R.E. S. P. E. C. T

Interesting set of exchanges from Facebook.

M:  I don’t care what party you’re from...DO NOT sit behind a President and shuffle papers while he describes how a young woman was brutalized, tortured and murdered at the hands of a terrorist. DO NOT sit behind and shuffle papers while the story is told of the ultimate sacrifice given by a young military man, while his wife and young son look on. The families of these people who gave their lives were sitting in the gallery and there are literally Congress-people NOT STANDING in honor of them. I am disgusted. I want to throw up. It is not about YOU!  It is NOT about party politics. It is about young people, humanitarians and military, and the daily sacrifices they suffer. I never get involved in politics on social media and don’t plan to start. I always watch my language on social media but tonight I have this to say...GET OFF YOUR POMPOUS ASSES AND STAND in HONOR of ANYONE who serves in any capacity. No matter whether you like the man standing at the podium or not.  Do not propose to serve your country in elected office if you can’t, AT A MINIMUM stand in honor of those who serve. Shame on all of you. Shame on all who have made divisiveness what it is today. And that goes out to ANY party member who furthers this nonsense. But mostly it goes to anyone who is so eaten up with hatred that they cannot honor those who do what not many choose to do. #IamoverthisBS

Me:  Yes let’s honor those who serve like Trump when he insulted, yes, attacked a gold star family. Yes like taking money from the military to build his silly wall. Yes like attacking John McCain, a war hero, and smearing and slandering him as well. Yeah what respect this guy shows to the military!

N:  He does not know the meaning of the word respect

SF:  The paper was the copy of his speech he handed to her when he refused to shake her hand. To follow the speech she had to turn the pages.

D:  I have to been taught to treat others as I would like to be treated. Don’t believe I  need to say anymore as I wish to be treated with respect. .

Me:  You don’t hold Trump to that standard. OK she tore up the papers to show contempt for his posturing. But this is the man who says he grabs women by the pussy, stalks married women to seduce them, insults...well you know all the things he does. Is there no limit to whi should be treated with respect? Should we treat a rapist with a great deal of respect? How about a Nazi who screaming about how he wants to murder all the Jews? Respecting a person for their humanity is different from respecting the way a person behaves and conducts himself. It’s like tolerance. Tolerance doesn’t mean you tolerate everything and anything. There are limits.

More Washington as Star Trek

The GOP as the Cardassians, conquering wherever they can, seizing every opportunity by employing any methodologies, however vile. They're totally ruthless, yet, somehow, they can't seem to hold on to what they've already won, much less make any more gains. However, there seems to be some hope for them. At least a few Cardassians are willing to admit that perhaps they have taken the wrong path.

The Democrats as the Federation . They mean well... No, they really do mean well. It's just that they're so wimpy. They let enemies behave ruthlessly until the enemies become such a threat that they must be faced and then it's too late to do it without bloodshed and horror. I'm not sure there's any future for them. Still, with Capt. Sisko speaking for the prophets and Capt. Janeway now returned home, there may yet be a shred of hope.

The Koch brothers as members of the Q, mysterious super beings, who meddle in human affairs for their own amusement.

The Right Wing smear machine as the Obsidian Order, spreading disinformation, propaganda and outright lies to support the ambitions of the Cardassian Empire.

Rush Limbaugh as Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd, notorious con artist and grifter. He'll say or do say anything for money and power. If he won't take the part, it could be admirably played by Glenn Beck. In fact, anyone working for Fox News, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, etc. will do in a pinch, but they're third rate grifters at best.

George Bush (aka: Junior, Georgie Porgie, Dunderhead the First, King George IV , etc.) as Nomad, the Earth probe which is taken over by the alien device Tan Ru, transforming him into a brutal destroyer of civilizations.

Dick Cheney as Data's evil brother, Lor. Ruthless and cruel, he hates everything except himself, but can tolerate the existence of sycophants.

Fox News as the Borg. Once they get their hands on you, you are assimilated. Resistance is futile!

It may not be Star Trek, and I've already used him twice, but how about Bill Clinton as Neville Chamberlain? Faced with the so-called Reagan Revolution, instead of undoing the damage his predecessor had so carefully crafted during his administration, Clinton started his terms of office by agreeing that the era of big government was over. We're still paying the price for that capitulation.

Note: I never liked Clinton and I still don't -- just in case you haven't figured that out yet. Oh, and I mean Bill, not Hillary. She's getting a bit long in the tooth, but she's still sexy.

We all know about Rush Limbaugh's smear of American women. We know he wants to enjoy seeing our wives and daughters having sex for his enjoyment. I must comment.

The bottom line is that Limbaugh had insulted every American woman who has ever used contraceptives covered by thier health care insurance.  He not only calls them sluts and prostitutes, he says they should post videos of thier sex acts for him to enjoy.  Millions of American men should be defending the honor of their wives and daughters.  Of course, some of us are American males and some of us are American men.  Limbaugh has made it easy to differentiate.

Let me add that free contraceptives are not at issue.    Contrary to the hysterical men like Limbaugh, the contraceptives in question were either covered by the University's health plan or not covered.  That was the issue.  Since health insurance is never free in this country, no ones' precious money was being given away.

  I suppose a wealthy donor to Georgetown University might make a contorted argument that some of his donation might be used to help insure women's health (what a waste of precious money!), but everyone else should shut up, until and unless they donate a large sum to the university.

I also answer the "Why should I pay for it," crowd by asking, why should I for your being saved by a fire department or police department or military paid for with my money?  We live in a society.  We work together to make it better.  This is being human.

Don't want to do your share? Drop out and live alone in the mountains without any help and without any of society's benefits, like roads, electricity, stores, doctors, and so on.  Have fun, rugged individualist