Where Has The Civility Gone?

Civility, where has it gone? There was a time we could agree to disagree and that your political opponent was just that and not your enemy. I've noticed a big change over the last decade and have decided to put some mental notes down in my blog.

I have been witness to some horrible actions by my fellow citizens. When someone depicts a black man as Hitler, something has gone seriously wrong. To misapply history is such a way is not only a discredit to those who actually did suffer at the hands of that beast, it shows a total and complete lack of historical knowledge. What's worse, when presented with facts to the contrary, one will still cling to their beliefs and try to align them into reality dooming all of us to repeat history.

Well folks, I've seen enough and I'm extremely embarrassed by the actions of some in this country. I have no problem with free speech until it is abused for political advantage, which is what they do. Now many are very pissed off at my President. That would be ok, if you had a case, but he really hasn't done anything yet and quite frankly, I'm pissed off because I believe these folks are the cause of their own problems, as well as mine. Put the blame where it belongs or STFU is my opinion.

All this talk of government take over are from the same folks who think that a president wiretapping all US communication in the name of international terrorists is okay, and un-American if you disagree. Again, I can think of two words for people who think like this, any guesses as to what they may be?

So, I started to take a mental inventory but had to start writing it down because it's hard to keep track of everything. Here's my POV of the last decade as to the decline of civility in public discussions. These are off the top of my head, I am open to suggestions and revisions.

Let's start with Joe Wilson and work our way backwards;

• Joe Wilson breaks House rules by calling the President a liar while he is speaking during his address to congress regarding health care reform. I do that to my boss and my ass is fired. All Joe had to do was apologize, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO he sorta did but he's not really sorry. Numerous bipartisan fact checkers point out that there will not be any coverage for illegal aliens.

• Earlier in the week, Obama issues a speech to the nations school children. Conservatives everywhere throw a hissy fit that he's trying to poison minds without reading it for themselves.

• Glenn Beck calls Obama racist and that he hates white people (forgetting the fact that his mother is white, as well as half of his family).

• Obama wants to kill your grandparents, replace them with illegal aliens and cover them under his health care plans of reform government takeover and forced socialism.

• Heart disease is the #1 killer of Americans.

• Bat crazy raving in public is patriotic.

• People turn the open discussion of health care reform into shouting matches with ridiculous comparisons to Hitler and the Nazis.

• Obama creates town hall meetings so we can discuss our options on health care reform.

• Republicans (and Fox News loyalists) call it a failure because it ran out of money so quickly.

• Cash for clunkers spurs auto sales, takes gas guzzlers off the road and is extremely popular with the American people.

• Now the President is blamed for the whole economic mess and Republicans everywhere suffer from collective amnesia when we wonder who screwed up in the first place.

• Our economy is on the verge of economic melt down, Obama continues the bailout started by the Bush administration.

• Tea Baggers take to the streets to protest, not realizing what the term "Tea Baggers" really means.

• Republicans and the WH actually agree on a stimulus plan, then all as one, they vote against it when the time comes to be counted.

• Sarah Palin quits as governor of Alaska, but it's a good thing.

• Sotomayor is nominated for the Supreme Court. A racist Hispanic who's later confirmed.

• Obama wins the Presidential election by garnering more than 8 million votes over McCain in the popular vote. Dems gain more control over Congress and for his efforts, Obama inherits well over two trillion dollars of debt.

Let's go back to the campaign.

• Bush begins bailing out Wall Street.

• Lehman Bros fails, AIG follows.

• Jobs are dropping like flies, American auto companies too.

• Obama is a radical Muslim, yet he has to explain his relationship with a Christian Pastor.

• The US spends nearly 2.4 trillion dollars on health care in 2008 (17% of it's GDP). More and more Americans are foregoing health care coverage due to rising costs.

• We find out that Sarah Palins daughter is an unwed pregnant teen. Conservatives flock to her defense like a pit bull. How brave she is to be shattering such glass ceilings.

• Obama isn't American and was born in Kenya, or Indonesia or Hawaii, one of those foreign countries. His mother isn't white or American either (her uncles didn't fight in WWII too). Lucky for McCain he was on a military base in Panama when he was born and yes, his parents were US citizens in case you are worried about his legal status. Unlucky for Obama because he was born on US soil, has a valid birth certificate, hospital records confirm it. It actually appeared in the paper (American of course) under "births". For some, that's just not enough.

• Obama is going to take away your guns because he's an Islamofascissts terrorisstss.

• I lost my raise due to increased health care costs.

