It's Time To Panic Over Ebola!
(Yet again, Republicans are categorically wrong, their heads so ensconced in The Dark Place they need glass belly buttons to see out.)
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"Conservatives Frighten More Easily Than Liberals"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/07/conservatives-scare-more-easily-than.html
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http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/07/conservatives-scare-more-easily-than.html
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Nietzsche cautioned: 'When fighting an enemy, take care not to become one.'
How is it that we humans become the very thing we hate most?
The answer lies in Sacred Scripture.
Contentious creatures that we are, few pastimes are as alluring as "Dueling Bible Verses."
Lamentably, we find scriptural justification for the whole spectrum of human experience, vengeance, violence and punishment leading the pack.
Recall that King David bought the first of his seven wives by slicing off 200 Philistine foreskins... even though "bride price" had been set at 100.
Lamentably, we find scriptural justification for the whole spectrum of human experience, vengeance, violence and punishment leading the pack.
Recall that King David bought the first of his seven wives by slicing off 200 Philistine foreskins... even though "bride price" had been set at 100.
"Is The Bible More Violent Than The Quran?"
More recently, The Inquisition executed its final victim -- a Spanish school teacher -- in 1826, just a century before Christian fascist Generalísimo Francisco Franco collaborated with Mussolini and Hitler. Unlike his short-lived bedmates, Franco remained in power until 1976.
Notably, Franco, Mussolini and Hitler were cradle Catholics.
Notably, Franco, Mussolini and Hitler were cradle Catholics.
Francisco Franco
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In the end, we put our faith in values that seem most essential.
Sometimes the "seeming" values that appeal to us most are inspired by the fallen angels of our nature.
It is tonic to recall St. Paul: 'Satan himself comes disguised as an Angel of Light.'
Sometimes the "seeming" values that appeal to us most are inspired by the fallen angels of our nature.
It is tonic to recall St. Paul: 'Satan himself comes disguised as an Angel of Light.'
And, as Unamuno noted: "Lucifer was an angel too."
While "Christian" conservatives champion bible verses typically located outside The Four Gospels, my own angels tell me that 1 John 4:18 and Matthew 5:44 comprise the crus of Yeshua's teaching.
"Love Your Enemies. Do Good To Those Who Hate You," Matthew 5:44
"Any Religion That Needs Fear To Thrive Is Bad Religion"
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2016 GOP Candidates Rally Around Fear
For once, President Barack Obama and Texas Gov. Rick Perry are on the same page. At separate briefings on the Ebola crisis, Obama administration officials and Perry have delivered the same message: Don’t panic — the health authorities know what they’re doing.
But for other Republicans — and conservative media outlets — it’s time for panic.
The likely 2016 Republican presidential candidates — except for Perry — are practically lining up to warn that the Obama administration isn’t doing enough to keep Ebola out of the United States, now that Dallas is dealing with the nation’s first confirmed case.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky declared on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that “this could get beyond our control” and worried, “Can you imagine if a whole ship full of our soldiers catch Ebola?”
Sen. Ted Cruz — Perry’s Texas colleague — raised the prospect of restricting or banning flights to the West African countries that are hardest hit by the disease, noting in a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration that some African nations and certain airlines have already imposed their own flight bans.
Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin floated the idea of quarantining airline passengers in the affected African countries before they could fly out. “We’re learning a lot about how it’s spread but the question is ‘How can a person just jump on a plane and get here without a quarantine period of 21 days,’ which I believe is recommended,” he said on a radio talk show Wednesday. A spokesman for Ryan says the congressman misspoke and was referencing a recommendation to bemonitored for 21 days.
And Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says the United States should cut off flights from those countries. “President Obama said it was ‘unlikely’ that Ebola would reach the U.S. Well, it has, and we need to protect our people,” he said in a statement Friday.
In fact, of the 2016 Republican hopefuls who have commented on the Ebola crisis, Perry is the only one who has been a reassuring voice.
At a Wednesday press conference in Dallas, he made all of the points public health experts make to reduce public fears: You can’t catch it by breathing it, people aren’t contagious before they have any symptoms, and it’s much harder to catch than the common cold. And he gave public health officials a strong vote of confidence: “Rest assured that our system is working as it should. Professionals on every level of the chain of command know what to do to minimize this potential risk to the people of Texas and of this country, for that matter.”
If anything, the calmer voices have been coming from Republicans who aren’t about to jump into the White House race. Paul’s father, former Rep. Ron Paul, took the opposite line from his son — he warned people not to overreact. John Cornyn, the other Texas senator, asked the administration about passenger screening, but not flight bans.
And House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, in a statement announcing a hearing on the crisis, declared that “the United States has a first-class health care system and we will do everything necessary to treat the sick, contain the threat, and protect the public health.”
It’s a glaring contrast, but most public health experts — including GOP health care experts — say there’s nothing wrong with the 2016 Republicans raising questions about the effectiveness of the Obama administration’s safeguards against Ebola, or asking whether stronger measures should be taken.
It’s the tone that makes all the difference in the world — especially for politicians who are basically auditioning for the role of commander in chief.
“It’s not that we should close our minds. It’s that they shouldn’t jump to extreme recommendations in public like this,” said William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University. “It gets in the way of reasoned discourse and public education.”
In fact, it was Perry — the error-prone 2012 presidential candidate — who got the best reviews for his efforts to calm the public about the Dallas Ebola case. “I thought he did pretty well,” Schaffner said. “My hat was off to him.”
Perry’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment on the harder line the other Republicans have taken.
The tone of the other 2016 Republicans was practically subdued, however, compared to the coverage of the Dallas Ebola case in some conservative media outlets. In the Washington Free Beacon, for example, an article by conservative commentator Matthew Continetti carried the headline: “The Case for Panic.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/gop-republicans-elections-2016-ebola-panic-111597.html#ixzz3FL1wKYVB
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