Truth About Debt Ceiling, Taxes, etc, etc, etc

"'When I use a word', Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, 'it means just what I want it to mean.'

'The question is', said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

'The question is', said Humpty Dumpty, which is to  be master--that's all.'"
          -- Lewis Carroll


For months I have been puzzled by the strange time in which we live. Maybe it's always been this way we just did not have 24 hours news to blare it out constantly. I find it so hard to believe that there are people who will not believe the facts even though they are handed to them.

We have a multitude of people that still believe that President Obama was not born in the United States. Somebody calls them:  birthers. Every piece of documentation we have states simply he was born in Hawaii--not Kenya or the moon or whatever. Some of these same people are just sure that our President is a closet Muslim. There is absolutely no evidence for this charge--he has been a practicing Christian for many years.

We have a group of people who represent us in Washington that proclaim that this raising the debt ceiling is no big deal. That we really don't have to act on this matter by August 2nd. Every economist of note has said constantly that this is a most serious matter. Experts say that the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling will be terrible to our already faltering economy. No wonder even the Republican leadership is very frightened.

The mantra of the Republicans is: "We don't have a spending problem, we have an income problem." FactCheck.Org knocks the half-truths of this matter in the head with concrete facts. I' ve written before of my trust of this group that fact checks all sides--Democrat and Republican. This particular article states clearly the fallacy of the spending/income problem. You can get an email from this fine group every week if you wish and I have found it most helpful.

This is the first (and longest) war where we never raised taxes. 20% goes toward defense. In the eyes of most politicians defense is a sacred cow which cannot be touched. Nicholas D. Kristof, in Sunday's New York Times has written a brilliant piece in which he points out that we believe that supporting schools in Afghanistan is the cheapest and most effective way to build a country. Consequently we have poured enormous amounts of money into schools there. He points out that at the same time our public school system in our own country is being grossly neglected. Read his words for yourself.

Maybe we ought to challenge the lies and half-truths that float around on the lips of politicians and regular citizens as if they were the truth. Maybe we ought to risk kindly speaking truthful words when we hear conversations about national matters that are simply not true.

Many of these people who do not believe the facts even after they have been shown--I  believe love this country. I would not question their patriotism. But I would say if we build a society on half-truths and lies--we are in for some very dark days.

"The first casualty in any war is truth."
        --Hiram Johnson,
             speech, 1917