Keeping an eye on the enemy

I've had an epiphany while lamenting the presence of FoxNews on the television.  Yes, Dad has been watching again.  Let's see what I can come up with in response to the conservative hypocracy.

Of course I must declare that Ann Coulter has no soul.

I can sort of see how higher taxes and government spending for the unemployed and impoverished could seem unfair to the rich.  But I think that Congressman talking about Christmas spirit (or in O'Reilly's opinion, "co-opting Jesus"), made a good point...especially during this season of giving, how can anybody ultimately reject the notion of helping those in need?  Naturally the conservatives draw a line between private charity and government services, but really, both help put food on tables and presents in children's hands.  Not to mention paying bills and mortgages and keeping people in their homes.

You can quote the Bible and interpret parables all you want (though FoxPeople don't see it as interpretation...), but it really comes down to being human.  Can you really stand to see suffering in all its degrees:  from skimping on gifts to unemployment to all-out homelessness...while you sit pretty on a mound of cash?  Even conservative economists agree that money in the hands of the lower classes and unemployed is better spent than money in the hands of the rich (most likely eventually re-routed to foreign accounts...not creating jobs).  Can you believe that Coutler and O'Reilly think money to the poor amounts to the taxpayers "buying" alcohol and drugs and financing illegitimate children?  That in itself is a most un-Christian view of the poor.

Now I'm not saying that every unemployed person out there is a saint.  But it's insensitive and classist and wrong to assume that everyone in a certain class are irresponsible and misguided.  I was further incensed by the suggestion that people who are unemployed like me somehow deserve it.  There are those who have given up...but those aren't the ones getting unemployment assistance are they?  The poor didn't choose to be poor, Mr. O'Reilly.

I am, however, concerned that government assistance merely perpetuates the presence of extreme poverty among the ill-educated and under-served.  As I write this I'm thinking of the film Precious...and its grim look at welfare and how it is used and abused.  But really, I'm starting to doubt whether an education can really lift someone out of that kind of hole.  Seeing as my education is worthless at this point.