POLITICAL COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

ALL WITHIN MY LIFETIME

As Dennis Miller would say, "I'm not going to go off on a rant here, but..."

These pictures were both taken in the year of my birth, 1956.

I have lived 58 years and I have seen many incredible things in my lifetime...computers have gone from room size to the size of a watch, we have gone from volumes of encyclopedias to internet searches unlimited in their abilities to quickly disseminate information and we put a man on the moon. We have gone from having to get up off the couch to change the channel on the television to wireless everything and we have, or are so close to curing diseases today which would have carried death sentences in the beginning of my lifetime.

But when it comes to race relations and the elimination of bigotry, we have done so very little. Oh sure we no longer have separate but equal and we even elected a black president. But in the heart of hearts of many Americans...in the true hearts of many Americans...these pictures symbolize the good old days.

We have progressed as a society in so many other ways, but lately I have to wonder if we have progressed at all. Pick up a newspaper, any newspaper and you will see one abhorrent, needless death after another. Some say they are not race related at all, but the numbers speak for themselves. And they are scattered all over our once great nation...these are not regional at all...and they are increasing in frequency. What's more, Lady justice is more than blind to it, she is deaf as well.

Should I be surprised? After all, it took until my twelfth birthday for the nation to pass a voting rights bill. No, I am not surprised...I am appalled and ashamed. And seeing these pictures make me uncontrollably sad. Because as a human being I can't help but put myself in their places and feel at least a modicum of what they must have felt. It's inhuman and beneath a modern people that should be more evolved than this.
So many deaths...so many needless acts of violence. Ferguson, Florida and on and on. We are failing as a nation in many ways...and we are failing as rational, thinking, feeling human beings in so many others. Will it ever go away? Will bigotry ever be a thing of the past? I am afraid it won't..at least not in my lifetime. It's incomprehensible that we as a nation will fail to treat everyone equally in at least the first 250 years of what we used to call the greatest nation on the face of the planet. Some democracy.

I stumbled upon these pictures and they made me sad. And appalled. And ashamed.

 

God bless America...and God forgive us Americans...for we, the great democracy...are failing to offer the most basic of human rights...and our beliefs go against the very foundation of the Bible...that all men and women are descendants of a higher power and worthy of human dignity and respect, and equality. Not in my lifetime, and that is very sad.

That's the world...the "World According to Kimba." Thanks for reading. I bid you peace.

REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM

I understand the GOP's reticence towards entering into a nuclear agreement with Iran, I really do. They have shown a repeated pattern of behavior unworthy of trust or respect when it comes to their defense capabilities. Trust but verify will certainly be warranted, and that should go towards trusting  the sitting President (and the State Department's) ability to negotiate an agreement.  After all, the current effort to negotiate the easing of sanctions in return of the elimination of Iran's efforts to becoming a nuclear power is a multi-national effort. But I get it...caution must be taken.
However, the GOP never shows
 caution, or diplomacy, or statesmanship for that matter. They rush to judgment, they rush to action and they frequently look foolish when they do. But never and I mean never in my forty plus years of following current events have I seen two efforts so poorly conceived or carried out as the invitation of the Israeli Prime Minister to address Congress (who blatantly used the Republican leaders as a last ditch effort to save his job), and the incredibly insipid and inaccurate sending of a cautionary letter to the leaders of Iran involving the negotiation process.
They have made world wide laughing stocks of themselves again.
John McCain said it was rushed because another snowstorm was headed their way and the 47 signers wanted to hurry up and get home. Ridiculous. Ridiculous invitation, ridiculous letter and a ridiculous excuse. And they wonder why they get no respect from the electorate....they embarrassed me and the entire nation. Good job.
And that is the world...the World According to Kimba. Thanks for reading.