violent crimes committed by immigrants.

Right -- Jesus really cared about American citizens -- which, as a group, didn't exist at that point. And as I recall, Jesus was talking about paying taxes. What sort of taxes do you suppose Jeffress and his church pay?

Although, since Jeffress insists that Jesus wasn't some wimpy guy, perhaps he might do well to remember something else that Jesus said:

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

From Matthew 25, verses 31-46, NIV.

Jeffress really is a disgusting little man, who obviously has no understanding of what morality is about.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Homelessness Edition

In our first story, it's the neighbors:

Two non-profits in Vancouver that serve the homeless had been letting about a half dozen people who struggled to get housing stay in the parking lot they shared. But now the organizations are telling them they can’t stay any longer. The homeless people will be evicted on September 2.

“Where are we going to park? We have nowhere to go,” Amanda Snapp, one of the people who has been living in the lot, told The Columbian. “This place is safe. Where can we go?”

Last week, police responded to a complaint from a neighbor and “reminded” the groups that Vancouver has a no-camping ordinance that applies to parks, streets, and other public property. While the lot is private property, letting people live in it could be a nuisance code violation if property is being stored on it or there are other problems.

Yes, it's Vancouver, but it's also just the tip of the iceberg. I was going to post another quote from the article, but read it -- it's a litany of horrors, including petty little ordinances directed at the homeless.

And gods forbid someone should try to call attention to the problem:

[Miley] Cyrus brought Jesse Helt, a homeless 22-year-old, as her date to the MTV Video Music Awards. She’d met Helt at My Friend’s Place, an L.A. center that aids homeless youth in the city. When Cyrus won Video of the Year, she sent Helt up in her stead. He gave a speech about the plight of homeless youth and directed viewers to Cyrus’s Facebook page, where they could learn more about how to help those in need.

Helt had moved to L.A. from Oregon and was trying to pursue a modeling career without a place to live.

Last night, the Associated Press reported that there’s a warrant out for Helt’s arrest in Oregon: he’d been arrested on charges of criminal mischief, criminal trespass and burglary when he was 18 years old. From the AP story, which ran under the headline “Miley Cyrus’ Date Wanted By Oregon Police“[.]

So of course, guess what the press is concentrating on. Hint: It's not the plight of the homeless.

What burns me is that homelessness is a problem that is solvable. It costs less to provide homes than it does to prosecute and jail the homeless. Chicago, I'm pleased to note, does have programs to help the homeless, including what's known as Plan 2.0:

Chicago’s Plan 2.0 is a broad-ranging, seven-year action plan that reaffirms, builds on the core tenets outlined in Chicago’s original Plan to End Homelessness – homeless prevention, housing first, and wraparound services - and identifies new strategies to improve access and opportunity for those most in need. Announced by Mayor Emanuel and key stakeholders in August 2012, Plan 2.0 includes seven strategic priorities that represent the most cutting-edge thinking on preventing and ending homelessness from around the country. Over 500 local stakeholders participated in the planning process, including 150 people who have experienced homelessness themselves.

(Emphasis added.)

I can't address how well the effort is working -- it's a fairly new program, and there's not a lot of data yet -- but here an article from the Chicago Tribune that has a fairly good take on the strategies and how they're paying off.

It's not just the City that's working on it. Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, a non-profit, offers a wide range of resources, including shelters, for homeless youth.

They're not the only ones. I just googled "chicago resources for homeless" and got over 9 million listings. The first three pages are actual resources, then the news stories start getting listed, but the point is, it's not only possible to do something to help the homeless, it's not hard.

We just have to want to.

Today's Must Watch

Remember Batkid? Well, here's the story.


Grab a hankie.

(It's so nice to run across something uplifting in the news.)

Thanksgiving, 2013

I've been down and out, but never, thank the gods, actually homeless -- I've always had somewhere to go. Not everyone's that lucky. Joe Jervis saw fit to print this message from Carl Siciliano of the Ali Forney Center at Joe.My.God. as a post for today, and I think he's right: it's a day not only to be thankful for what you have, but to do something for someone who's not as fortunate.

Make your blessings mean something.

Fortunately, Most People Are Good Souls

As an antidote to the last post, get this:

Backstory here.

San Francisco values, indeed.

SNAP

The Republicans in the House have voted to cut $40 billion from the SNAP program (food stamps) over the next ten years. This will result in almost four million people either being eliminated from the program completely or having their benefits cut. Here's Rep. Jackie Speirer's (CA-14) response:

And here's one of the Republican apologists for the cuts:

It's nice to watch the bastard squirm. And his numbers don't add up.

One of the Congressman who voted for the cuts is Phil Gingrey of Georgia:

A Tea Party Republican U.S. Congressman from the state of Georgia yesterday told his colleagues in a closed-door meeting just how frustrated he is with what he sees as his low-income. Rep. Phil Gingrey, attending a GOP strategy meeting on how to extend their all-out war on Obamacare, was reported to complain that Congressional aides can quit and become lobbyists “and make 500,000 a year. Meanwhile I’m stuck here making $172,000 a year.”

