What is going on with our country?

I am a bit concerned and confused about what is going on in the U.S. today. We say we are going after the terrorists who attacked us on September the 11th but abandon the battles in Afghanistan and head towards Iraq. What on earth did Iraq do to us? The people were told there was all this evidence that they had helped al-Qada in the attacks on the Twin Towers and had weapons of mass destruction. And then after the fact we find out none of this so-called evidence even existed. And on top of that some top-level officials actually knew of information to the contrary and went ahead and made the case for war.

We as a country were wrong to attack Iraq. What was our response when it turned out we were wrong? Oh well. And then we tried to justify our actions by saying that we freed an entire country from under a despot. It is that the reason we went to war? No, not even close.

We went in with barely a plan for attack and even less of a plan to get out. We were under the impression or had a false notion that we were such a great big superpower that we could not go wrong. Who can stop us? Certainly not the Muslim world. We claimed that al-Qada is nothing but a bunch of religious zealots and the insurgents who later rose up against our military presence was also labeled as that.

But who is the real group of religious zealots? The Republicans in the House and the Senate are the real ones. Every decision they make is claimed to be a mandate from the American "faithful". And if anyone opposes their decisions they are labeled as haters of "people of faith". Is this the 1950s with McCarthyism? If you disagree with the government you are against the government and the American way? Do we really want to go back there?

I do not think people in Congress are wrong for having their strong religious convictions but they were not elected to be our spiritual advisers. If people want a lesson in religion and/or spirituality let them find a church. The government is supposed to be molded by the consensus of the people. Not the other way around. Not everyone is going to agree with Christianity. I think they need to take a lesson from the Bible where Jesus says if a household doesn't accept what his disciples have to say they should just leave and shake the sand from their shoes. Don't try to force what they think or how they interpret what God wants on the rest of the world.

They claim to be so concerned about the welfare of the poor and disenfranchised while at the same time cutting programs to help these same people. On top of that, giving great big tax breaks to the rich and corporations and at the same time making it more difficult for the working to get out from under debt which is caused by illness and the lack of medical insurance.

The latest hypocrisy is the Terry Schiavo case. Don't really want to get into the whole right to die issue in this posting. That issue is beside the point for what I am talking about. The politicians claimed they were doing it to protect her rights. Bull shit! They were using her as a political pawn. They could care less about taking care of her or other disabled people.

If she had no insurance and/or didn't get a settlement for the doctors not diagnosing her correctly her family would not have had any money to provide the quality care she did get or the rehabilitation attempts. If they had no money, what do you think would have happened to her? She would have simply been placed in a nursing home and forgotten about by the system. No attempt would have been made to rehabilitate her.

If the government really cared about people in similar situations or the disabled in general more programs would be in place. In most states, the only option people have if they do not have family willing to take on the burden is nursing home placement. Statistics show that 1 out of 3 nursing home patients is abused or neglected. What type of help is that? Just put them away and if you don't have to see them there is no problem.

I am lucky enough to live at home thanks to a Medicare waiver that the state of Florida applied for. I am lucky because as I write this the waiting list is growing. There was a point where I was facing the very real possibility of being placed in a nursing home. With only a few weeks before my nursing care would have run out this waiver took affect.

I guess the government would just rather kill us all slowly so they don't have to feel so bad. I guess if it happens quickly it causes too much guilt feelings, not enough time to rationalize what is going on. What do they care? After all, everyone in Congress has the best insurance ever. In their old age or in sickness they don't have to worry about a damn thing. Everything they need will be paid for in full. If they were to lose this privilege I am sure the very next day there would be an act to institute universal health care for everyone.

That is all for my ranting for now. I hope our country wakes up to what is going on and doesn't let the politicians get away with their tricks and with screwing us.