• Obama doesn't have enough experience, since he's only a "community organizer". If only Illinois was geographically close to Canada or some other foreign land. Caribou Barbi however, is up to the job! *wink*

• McCain is nominated and selects Sarah Palin as his "running mate". Conservatives promptly flock to this breath of fresh air, as a baby is to shiny, jangly keys and fall into a zombie like state. Only to accuse Obama as the Messiah to his followers.

• Obama consorts with known terrorists. While it's Rumsfeld pictured shaking Saddam's hand in the early 80's.

• Insurance companies can reject your coverage if you have a prior condition, like hemorrhoids.

• Larry Craig (R Idaho) is busted in an airport restroom for soliciting gay sex doing his Fred Astaire impersonation.

• Obama is a distraction for the Clinton campaign and Democrats in general. Hillary beats him up so badly that either one is going to lose to the Republican challenger.

• Obama wins in Iowa.

• Obama announces presidential bid.

Going back even farther;

• Economy weakens, starts shedding jobs. Americans are working more and getting paid less over the last decade. Health care eats up wages.

• We're finding more kids are left behind when it comes to education.

• Bush attempts Social Security reform by privatizing it. The plan goes over well, just like a lead balloon. The AARP gets Swiftboated because of it.

• Mark Foley (R Florida) likes young boys. Apparently the Republican leadership knew about it for over a year prior before doing something about it.

• Rush Limbaugh is detained in with a sack full of Viagra after a recent visit to the Dominican Republic, well known for their child sex trade, and he was traveling with four men. As it turns out, those pills weren't his, but the Oxycontin that he was Dr shopping for were.

• Many Americans are choosing between their house or their health.

• What's up with Iran?

• Insurance companies put caps on total health care reimbursement. Patriotism running high.

• The Taliban are making a big comeback in Afghanistan, opium poppies are the chief export crop and largest money maker for this country of rubble and bomb craters (and pipelines).

• Dick Cheney shoots hunting partner, nothing is reported to authorities until the next day. His victim apologizes for being shot.

• As it turns out, the wiretapping plans were far more extensive than previously stated. Crickets are heard chirping at the RNC and WH, congress says "huh?".

• Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans. Bush plays guitar in California before flying over the scene days after. Plenty of people with functioning brains are left to fend for themselves.

• People on fixed incomes (mostly the elderly) have to choose between their Rx or their lunch.

• Obama speaks on the troubled banking industry, namely the housing market, but is largely ignored by the Majority party (republicans).

• Glenn Beck says “I didn't think I could hate victims faster than the 9/11 victims”.

• Bush declares "Ownership Society"

• Terry Shaivo finally dies, officially as her heart stops beating. The autopsy shows her brain is mostly a gel like liquid, coincidentally much like the ones who tried to err on the side of her life.

• Osama Bin Laden is still not accounted for, Bush doesn't really think about him that much, although I'm sure he's on the minds of the 911 families.

• Congress acts on the behalf of brain dead Terry Schaivo, Bush "errs on the side of life" as America watches the federal gov intervene into personal lives.

• Democracy is on the march in the middle east!

• Again, there's no insurgency in Iraq.

• We're staying the course in Iraq (and making progress - millions of Iraqi's are ready to stand up).

• America is the only industrialized country on the planet where it's citizens declare bankruptcy over medical bills.

• Anybody know today's terror alert status?

• Still no WMD's but lots of IED's.

• Republican Senator Sensenbrenner (MN) takes his gavel and goes home when the Democrats want to discuss/review the Patriot act.

• Gas spikes at over $4 per gallon.

• North Korea reconstitutes nuclear weapons program. We can't meet with them directly because that would be validating their actions.

• Keith Olbermann goes apoplectic.

• Bill O'Reilly again says the same statement that Americans killed Germans at Malmady when interviewing Gen Wesley Clark.

• We find out that the US goes to war the equipment we got, not what we want, who cares that we did the invading?

• Obama elected as the Jr Senator from Illinois after serving in the state legislature since 1997. Gives the keynote address to the Democratic 2004 convention.

• There's no such thing as an insurgency in Iraq.

• Bill O'Reilly says his words were taken out of context and was misunderstood.

• Keith Olbermann points out that it was Americans massacred at Malmady, By Nazi's.

• Bill O'Reilly accuses American troops in WWII at Malmady of executing Germans to justify the civilians killed in Iraq.

• Iraqi's are more likely to die a violent death unlike BEFORE the invasion, when they were likely to die due of natural causes, such as disease, accidents, old age etc...

• Innocent civilians are killed by US troops in Iraq.

• Wiretapping plans discovered, but we're assured that it's only international calls. Nothing to worry about here. FISA is does not apply anymore since the rules have changed, even though the FISA court still exists.

