• “The opposition to it was really either political or ideological. … I don’t think that holds water against real flesh and blood, and real improvements in people’s lives.” That’s Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich talking about Obamacare.
• A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds that most Americans think the country is “on the wrong track.” It turns out this has been true of every such poll since January 2004. The Journal’s Elizabeth Williamson says this marks a prolonged period of national gloominess.
But keep in mind, this poll question isn’t solely a measure of the national mood. It’s also asking the public to make a prediction about where things are heading. That prediction may turn out to have been accurate or inaccurate — right or wrong. It’s not an entirely subjective question. Just look back to that January 2004 poll, when a majority of Americans said the country was “on the right track.” Does anyone today think they were right about that?
• Credit where credit is due: Kudos to Focus on the Family for denouncing right-wing “Bible prophecy” loon Rick Wiles for celebrating the Ebola outbreak. Wiles said, “Ebola could solve America’s problems with atheism, homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, pornography and abortion.”
• Here are two great examples from yesterday that show why I think Hemant Mehta’s Friendly Atheist is one of the best blogs in all of blogtopia.
First there’s this: “Maryland Delegate Spreads Story of Anti-Christian Discrimination at Sheriff’s Office … Turns Out It’s All Wrong.” He heard the story and then checked it out — calling the sheriff’s office and getting the sheriff himself on the phone to get the actual story. That looks an awful lot like actual journalism.
And then there’s this, which is just terrific: “An Interview With Robert Wilson (a.k.a. rwlawoffice), the Commenter Who Always Seems to Disagree With What I Write.” It’s a neighborly, mutually respectful exchange — the rare achievement of genuine disagreement.
• “I’m gonna tell God how you treat me, I’m gonna tell God how you treat me one of these days.”
Bill Lindsey’s post had me searching for additional versions of that great old song and I came across this one — an adorable a capella rendition by a 9-year-old girl. She’s seated at a desk, apparently reading the words off the computer screen in front of her. Or maybe she’s looking at the latest round of awful stories of online abuse — the terroristic threats against Anita Sarkeesian, the vile cesspool of “GamerGate,” and all the other daily horrors that make life online intolerable for any woman with an opinion and a voice. That’s what I was thinking of, anyway, as I heard her singing, “I’m gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days.”
It’s a beautiful song. I hope it’s true. My eye reaches but little ways, etc.
• “Rental America: Why the poor pay $4,150 for a $1,500 sofa” The question should actually by why it’s legal or in any way socially tolerable for some evil bastard to charge poor people $4,150 for a $1,500 sofa.
And the answer to that question is partly this: Because we’re a nation of sanctimonious, victim-blaming jerks. We’re addicted to the endorphin rush of moral superiority we get from blaming uppity poor people for wanting furniture that we think someone in their station doesn’t deserve to have. And we’re too busy doing that to bother reining in the loansharks, scammers and predators who gouge the poor with schemes like “rent-to-own.”
• “You might get AIDS in Kenya, the people have AIDS, you got to be careful, the towels can have AIDS.” This man finished second in the Republican Iowa caucus. And now he’s warning us against Africanized AIDS-towels. OK.
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