A Few Thoughts during Channel Surfing

I'm a habitual channel surfer, and last week when I was flipping through channels I stumbled upon Rachael Maddow on her MSNBC show complaining about the protesters of Obama's healthcare reform plans, and Glenn Beck, invoking the word "Nazi" in the argument. I agreed that the word has no place in American political discourse. However, I have seen very few protesters using the term. It's the media who emphasizes the one or two people with Nazi signs at these protests and talks about them. Do you ever notice that they also talk about the few angry people at the town hall meetings, instead of most who are calm and respectful? (Of course that wouldn't be much of a story.) Furthermore, this is a blatant, and very annoying, case of hypocrisy. For eight years, people called George W. Bush Hitler, a war criminal (if GWB is a war criminal, then comparatively so are the majority of U.S. presidents), and every other nasty name possible. Yet it's not until now Maddow and so many Democrats are calling for civility.

Maddow specifically singled out Glenn Beck for labeling Obama a Nazi. But the couple of times I've seen Beck lately and seen him talk about health care reform, he's explicitly said the health care reform, as well as Obama, are not Nazi-like. (I still don't understand how Nazism has anything to do with the health care reform plans Obama and the Democrats have.)

After I watched that segment, Maddow talked about how nutty Glenn Beck is. She discussed his recent show which he talked about the FEMA concentration camps that many believe the government has set up to imprison citizens and illegal aliens. The discussion made it sound like Beck believes that these camps exist and that the government is ready to use them. Except that Beck stated over and over on his show that the idea was idiotic and it was crazy to believe that there are these camps.

Then she had a Sarah Palin quote read with an annoying voiceover, clearly meant to demean Palin. That's how to promote civility and rational discussion, to mocking someone and acting as if they're stupid? Like many people I've seen lately, they talk a good game about not being hateful or dishonest, but then they do the exact same thing they claim they're trying to stop.

I like Maddow, and she seems like a she's probably be a cool person to hang out with, but I wish she'd be unbiased for once and get her facts straight. There is no difference in the games Democrats and Republicans play. Both play nasty. Instead of only telling half of the story, let's call it how it is.

After I watched that for a couple minutes, I flipped down to the next channel. Sean Hannity's Show; Hannity, was on. The former Miss California, Carrie Prejean, who caused such a stir in the spring, was on, talking about her views on health care reform. Are Republicans really that desperate? Have they really stooped that low? I don't have a big problem with Prejean. She seems like a nice person and I respect her. (Though I think it could be questioned whether she, as a Christian, should have been in a beauty show and gotten breast implants to get ahead.) She handled herself well for everything she went through. But what authority does Ms. California have to talk about health care reform? And why would her opinions interest me?

Speaking of Glenn Beck, I hear a lot of people make fun of him and paint him to be some idiot, because he does some crazy stuff and cries a lot. I disagree with him often and think he's repetitive, just like most radio and talk show hosts; I'm no homer. He's definitely over-the-top, which is sometimes annoying, sometimes a little weird, but usually a entertaining. He's not an idiot; he went to Yale. His life's been filled with tragedy. What person, who's a recovering alcoholic and heroine addict, who has a daughter with cerebral palsy, and had a mother and brother commit suicide, another brother have a fatal heart attack, would not be a little crazy and overly emotional? Most people in his situation would probably be dead. At least he tries to bring some humor and fun to dull political topics. Yet it's alright for Democrats who disagree with him to make fun of him and act like he's stupid. It's good for promoting civility in political debate and surely good for the country.

I saw Tom DeLay, the former House Majority Leader, was recently announced as one of the participants for next's season's Dancing With the Stars. (To show you that I don't follow the show, I don't know anyone who's supposed to be on the year in the upcoming season, and I couldn't name the winner of any of the previous seasons.) Delay was ousted from office for allegations of bribery, and I'm wondering who he bribed here. It seems very strange that he would be on the show. I don't know why anybody would be interested in having him on there. He's not exactly a hot celebrity, or paparazzi material, and he's not very well-liked by a large segment of the population. Strange.

After a minute, I proceeded to flip on down to the Reds game, where they were losing what must have been their 500th consecutive game. ...I soon settled in on the Discovery Channel.

Places I'd Like to Visit

One thing I love is visiting new places and seeing new things. I've traveled to the majority of the states in the United States, but I've traveled outside the country only once. And sadly that was only right across the border into Canada for a look at Niagara Falls for a few hours. There many places I'd like to visit, but here's a top ten. Like David Letterman's Top Ten list, without the laughs. This is in no particular order.

United Kingdom (especially Scotland)
Brazil
Australia
Greece
Spain
Egypt
South Africa
France
Italy
New Zealand

Germany, Portugal, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, India, Jamaica, and Belize would be next on the list.

Jordan would be nice to visit just because I like the name.