• Nobody else seems to know exactly how many Iraqi civilians have been killed.

• Mayo clinic study suggests that over 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since March of 2003.

• More working Americans are skipping preventative health care because they don't have coverage, or can't afford to buy it separately.

• Bush says "Bring it on". OBL still unaccounted for.

• Bush is re-elected on a platform of Smear, Fear and Queer bashing and proceeds to spend his "political capital". Many states put gay marriage initiatives on the presidential ballot. He supports Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage. Iraq war still going on, when they stand up, we will stand down because there's been a lot of progress going on here, regardless of Rumsfelds predictions.

• Terror alerts are raised and changed often.

• Saddam is captured in a spider hole, while his sons had already been caught and killed - in possession of billions of US dollars loaded in semi trucks. The Iraq war has become an occupation.

• Colin Powell resigns

• "Major combat operations have ended in Iraq" - GW Bush, 5/03.

• No WMD's found. Lots of oil though and a few weapons cache's that are left behind and unguarded, only to be descovered empty later.

• We're making progress in Iraq and staying the course.

• Abu Ghraib is discovered. The troops pay the price, the administration pays nothing.

• Valerie Plame CIA status is outed.

• The REAL Joe Wilson writes an op ed about WMD's. The WH goes into action.

• Our VP advocates for torture, says that his office is not a part of the executive branch when asked to turn over documents required for the National Archive.

• America spends more per capita on health care for it's citizens than Canada, & Canada covers all of it's citizens. In the US, millions are uninsured with little options for reasonable coverage/care.

• Patriot Act passes, as do most rights of Americans, few seem to notice or care as long as we are "safe".

• Rush Limbaugh is busted Dr shopping for Oxycontin but refuses to follow his own advice when it comes to drug abusers and stays on the air.

• George Bush and the Republican congress cut taxes to fill the government coffers so we can pay for the Iraq war (a first in American history during war time, China will be financing the efforts).

• Shock and Awe begins. Trillions of dollars to follow. Rumsfeld doubts it will last longer than six months.

• Democrats either cave in or go against the extreme feeling of patriotism in America.

• Who the hell is Ahmed Chalabi?

• Some dude named "Curveball" is an ideal informant.

• Flag lapel pins become all the rage.

• Our President lies to America in his State of the Union speech regarding yellow cake uranium from Niger. He's not impeached because he wasn't having an affair with his wife. Sorry Condi!

• Asking questions about invading Iraq makes one un-American.

• Colin Powell delivers the worlds worst best dog and pony show to the UN.

• Gas reaches $3 per gallon.

• Paul Wolfowitz testifies to congress that the Iraq war will cost less that $2 billion and that it will be repaid in Iraqi oil revenues. Suggestions of $100 billion war estimates are quickly shot down by the White House.

• Dick Cheney meets with heads of energy companies to discuss something about setting policies. We're not sure who was there, or what was said. Nothing to see here, move along please.

• George Bush creates the new agency; Homeland Security, vastly expanding the federal government to record levels. It comes with a really cool terror alert system.

• 911 happens, so we need to invade Iraq for WMD's and order the inspectors out (who have yet to find any). Now all the rules change at any time because we are under attack from Islamofascists. Remember, nearly 3,000 people were killed that horrible day, but we don't want to investigate what happened

• George Bush reads "The Pet Goat", proving that he can actually read.

• Rush Limbaugh eats Oxycontin as if it were Pez candy and looks startlingly thin, but he's deaf as hell.

• During a briefing on National Security in August 2001, the White House West (Crawford Tx) gets a memo saying something about terror attacks on the US, using commercial jets are imminent. Good thing 911 hasn't happened or we'd be real scared. On another note, the Bush Administration starts using toilet paper, from 100% recycled paper.

• George Bush is on vacation, again.

• Bush and Cheney are "elected" by the US Supreme Court to finally bring dignity and respect back to the White House. They're given an actual budget surplus to pay down the national debt. So, they cut taxes - the same ones that were in place during the economic boom that was the 90's.

At least I gave George Bush the chance to earn my ire. My President isn't even in office a year and beginning to clean up a toxic mess left behind by the last administration and we've got assholes like Joe Wilson interrupting his efforts. I point at people like Joe who ARE the problem but refuse to admit to it, because they are blind to it. If he wants to call the President a liar, he's a little late. The one that did repeatedly without any interruptions by Joe, has moved on.

At least let President Obama earn your wrath and contempt before turning into a pack of rabid, foaming at the mouth dogs. It is embarrassing as an American to witness.