This is a quick post.  I have to get ready to leave for the weekend, but I heard Ed Shultz on Air America talking about Chris Matthews' show on Hardball's last night.  I had watched Hardball last night and missed something very important.  I did not hear what the former Congressman Chris Schayes said in a back and forther with Chris Matthews.  Schayes was refuting a point by saying "that was a Democrat Committee." 

NO! NO! NO!  That was a committee of the United States of America.  A body of duly elected representatives.  There is no such thing as a democratic committee, Congressman.  That is not a valid reason to be dismissive or disrespectful of the outcomes of that committee.  That was a governmental body and whether there was a majority of one party or another is of no consequence.  The proceedings are not irrelevant.  Of course, as a former Congressman, perhaps you are now getting familiar with irrelevant.  With your attitude toward a democratic government, you do not belong in its Congress anyway.  Oh, speaking of respect, it's Democratic anyway.  The United States Congress has a Democratic majority.

http://www.nraila.org/legislation/read.aspx?id=4814

Those guys and gals over at the NRA.  Ya just can't get anything past them!!! 

The Humane Society is advocating greater regulation of dog breeding and the NRA is suggesting that their real goal is intended to put dog breeders and kennel owners out of business.   If one was watching Animal Planet's exposure of the practices in some of these puppy mills, where animals never get off the wire floors, where their feces are left for days and where dead animals are left in the cages with the mothers and siblings to rot, one has to wonder whether the goal is actually simply to put an end to these abuses.  The kennels featured all had recently renewed licenses provided by bureaucrats who felt their hands were tied by too few regulations.  The law demands there only be food and water, so if the food is rotting and the water rancid, that does not preclude it from being food and water in the legal sense.  What judges allowed these definitions to be so narrow as to irradicate their intended meanings and perpetuate the torture of animals?

The NRA goes on to write, "The fact is that they want to ban all hunting in America, especially hunting with dogs, since it radically opposes animal ownership."  This is being described as a fact, but I have to ask, if the Humane Society opposes animal ownership, then why are there so many adoption centers?  I don't know.  The NRA makes a lot of money so they have to be smarter then I am, but does that make sense to anyone else?

As for banning all hunting in America, I think the NRA is getting the Humane Society confused with PETA.  Yes, I believe they are opposed to sport hunting, the killing of animals that are not going to be eaten, but I am unsure they oppose all hunting.  The Humane Society is not fighting Col. Sanders about his vile and filthy chicken operations, or Tyson, for that matter.  It appears to me to be focused on a more narrow focus, a quality life for animals based on certain minimal standards which are more then what we have today on the books.

Let me leave with a stand-up joke I once heard.  The comedian was sharing news accounts of how people were being shot and killed in New York City just so the thieves could take their fur coats.  The comedian was furious and declared opposition to this practice.  She declared, "I believe if you are going to shoot someone just for their furs, you should have to eat them too!"         

The question that comes to my mind is how do Republicans retain their loyalties in the heartland.  I believe it has a lot to do with the lack of media from the Left.  I hear of large areas where there is no progressive voice on the air, either TV or radio.  It baffles me how people would tolerate not being able to even hear two sides of an argument.  Although I do seldom spend much time at Fox, unless I'm feeling blah and want a rage fix, I would be upset if the cable company decided to remove it.  I want to know what the Republicans are saying.  I want to address their talking points.  I am always astonished at how easily disassembled their arguments are, if one has the opportunity to respond, which is not provided on Fox, but demanded if I am in the conversation with someone from the Right. 

Usually, I can talk with conservatives.  I can get my points on the table and give them pause.  It is rare that they concede the point during the conversation, but I will hear again from them later that they are reconsidering their position.  It is up to us to make these conversations happen and, patiently, we can restore their ability to view things impartially, to see that we are not an enemy but simply hold a different opinion. 

The folks from the Right need to see that we are not a threat to the nation.  We love our country too, but we feel it is time to change direction.  More people have come to realize this as well.  Doing so will not destroy the fabric of society.  That fabric is not based on what others are doing in their homes, but what we are doing in our neighborhoods.  Do we assist before we test their politics, or do we know helping is the right thing to do regardless of how someone voted?  If we are hesitant to help because of politics, we have lost our way.  It seems that is where the Republicans are right now, lost.  We should help them see the big picture and the big tent on the Left. 

There is room for more ideas, more respect, and more progress.  Obama has been nothing but class since he took office.  He kept his game clean versus Bush, while I still grit my teeth just saying the name.  Obama managed to maintain relations with Lieberman, although I find Lieberman repulsive.  And now Obama has welcomed Spector to the fold, while we were all thinking Franken would be the next democratic voice in the Senate.  I guess that is what real leaders do, inspire others to raise their game.  I admit, Obama is easing my anger.  I am becoming more comfortable around Republicans as they are lowering their fists.  The fight is over and we can work together to make ourselves a great nation once again.  When we were #1, we were not Republicans versus Democrats, we were Americans.  It feels like we are all waking up to this, some a bit later then others, but just the same.  We are waking up. 

Seriously?!?!  Obama gets to his 100 day mark with a 61% approval rating and all at once the MSM goes ballistic over a possible pandemic that might occur as though this all happened today.  Well, not really.  There were not 150 deaths in Mexico over the weekend, nor are these cases around the country and the world all emerging today.  They are merely being explored today, uncovered today.  They have been around for a while.  IMHO, the MSM is making a story out of something important at a time that will have the greatest impact on the remarkable achievements of the President they love to hate loving.  It is an effort to curb his momentum.

It's a conundrum, or a Catch .22, or just damn curious.  The MSM can't give Obama a free ride and say everything is grand.  This is because the MSM just gave that treatment to the Republicans and the MSM looked more foolish each day trying to explain how W wasn't as stupid as everyone was suggesting, or that the Administration was not as fascist as some people were proclaiming, or that the protests, even though they clearly consisted of tens, and even hundreds of thousands of people, were not all that important.  Instead, in their effort to appear unbiased, in an attempt to appear mor eobjective and professional, the MSM has declared they will not give Obama the same free pass.  So now they will never suggest that, yes, Obama might be that smart, or that the Administration is really more transparent then anything they've ever seen or can recall, or that, despite a really insignificant number of attendees and regardless that these were all they could muster with across the networks advertising for the protest, it WAS very, very important to see people protesting taxes when their taxes were probably being lowered if their incomes were under $250K/year.

This is really pathetic and disgraceful.  It is more of the same embarrasing efforts by the MSM these past eight years.  Besides being completely unnecessary, the scare they are inflating may hurt the efforts to revive this suffocating economy.  It's torture of a sort, inflicted on ourselves by ourselves.  The news needs to be reported that there may be something to this, but we managed to defeat avian flu almost as soon as it emerged, and we will very likely do the same with this latest uber-bugg.  But at this point, it seems to be another network sponsored tea party to throw up against Obama and hobble his chances for success.  But what nation will fail if Obama fails?  

There is a thing about real champions that we never talk about any longer.   We prefer to blame the refs for our losses rather then take responsibility for our own success.   A real champion does not argue with the ref or stand there demanding a foul be called.  A real champion continues to play and wins despite everything being thrown against him or her.  Obama is one of those real champions.  He will never say this was rigged.  He will merely play through it and be the victor when all is said and done, further frustrating and aggravating the losers who stand their still blaming their failures on the refs.  Obama would never say this, but I felt that I should.  I admit it.  I'm not a real champion, but I still know one when I see one, and if Obama wins, I will too.