Let's Get a Few Things Straight

I'm annoyed.  I know a lot of religious people, and they're perfectly nice, but nothing in the news makes me angrier than when the religious people on TV get all up in arms about something stupid.  As a result, I've spent most of this week watching news for about 90 seconds at a time, because that's just about as long as I can stand it right now since every segment appears to be another story about how the President is forcing Catholics to fornicate with complete strangers while using birth control 15 times a day.  Let's get a few things straight.

First of all, prohibition against contraception isn't some "deeply held Catholic belief".  It's not in the magic book, it's just some rule church leaders made up later to ensure that we'd have little Catholic babies running around everywhere (which I guess I should be grateful for) and to ensure that they'd always have some sneaky ways to oppress women.

And don't try to tell me that they weren't aware of modern birth control methods back when the bible was written.  The magic book was supposedly written by the spacegod who knows everything, so that really shouldn't matter, should it? 

Even if this contraception thing was in the bible, I still wouldn't care.  This isn't some government imposition on religious freedom.  Practicing Catholics (and everyone else, for that matter) are still free to choose to use contraception or not use contraception whenever they'd like, and churches are still free to teach all the same nonsense they've always taught.

This isn't about freedom, it's about the opposite of freedom.  It's about employment law, and churches having to play by the same rules as every other employer.  It's about the ability of employers, religious or otherwise, to use their control over health coverage to impose their beliefs on employees.  Why is it that the freedom loving Republicans have no problem with this?  They're always yelling about the President taking away our freedoms.  Would they be OK with it if he called himself a reverend and wore a funny hat?

And while we're at it, the President is not hostile toward religion.  I'm hostile toward religion sometimes, like when I wonder why my tax dollars are going to some office of faith-based initiatives, or why I have to live in a country that has a national day of prayer.  And while we're at it, why do I have to put up with a Congress that has a chaplain?  I seem to have gotten a little off-track.  The point is, I'm hostile towards religion sometimes, I can't help it, but the President isn't.  Believe me, I'd notice.

Speaking of religion, Madonna is awful.  She's always been awful.  The superbowl halftime show was awful.  It's always been awful too.  And to be fair, Madonna was much better than the black eyed peas.  Do they come from a country where it's illegal to sing on key?  And speaking of the superbowl, the commercials were just as awful as Madonna.  None of them were funny, or clever, or even cute.  They were just awful.  Wow, I'm really off topic here.

Contraception isn't really my point, and neither is religion.  I certainly won't ever be working at a religiously affiliated anything.  For one thing, what if they googled me and found my blog?  But there are people out there, you know them as "Republicans", who are using this argument to further their claim that the President is engaged in a war on religion.  These people should be ashamed of themselves. 

This whole "war on religion" talking point is just a slightly more subtle way of suggesting that the President isn't really a Christian, so he isn't really an American.  After the last election, I thought the Republicans would realize their mistakes and spend these last few years coming up with, you know, policies and ideas.  Instead, most of the normal people left the party or stopped caring, the party got taken over by morons and they're doubling down on the nonsense. 

Instead of having a 2012 election about two competing ideas of what's best for the future of the country, we appear to be headed for a Republican platform about Obama's war on religion (nonsense), how tax cuts magically create jobs (more nonsense) and how the President who ordered people to shoot bin laden in the face is somehow weak on foreign policy (super nonsense). 

I've been looking forward to this election since the last one ended.  I love elections.  But as we get closer to this one, it seems like it's mostly going to suck.  I'm preparing for a swirling vortex of corporate superpac money and non-fact-based talking points.  I'm also preparing to not give money to either candidate, because I've just stopped listening.  In fact, I may not even vote for President when I go to the polls in November to vote for Elizabeth Warren (that's right, Elizabeth Warren is going to be my Senator.  When it happens, it'll be the first thing about any state that's better than anything about New York).

Well, I wouldn't vote for President, or I'd vote for a third party candidate for fun.  Except, the Republicans keep reminding me that they're theocrats, so I have to vote against them.  Not because I believe in the President that much anymore, but just because I'm annoyed.