Birther Nation

First, congratulations are in order for Sonia Sotomayer who was confirmed by the United States Senate today as the nation's 111th Supreme Court justice, the third woman and first Hispanic on that bench! The vote was 68 to 31, with 9 Republicans voting in favor of her confirmation, 4 of those are retiring. Only one Senator was not present, Ted Kennedy, who is dealing with health problems. And in a big One Finger Salute to the fastest growing minority in America, all 31 votes against Judge Sotomayer were from the Republicans.
Sadly, todays confirmation only replaces one liberal/progressive/sanity leaning justice with another one. What we really need is crazy boy Antonin Scalia (73) to retire, or Roberts, Thomas, Alito, or Kennedy (also 73) for that matter. The balance of power on the court with Sotomayer on it is the same that put George Bush in office in 2000.
Perhaps Ruth Bader Ginsburg (76) and John Paul Stevens (89) should consider retirement while President Obama is still in office to make sure the court doesn't shift more to the right. Both are fine judges (and that John Paul is a hell of a base player), but getting a twidge, how shall I put this...old. That would be sure to drive the Republicans crazier than they already are.
Speaking of which, it becomes increasingly clear that the Republican Party has nothing to offer this nation except to maintain the status quo. If you are resistant to change, any change at all, even change that benefits you personally, or the nation as a whole, than the Republican Party is the one for you. If you wish to keep multi-international corporations, banking, insurance, and health interests in the positions of power over the government that they enjoy today, the Republican Party is the one for you. If you are a racist, a bigot, or a hypocrite, the Republican Party is the one for you. If you are ignorant, unable to make decisions on your own and need to be lead by others throughout life, the Republican Party is the one for you. If you wish to impose your will on others, are a bully, and cannot resist peer pressure, the Republican Party is the one for you. If you wish to dismiss reality in favor of ideology, if you wish to hide your scandalous behavior with bogus religious fervor, or to be as irresponsible as to ignore the dangers of dramatic environmental change, and against science in general (except of course those little things like cell phones, automobiles, and electricity that science has given us), the Republican Party is the one for you.
Given that the Republicans have nothing to offer this nation other than to keep the way things are the same, and they are out of power directly because of their outrageous excesses, the only way to advance their agenda is to use fear mongering, lies, deceit, propaganda, and the huge money reserves their corporate owners have at their disposal. And they do it quite well.
The latest display of this is the rise of the Birther movement. Seemingly emerged from the Tea Baggers of last April, the Birthers claim that President Obama is not an American citizen, and thereby not eligible to be President of the United States, despite ordinary evidence (a birth certificate) that proves otherwise, and which is wholly available to them, and everyone else. Stirred up by the likes of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and now health care interests who are adamantly against single payer, or a public option plan, these poor mindless bastards are using the only tool available to them... make as much noise as possible. The right wing media, including CNN's Lou Dobbs (who is losing ratings because of his position) states that all Obama needs to do is to produce a birth certificate which will end the (fake) controversy. Apparently the one pictured above is not good enough for them because it is merely a Certificate of Live Birth, which only proves that Barack Obama was born alive, in Hawaii, in 1961. I don't know about you dear reader, but I don't get the distinction.
Then again I am hampered by sanity.
The Birther movement, which is increasingly revealing itself to be racist in nature, has produced an obviously forged Republic of Kenya birth certificate, claiming Obama was born there in 1961. A problem for the birthers is that Kenya did not become a Republic until 1964.
These same people are now being given their marching orders from the health insurance industry, and their lobbyists, to simply disrupt town hall like community meetings, with members of Congress discussing the current health care bills being advanced, with shouting, bullying, and other forms of intimidation. These people are nuts, shouting out their fear of a socialist health care taking over the nation, while most of them are receiving the benefits of medicare (a government run, single payer, ie, socialist system).
Fortunately the majority of Americans actually want progressive health care changes in this country. 1,400 Americans go bankrupt every hour in this country (the economy another victim of the Bush administration), largely due to sky-rocketing health care costs. The danger involved with the Birther movement, and these mobs being manufactured by the right wing fringe, is that they are increasingly becoming more hostile and violent, in both word and deed. Receiving encouragement from the Republican noise machine, corporate lobbyists, and Republican members of Congress, these poor people are being used in a most atrocious manner, and are venting their biased, racist, ignorant views, and being whipped up into violent mobs.
Those responsible must be held accountable for the thuggish actions of their creations.