Let’s play a game. Try to come up with ways to pay off the $11 trillion national debt. Here’s some figures to get us started: last year the national budget was $2,650 billion dollars. We spent $412 billion of that paying JUST INTEREST. The debt has increased by more than 20% since January.

And… go!

The economic crisis currently gripping our country has been the top political issue in this country for months now. My blog is a political blog. Noticeably absent from it has been the top political issue in the country. Why? Because words can’t describe how angry, disappointed, and disgusted I am with the handling of it all.

Believe me, I’ve tried. There are many half-written posts on the subject. A starting paragraph followed by a rant followed by broken sentences that simply couldn’t be folded in coherently – not that my rants are terribly coherent to begin with. It almost makes me feel like I’ve somehow failed as a blogger. I’m normally a very articulate person. I’d like to at least think that I’m a rational, reasonable, persuasive person.

But every time I think of what the government has done on this my mind just fucking asplodes.

All but one of these value are in harmony with one another. All but one of these value can be put next to any other value on the list and it can be said that these two values are consistent and complementary of one another. The odd man out – the one value that clashes with each of the other conservative values, is religion.

I do, here and now, declare that theocracy is incongruent with every other conservative value. No, really, let’s look at it.

The following headlines were taken from the front page of Foxnews.com 10 minutes ago:
Space Station Crew Given ‘All Clear’ After Climbing Into Escape Module
Helicopter Carrying 18 Crashes in Atlantic
William Ayers Accused in 1970 Bombing
U.S. Wary of Upcoming N. Korea Missile Launch
Health Care ‘Value Gap’ Hurts U.S., Report Says
Ala. Gunman Depressed Before Massacre
Mexican Drug Lord Makes [...]

I am a friend of nature. I am an Eagle Scout. I am a conservationist. I go camping. I fish. I bike. I hike. I’ve raised money for keeping green space in our community from being turned into strip centers and town homes. I’ve built trails, reclaimed camp sites, and have planted quite literally hundreds of trees. Above all, I look forward to passing on the greatness of the outdoors to my own children some day. The environment is an issue that is very near and dear to my heart.

But it is a quality of life issue.