Congressman Gingrey, based on his own reporting, not only is a millionaire, but has assets that earn him over a million dollars annually. And The Raw Story notes that “USA Today reported that Gingrey’s net worth is estimated to be between $3 million and $7.6 million, while the median household income in Georgia is $49,736.”

My heart bleeds for him.

Here's the vote tally:

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR FOOD STAMPS PROGRAM: 217-210 by davidbadash

Today's Feel-Good Video

Via AmericaBlog:

Oh, the Humanity!

I think there's something missing from contemporary "conservatives" -- in their psychological make-up, I mean. Here's a few recent stories that point to what I'm talking about:

I'm sure you've heard about the kittens in the subway. For background, here's the original story; of course, it became an issue in the NY mayoral race. One candidate said he wouldn't have stopped the trains.

Republican front-runner Joe Lhota — whose previous job was, in fact, running the MTA — would not have stopped the trains. "No, Joe does not think a train line should be shut down" to save two kitties, a campaign spokesperson tells Daily Intelligencer.

This tweet from Josh Barro nails it:

A little snark never hurt anyone, right?

A hospital closing in North Carolina: Why? Because the governor and legislature decided against Medicaid expansion.

Vidant Health, a nonprofit 10-hospital network, will shutter the 49-bed Vidant Pungo Hospital in Belhaven, about an hour's drive east of the chain's Greenville headquarters, within six months, the company announced this week. Other considerations, including outdated facilities, also led to the company's decision to close the hospital but North Carolina foregoing the Medicaid expansion contributed to the decision, Vidant Health CEO David Herman told The Huffington Post.

North Carolina is one of 26 states where Republican governors or state legislators have rejected the Medicaid expansion. The expansion is intended to provide health benefits to anyone who makes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $15,282 for a single person this year.

As a result, the states will turn down billions of federal dollars and millions of poor residents in these states will remain uninsured even after Obamacare's coverage expansion takes full effect next year.

Note that it's all Republicans who have rejected the expansion, even though the federal government will pay the full cost until 2016, and 90% thereafter. Because "SOCIALIZED MEDICINE!!11!"

A side note on that story:

The hospital industry nationwide has lobbied state lawmakers and governors to adopt the Medicaid expansion as a way to reduce the burden of medical bills that go unpaid when poor patients can't afford their treatments. Nationally, hospitals provided $41.1 billion in so-called uncompensated care in 2011, according to the most recent data from the American Hospital Association.

I've written before about the extravagant charges hospitals levy for care, so I'm not terribly confident in any figures the industry provides. Still, I won't dispute that they lose money on a regular basis.

Via Crooks and Liars.

Food stamps are a perennial target. This story starts a couple of months ago.

The House plans to vote this week on a farm bill that cuts nearly $21 billion from food stamps, and several members who support the cuts have benefited significantly from the various forms of farm subsidies provided by the same legislation.

You may remember that the House separated the provisions for food stamps from the farm bill, leaving the subsidies intact. The fate of the food stamp program is up for grabs.

Shortly before Congress adjourned for its August recess, House Republican leaders disclosed that they plan to move a bill in September that cuts SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the food stamp program) by about $40 billion over ten years — double the cut in the House Agriculture Committee farm bill and almost nine times the SNAP cut in the Senate-passed farm bill.

That's it -- take food away from poor people so you can keep your subsidy payments coming.

That's enough to make my point, I think. Wait, you're saying. What's the connection between lost kittens, Medicaid expansion, and SNAP?

Simple: the "conservative" solution is the one lacking in compassion, empathy, charity, and generosity -- those Christian virtues that they are too ready to forget when it comes to their own self-interest. Or the chance to pander to their base, which is just as soulless as they are.

The capper is this story, which I noted yesterday. It's worth a repeat, because nothing typifies the contemporary "conservative" more than Tony Perkins:

Sounds like a real conservative to me:

After Jordan insisted that the GOP-led House should strip funding from Obamacare by using the budget and debt ceiling debates as leverage, the Religious Right leader [Tony Perkins, of FRC] came up with a brilliant plan to tell President Obama that Congress will only approve military action against Syria if the money comes out of Obamacare: “You could even take it to the issue of Syria. If the President wants to expend resources in going into Syria, maybe you should have to choose between funding Obamacare and funding a war in Syria, can’t do both.”

That's it -- take money away from providing health care for Americans so we can bomb brown people. Sounds like Perkins, all right. (Remember, he got his start in politics playing white supremacist.)

How very "Christian."

Do I need to belabor the point?

"The Spirit of Giving Back"

Just happened to glance at an article in one of the neighborhood papers here at my favorite coffee shop, about the Uptown Day of Service. For those who don't know Chicago, Uptown has been for decades one of the more desperate parts of town, although it's starting to turn around. Homeless shelters, "residential hotels," halfway houses, rehab centers, the works. I've lived there a couple of times -- not exactly middle-class. Day of Service is a volunteer day, for residents who can to mentor students, help out in soup kitchens, etc.

