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Love it or leave it!

It’s our Independence Day, and mindless patriots are popping up all over the internet bragging about how much they love America while hating a majority of the people in America.cropped-cropped-us_flag_header.jpg

Usually, these “patriots” rant about how we need to protect America from immigrants and liberals and those who would change America from its original greatness. They proclaim their love for America and see any criticism of it as treasonous. “Love it or leave it!” they scream. (Let’s set aside for a moment the fact that many of these people never see their own criticism of liberal Presidents as treason.)

That’s the exact opposite of true patriotism. Our country was not founded on the idea that we should never challenge our government.

So let’s be true patriots. Let’s work to make America better. Replace “Love it or leave it” with “Love it and improve it.”

As (now-Senator) Al Franken once said, “Conservatives love America like a child loves his mommy, and mommy can do no wrong. Whereas we [liberals] love America like an adult loves someone, recognizing our mate has faults and taking the good with the bad, and always working to appreciate what’s there, being critical of what’s wrong and trying to help and make it better.”

That’s patriotism.

Editorial cartoon of the day

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Hillary too old to be President?

Republicans are claiming that Hillary Clinton, who will be 69 in 2016, is “too old” to be President.

They then retreated to their evil lair, where John McCain (72 when he ran for President) and Bob Dole (73 when he ran for President), led the prayers to their God Ronald Reagan (69 when he ran for President, 73 when he ran for re-election).

Editorial cartoon of the day

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The cost of the immigration bill

And now, another in my series of impressions of Republicans.

Ahem.

“We cannot afford Obama’s Stimulus! I don’t care if it will fix our roads and bridges and bring jobs, we just don’t have the money. And a national health care program? We can’t afford to give health care to our citizens!

What’s that? You want to spend $38 billion on a wall that will have very little impact on illegal immigration? A cost that even conservative Forbes magazine calls a “Bonanza for Defense Contractors”? You say that the money we’d be spending per illegal immigrant would provide health care for millions? Your point is?

Oh, while we’re at it, let’s buy a few more tanks and planes the military doesn’t want or need, too.”

uncle sam money

Editorial cartoon of the day

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Sex with animals

What is it with these religious conservatives and sex with animals? Whenever people want to have a reasonable debate about gay marriage, it always degenerates into that. “If you allow gays to get married, then you have to also allow people to marry their dogs!”

Why don’t they ever use animals for other laws they’ve opposed over the years? “If you allow women to vote, then you’ll also have to allow turtles!” “If we allow schools to use affirmative action to admit minorities, then they’ll have to also admit squirrels!” “If you have to read rights to someone who committed a crime, then clearly you’ll also have to read rights to a cow before you slaughter it!”

Well, no. Those of us who are not crazy understand this.

I guess it’s because these people hate sex so much. I mean, these are also the same people who think that birth control, sex education, and oral sex are evil and should be illegal. To them, sex between two consenting men or women is just as evil as sex with a non-consenting animal. And so, like many of the more conservative right, they want to force their religious views on the rest of us.

The problem is that the faulty logic that works in their minds looks completely crazy to everyone else.

Editorial cartoon of the day

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Your boss gets to decide your health care?

…At least, that seems to be the ruling of a Federal court in Oklahoma, which held that the owners of Hobby Lobby don’t have to provide health care coverage to their employees if it may include nasty things the employer doesn’t like, such as abortions.

Yes, that’s right. Your employer gets to decide health care decisions for you.

This has been framed as a 1st amendment Freedom of Religion argument, but apparently the court only cares about the employer’s religion and not that of the employee.

Could be worse, I suppose. If he was one of those Jehovah’s Witnesses who thinks that you can pray away disease, then you wouldn’t get any coverage whatsoever according to this opinion.

I guess if a business owner didn’t like, I dunno, kidney stones, then those wouldn’t be covered either. Oh, right, only religious reasons allow an employer to discriminate like this.

Let’s see — I seem to remember a Constitutional amendment that prohibited that sort of thing.gavel

This is an absolutely ridiculous decision. Hobby Lobby is not a religious organization; it’s a for-profit business. A business owner should not have the right to decide health care decisions for his or her employees. This is not comparable to a church, for instance, being forced to disobey its beliefs.

Should I, as a business owner, be allowed to force my beliefs on my employees? What if my religion believes women should wear burkas and never speak? Should I make all my female employees wear burkas?

The Court apparently believes employers have powers to ignore laws they don’t like. “If you work here, you have to live by my beliefs, not yours. Don’t like it? Tough!” I think we should say to business owners, “These are people who work for you, who have the right to make their own decisions about health care. You will give them the option, because this is America where we value individual decisions. Don’t like it? Tough!”

Your religion does not give you the right to disobey the law. There are Jamaican religions that believe in smoking marijuana during their ceremonies — tough, that’s illegal. Animal cruelty in the name of religion is illegal. Refusing to give your child medicine in the name of religion is illegal. Religions shouldn’t be exempt from the law just because they “really really believe” something. That’s not what America is about.

Look, if you start a business in America, we expect certain things from you. You have to pay a minimum wage; you have to have a safe working environment; you have to pay business taxes; you have to pay for worker’s compensation; you have to provide health care. Keep in mind that your employees may decide to use their money or benefits to do things you personally disagree with. Don’t like it? Tough. Don’t open a business.

If you don’t like the fact that we have freedom from religion in America, then maybe you should open a business somewhere else, like Iran. I understand they have no problem with you forcing religion on people who work for you.

Editorial cartoon of the day