God Bless America

Man, what a disheartening, embarrassing couple of weeks to be an American.

• Outrage ensues when Kathy Griffin, a comedienne, made a joke at the Emmy's, saying, "A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. This award is my God now!" Fox News went on and on about how wrong it is to offend Jesus, assuming a) everybody believes Jesus is Lord and therefore cannot be joked about, and b) that, supposing Jesus IS Lord, he doesn't have a sense of humor. The truly bewildering moment came when the offended ones made parallels to Muslim outrage over the Dutch cartoonist last year, like somehow that was an appropriate response which your faith should mimic.

• Sally Fields sparked more right-wing bedwetting at the Emmy's for daring to say, brace yourselves for this venomous anti-American tirade, "Let's face it, if the mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamned wars in the first place." Now, is that complete vapid, simplistic political rhetoric? Absolutely. Worthy of outrage? If you're a vapid, simplistic moron, yeah.

• Then we have the fucking Congress. Last year, before the Democrats controlled Congress, Democratic Senator Jim Webb, Vietnam Vet, proposed a sensible amendment to a defense spending bill that simply states that is a soldier is stationed a year overseas, he or she is guaranteed at least a year scheduled at home. Needing 60 votes*, it was defeated, 56-41. This year it was submitted again, and with the Democrats in control of Congress...it failed again, 56-44. Fuck Republicans for being such dicks to the troops, and fuck Democrats for failing to gain even one more vote than last time. Way to flex those muscles!

• In a WTF? moment, all of cable news was obsessed with it, the President was asked to comment on it, and the Senate actually took the time to pass a bill condemning it. What is "it"? A fucking advertisement. Holy Christ. And it passed 72-25! Your tax dollars at work. (Also, note to everyone, Petraeus is not Jesus Christ incarnate. He is capable of political manipulation. Or is a coincidence he's always on Fox News?)

• The WAR WITH IRAN bandwagon continues to roll, fueled by absolute ignorance and stupidity. Anyone who understands the way shit works in Iran knows that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is just a figurehead. HE HAS NO POWER. The mullahs have the power. Yet we keep reacting to everything Ahmadinejad says or does like somehow he's Iran's "decider". And then when he does try to use his figurehead position to possibly create an avenue for positive dialogue with the U.S., like laying a wreath at ground zero, we react like dicks, getting in a huff over the fact that our "enemy" wants to do something as evil as show some sympathy. The HORROR! Washington: It's called diplomacy. Someone opens a door like that you take it, run with it, and build on it. Unless of course you are determined to go to war no matter what and therefore cannot have your enemy showing any signs of decency. But that would be ridiculous, right? Right?....Oh. My bad. I forgot.

*Fucking nice how it's now normal to now need 60 votes to pass anything. When the Democrats tried to occasionally filibuster something, they were attacked for their "obstructionism" which threatened to topple the government. Now that Republicans are doing it, it's accepted as business as usual. Ain't that fucking grand?