It reminds me very much of a philosophy I heard from a woman whom I consider to be one of the great ladies of Chicago, who put it quite succinctly: "I've been fortunate and had advantages. It's only right that I should give something back." It's an attitude I heard a lot, in a number of variations, from the people I knew in the art world, who were, most of them, at the very least well-off.

I feel like sending clippings of that story to a select group of corporate CEOs and members of Congress -- and maybe framed examples to Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, and Grover Norquist. I'm not sure they'd get it, though.

About Wisconsin

Via Suburban Guerilla, this post from Democratic Underground:

I had a patient cry yesterday.

A tough-guy.
Young guy with several kids.
Working-class.Uninsured.No sick time.
Will need hospitalization for a week.
Will not make rent.

We collected to make his rent.

What the fuck have we come to,folks?

Go,unions.Make these bastards who have created this fiasco come to their knees.
Do it for the rest of us.

The Republican Health-Care Plan

Coming soon to a state near you:

CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy reports at least two people have died since November. Mark Price, a father of six, died waiting for a bone marrow transplant. Now the University Medical Center in Tucson says a man needing a new liver died due to the cutbacks.

A hospital spokesperson said, "We believe that it's likely that they died because they were unable to get a transplant."

"There's absolutely no way you can justify killing people to save really a little bit over a million dollars," says Ariz. Rep. Chad Campbell (D).

Campbell says cutting the transplant program is saving Arizona $1.4 million, or one-tenth of 1 percent of its $825 million budget deficit.

Ariz. governor Jan Brewer says Arizona is broke. "The state has only so much money and we can only provide so many optional kinds of care," she says.

So saving people's lives by providing the organ transplants they need to survive is"optional care".

Is this what they call "compassionate conservatism"?

I know -- let's lower the tax rates on billionaires again -- that way, their health care will tickle down.

Christmas

After having read through too many screeds by the likes of Bryan Fischer, Ann Coulter, Peter LaBarbera, Tony Perkins -- well, the list is too long to put all the names here -- I thought I'd pass this story along:



Yeah, we are so freakin' self-centered and hedonistic. I have to wonder how The Usual Suspects would handle something like this: what do you suppose they're doing for those in need this Christmas?

Thanks to Joe.My.God.

Connections

From Mahablog, this reflection on Thanksgiving, a bit of Zen wisdom:

First, reflect on all the work that went into putting the meal on the table. This goes beyond just the cooking. There are grocers and truckers and farmers and suppliers of farmers. And all of those people are sustained by food provided by other cooks and grocers and truckers and farmers and suppliers. And don’t forget the non-human creatures represented on the table, from the turkey to the dairy cows and even the bees who make pollination possible. If you think about it, you realize the food in front of you represents a huge web of relationships that spreads across the globe.

Second, reflect on whether you are contributing to the greater good with your own life, and if the work you do is sustaining other people as much as their work sustains you.

Third, reflect on not being greedy.

Fourth, reflect on what food is really about — keeping us alive and healthy.

Fifth, reflect on “attaining the Way,” or realizing enlightenment. . . .

One of the things I like about the Reflections is that it reminds us we are not just passive recipients of God’s Blessings, but that we have received what we need to stay alive through the work of countless people. Further, we have a moral duty to contribute to others in return. In other words, it’s a reflection on how interconnected we all are and that we all depend on each other.

It's not too different from the basic Pagan mindset: we are all connected, we all derive benefit from each other, and thus, we all have a responsibility toward each other. I seem to remember something like that in Christianity, from my childhood Sunday School -- I think it starts off, in one version, "Do unto others. . . ."

There are some who don't feel that way:

The president could speak about Wall Street handing out record bonuses this year -- an estimated $144 billion to a relative handful of people, many of whom get richer by destroying wealth, including assets of state and local government pension funds whose losses we have to make up for with more taxes.

Those bonuses, by the way, are about 2.4 times expected Wall Street profits.

How about a presidential lecture on entitlements focused on Lloyd Blankfein, whose firm's bad bets taxpayers paid off at 100 cents on the dollar? The Goldman Sachs boss whines about making only $9 million last year because of his "sacrifice" and plans an extra-big payday this December to make up for last year.

The president could change the terms of our economic debate by talking about how much the vast majority props up many of those at the very top, starting with Blankfein. He could tell people about the trillion dollars a year of tax favors for corporations and the rich, as documented by the Shelf Project.

There's a basic concept here that apparently has eluded the Masters of the Universe: "enough." I mean, who needs $9 million a year? Who really needs that much money? And what does it say about anyone who expects that kind of "reward" after screwing over millions of people?

And in another vein, the same thing: just note anything that comes from Maggie Gallagher, Tony Perkins, Peter LaBarbera, Matt Barber, Mat Staver, or any of the other voices for the self-anointed "Christian" right: it's not about recognizing our interdependence -- and certainly not about "Do unto others."

And just remember, it's you, your brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, your kids, your neighbors, your coworkers that they're talking about.

Michelle Obama and Ellen DeGeneres

She talks about bullying, and has a good message, but I'm reposting this mostly because it's just great.



She comes across as very real and very human. And of course, there are those who thinks this is horrible. Pity them.