Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The Fleecing of America

Have you noticed how people are getting angrier and angrier? Even mild mannered, middle class Americans are starting to protest.

While we have become accustomed to illegal aliens protesting by the thousands down the streets of California, or animal rights activists ramming a fishing trawler to save the whales, or gays protesting in front of a church demanding the ability to marry, when was the last time you saw an average middle class American protesting? Well, I guess the time has come.

The fights, the arguments, the anger, have become so intense lately that I cringe as I listen to the MSNBC commentators mocking the moderates and rights. I know, I know. Why turn them on? Well, sometimes I like to see what unbelievable venom comes out of their mouths to bring me back into focus.

The past few days, MSNBC has taken up the fight against Rush Limbaugh, deriding him for looking like the Russian mafia with his black shirt and jacket (originally mocked by David Letterman). Yesterday, on MSNBC, a "guest" actually called him a fat, pill-popping, racist, fanatic. Even Chris Matthews was shocked.

They have likened Republicans to idiots who dare to question the $400 billion bill filled to the brim with unnecessary, special-interest pork that we know will indirectly benefit the elected officials who passed it.

They say the Republicans are a broken party, a party with no leader. Yes, they are and we know why - the Republicans have forgotten the morals, the ethics, the correct way to lead.

Do you remember when the Republicans had the majority of Congress? What did they do? Blew it! Passed pork like there was no tomorrow. They got what they deserved. Now, they have to come out of the ashes like the Phoenix but can't seem to get their act together.

What's so difficult with putting together a Republican program to follow? I'll give you one in the next blog.

But, I digress about the fleecing of America...

Today I received a call from The Cancer Fund. Lately, I have received more and more calls from supposed "charities" asking for donations. They come in a variety of names, all of them unfamiliar. So, after hanging up on The Cancer Fund, I decided to investigate at http://www.charitynavigator.org/.

Let me tell you, The Cancer Fund is a money making organization... for it's officers, not for those fighting cancer. (Like Congress, they say they are working for us, but actually they are working for themselves.) I am fed up and getting angrier, so I signed up for the National Do Not Call Registry. http://www.donotcall.gov/

As we all know, the internet also holds the potential for rip offs. I have received countless Nigerian letters asking me to help them free up astounding sums of money if I'll just send them a mere thousand. I regularly receive e-mails from "companies" trying to sell me insurance, merchandise, get-rich-quick schemes, and men's paraphernalia. Just click on their site and you're screwed. I delete them all without opening them.

I have Firewalls, Anti-spyware, Anti-virus, and who-knows-what added to my computers to prevent others from taken my information and ripping me off. Or, disabling my computer with their crap and forcing me to remove the software and re-install it, which is an enormous pain in the tush.

I have people who come to my door on behalf of organizations I have never heard of asking for a hand out. I tell them I'm in the middle of dinner (because I usually am) and get rid of them.

I wonder, as I navigate through this world of sharks, what has happened to us? Why do we always have to be on the lookout for others who will snatch our hard earned money away from us? What has happened to morals, to ethics, to sanity?

It seems we are of two camps, the hunters and the hunted. We constantly wonder who the other person is - will they do us harm or are they a friend?

Yesterday there was a study that came out on American religious life. Anyone who goes to church knows that less and less people are going. The study showed that Vermont has the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34%. The study also found that the number of Americans with no religion rose in every state.

In 2008, Christians comprised 76% of U.S. adults compared to about 86% in 1990. At this rate, no one will believe in religion in this country by 2190. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,506849,00.html

This survey made me feel very bad. Partly because my religious beliefs are so important to me and partly because I know that people are missing out on their wholeness, their oneness with God, and the self-actualization that comes with it when they believe and follow.

Now I know why we have to navigate every day through that sea of sharks who would do us harm. This country is losing the basic principle that it was formed on - religion and religious freedom.

You may argue that we still have the right to religious freedom. Anyone can go to their church, synagogue or mosque if they want to. That's true, but have you noticed how the media mocks religion? They discount it's followers, they portray them as nuts and fanatics.

And, the courts are continually restricting our freedom to practice our religion. Note no prayers in schools, no creches in public places, no "Merry Christmas" in stores. It's a "slippery slope."

The help-one-another, love-one-another, philosophy that made this country great is going by the wayside. While Prez. Obama believes in "sharing," he's got it all wrong. It's value does not come from taxation, but from each individual helping each other.

May God help us.