"Dummies Talking to Dummies"

The country is awash in lies, double speak and a failure to exercise common sense. Politicians lie to everyone including supporters. Banks and insurance companies cheat customers without an ounce of shame. Opponents of health-care reform lie about what proposals really say. And Republicans equivocate about whether President Obama is actually American-born instead of saying 'there are some nuts in our party; we call them "birthers", just ignore them.' House Whip, Eric Cantor blames flak about the birther thing on the media that, admittedly, recognizes a juicy item when it falls into their lap.

Democrats Max Baucus, Alaska's Begich and Nebraska's Ben Nelson, not to be outdone by the fatuous stands of their counterparts, have been holding off committing to confirm Judge Sotomayor. Baucus, busy working on health care, said he hadn't given much thought to the nominee - - talk about not being able to walk and chew gum at the same time. Since that comment, however, he seems to have taken a moment to educate himself and is coming around. Nelson and Begich are said to be influenced by NRA disapproval of Sotomayor, as if making points with the NRA were their most pressing concern.

Virginia Foxx, R., NC, that grandmotherly-appearing wicked witch of the south, claims health-care legislation includes language about 'killing old people.' She may be remembered for asserting, during the House debate on a hate crimes bill named for Matthew Shepard, that he was killed during the commission of a robbery. The truth was that Shepard, a gay man, was lured from a bar by men who tortured and left him tied to a fence dying. Is accepting intellectually challenged individuals like Foxx what Republicans mean when they say they have a "big tent?"

Opponents of the president have also tried to benefit from the Crowley/Gates matter. The real 'teachable moment' reminds us that people are often willing to cede authority to anyone in uniform, lessons of the past having been lost on many of us. Polls indicate a majority of Americans think it was appropriate for Professor Gates to be handcuffed, hauled out of his house and jailed, for  "disturbing the peace"- - more likely, for disrespecting a police officer. According to Crowley's family, respect is a paramount concern for him, as opposed one assumes, to strict observance of actual law.

One of the most compelling aspects of the incident, however, is that so many people have stories to tell about unpleasant encounters with law enforcement, some racial, some not. Even one person, who was adamant about respecting the police, said she recalled from her experience as a counselor that some police officers had disturbing ego issues. And a Boston policeman's comment that Gates was a "banana-eating jungle monkey" should inform those who support the police uncritically that respect doesn't automatically attach to one segment of the population over another.

There's so much to be angry about these days one doesn't always take the time to address each concern. One personal source of irritation was that my credit-card rate is set to rise, albeit only slightly, but also become variable. The fact that the bank had solicited me some years back and agreed to a "fixed rate" was apparently irrelevant; the man on the other end of the phone told me earnestly, that banks have to make money too. After several fruitless attempts to dispute a seemingly obvious breach of a contractual obligation I gave up, neglecting to ask if he enjoyed working for liars and cheats.

It's all so frustrating, the interplay of politics and the powers that shape our lives. If only the people who regulate our world paid better attention to what impacts us most profoundly. When people fear the police and aren't convinced the legal system will treat them fairly, when banks propped up by taxpayers double-talk consumers into absurd terms for doing business and when war is doable but health-care reform is just too darn expensive, there's a real disconnect between ordinary Americans and their leadership.

Although our daily diet of gibberish may seem exceedingly silly, Bill Maher points out that the failure to respond quickly to the outrageous claims of Swift Boaters and White Waterers didn't work out so well. As he says, the Mainstream Media does "a lousy job of talking truth to stupid" so we end up with "dummies talking to dummies" by other means. Birther loonies, mean-spirited partisans and devious opponents of health-care reform must be relentlessly exposed for the ignorant rabble-rousers they are, as exhausting an exercise as that may be. Unfortunately, they can't just be ignored.