Troubled By Comparisons

By William L. Garvin

 

It would be much easier to be an anti-theist in this day and age if one suffered from a bipolar affliction.  On one hand, anti-theists represented by American Atheists are a seething cauldron of hyper sensitivities and on the other hand, they are totally insensitive to the needs of others.  A good example of the former pole is their lawsuit against the World Trade Center and an equally appalling example of the latter is the American Humanist Association lawsuit against a grieving mother in Lake Elsinore, California.

 

In the first instance, many will remember the cross-shaped I-beam that was found in the wreckage after 9/11.  It served as a rallying point and symbol of inspiration for many in the chaotic aftermath of 3,000 murdered Americans.  It is to be included in the WTC memorial museum.  The very thought of that iconic symbol being displayed caused anti-theists “physical and emotional pain…dyspepsia, depression, headaches, anxiety, and mental pain and anguish.”   Surprisingly, these sensitive souls (oops…do anti-theists have souls?) failed to also list “loss of conjugal relations” amongst their many maladies.

 

On the other end of their bipolar scale is the AHA lawsuit in Lake Elsinore.  A mother’s nineteen year old son was killed by a vehicle and she put up a cross and flowers at the roadside of the scene.  The militant anti-theists decided that her show of grief had gone on long enough and because it was on public property, the cross constituted the state establishment of religion.  Remember, these are the folks who don’t want “In God We Trust” on our currency, prayer in school, Jesus Christ in our military, or any religious symbol in any public setting.  Curiously, their anti-religion, anti-God legal jihad never extends to the Muslim front.

 

Comparison Number Two:  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is the front runner for the “Boldest Liar in Congress” award.  It seems that the little leader is not only content with telling the biggest whoppers but also has no misgivings about using the senate floor to attack private individuals.  His latest target has been the Koch brothers, the evil villain du jour for the Democrat Party.  Naturally he ignored the $139 million the Kochs donated to MIT; $100 million to Lincoln Center; $41 Million to Prostate Cancer Foundation; $30 million to Sloan-Kettering; and $15 million to NY Presbyterian Hospital.  In total, they have donated more than $600 million to arts, education and medical research.  Their sin of course is the $18 million they donated to Republican political causes.

 

Harry also ignored the fact that OpenSecrets.org lists them as 59^th on the donation list.  He ignored Numero Uno on the list which is AFSCME at $60.6 million.  Harry, six of the top ten donors are unions.  Yes, it’s estimated the Koch brothers do contribute tens of millions of “dark money” to independent committees but it’s also estimated that the unions contribute half a billion in this fashion.  Tell me again, Harry, who’s spending the most to buy elections?  Why are you so hung up on the Koch brothers?

 

Another unfortunate comparison occurred in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  The representatives of the State Department, the Defense Department, and USAID were asked two simple questions.  One, how much is the U.S. spending in Afghanistan; two, how many American troops were killed in Afghanistan in 2013?  None of the three was able to answer either of the questions.  Apparently our free press, which virtually ran daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and total body counts and war costs during the Bush era, is now so lax that these folks have never had to prepare a boiler plate answer let alone an honest answer.  Unfortunately, this lack of accountability has become the rule rather than the exception during the current administration.

 

Finally, the Obama administration jumped for joy when the Gallup poll showed that the uninsured rate had dropped from 17.1% the last quarter of 2013 to 15.9% the first quarter of 2014.  In comparison, Gallup also showed that way back in 2008, before all this chaos, before all this expense, before all this chicanery, before this manufactured debacle, the uninsured rate was 14.8%!  And that my friends is what liberals call progress!