Another diversion for my short attention span

I never really liked Jay Leno (I just don't find him funny). Someone sent me this essay attributed to Leno. My comments are interjected. Long story short: I guess he thinks responses to the "How do yo feel about the direction America is headed?" poll question simply reflect people's comfort level or the depth of their wallets. He seems to be oblivious to any matters of morality, to the stability of our constitutional government or to the problems that face the masses who are not rich as hell. Anyway...

> Jay Leno wrote this; it's the Jay Leno we don't often see....
>
> As most of you know I am not a President Bush fan, nor have I ever been, but
> this is not about Bush, it is about us, as Americans, and it seems to hit
> the mark.
>
> The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some Poll data
> I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right?
>
> The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the
> direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy
> with the performance of the President. In essence 2/3 of the citizenry just
> ain't happy and want a change. So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started
> thinking, 'What are we so unhappy about?''
>
> A. Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 Days a
> week?
>
> B. Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer
> and heating in the winter?
>
> C. Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job?
>
> D. Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see
> more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?
>
> E. Maybe it is the ability to drive our cars and trucks from the Pacific

> Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers
> as we move through each state?
>
> F. Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the
> way that can provide temporary shelter?
>
> G. I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around
> the world is just not good enough either.
>
> H. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and
> provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the
> hospital.
>
> I. Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home.
>
> J. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a
> group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch
> equipment to extinguish the flames, thus saving you, your family, and your
> belongings.
>
> K. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar
> or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest
> will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.
>
> L. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias
> raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90% of teenagers own
> cell phones and computers.
>
> M. How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy
> that are the envy of everyone in the world?

The three percent of Americans who have been to or are in prison (and particularly the 1/4 of those who were jailed for non-violent drug offenses) would disagree about the status of social freedoms. I personally feel like my religious freedom is under threat as do many of my fellow American atheists (Bans on abortion and suicide are explicitly Bible-based. The use of public finds for religious proselytization in the form of prison ministries and abstinence education are thefts of my tax money by religious politicians. Having "In God we Trust" on my money and "Under God" in my Pledge of Allegiance are personal religious affronts endorsed by my government.) "Complete social and religious freedom" only exist for Christians who don't drink or smoke or or use drugs or have only heterosexual sex in the missionary position. In other words it doesn't exist, and there are those who would like to eliminate any illusion that it does exist.

>
>
> Maybe that is what has 67% of you folks unhappy.
>
> Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has
> ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for
> its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the
> world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate
> about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

Maybe he's privy to some information I'm not, but I've always heard the opposite--that foreigners have a problem with the US and not the people (even al Queda states that their beef with us is that we pay taxes that support the US government's actions against their people.) I don't think he has any fucking idea how most Americans live. I'll agree that there are a lot of stupid ungrateful people out there who don't appreciate what they have. For example, all of the idiots commuting in oversized trucks and SUVs have no right to complain about the price of oil, nor do any of the politicians who have allowed the propagation of this stupid huge truck trend in the US. But, to have our government create an unnecessary war that sucked-up not just our tax dollars but probably those of our children and to "justify" it with a series of lies and twisted "facts", unjustly persecute the people of the nation we went to war with and to say he did it because God told him to degrades our nation by undermining our basic expectations of fairness, truth, government transparency, and not having an insane man piss away trillions of our tax dollars on lunacy. This is something to be angry about not despite the fact that you have food on the table and a roof over your head but because you have those luxuries. To live in relative luxury is reason to want to elevate others and all the more reason to be ashamed of what we have done to the Iraqis. To live in a society where ultimately we are responsible for the conduct of our government officials is all the more reason to be upset when those officials mismanage our nation and conduct its business in a manner contradictory to fundamental human values.

>
> I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no
> plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval
> rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days
> after 9/11?

By standing atop a pile of rubble that he failed to prevent despite repeated warnings that an attack was imminent (just what percentage of his time had he spent on vacation at that point? 27% as of 2003--100 days more in three years that Clinton had in seven.) and waving a flag? I didn't feel led. I felt insulted. I still do. He gave the military permission to draw-up plans and go to Afganistan as he should have, but he commanded them to stop short of capturing Bin Ladin and then sent them into Iraq because of some manufactured reasoning. The president and hence the US's response the attack has been a huge disaster militarily and morally. We've created more terrorists than there were to begin with and given them really good reasons for wanting to hate us and attack us. I should thank him?

The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of
> recession?

Are we out of a recession? When the rich folks benefiting from the tax cuts start investing in new energy and transportation technologies and infrastructure, I'll consider considering the virtues of supply side economics. It only works if the rich are altruists, and people don't get rich by being altruists.

Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the
> book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from
> terrorist attacks?

Is there some reason to think that he is somehow personally responsible for us not being attacked? Is he that tight with the terrorists? Did he have the Saudis tell Bin Ladin to step off in exchange for not making a martyr out of him? I never felt threatened to begin with. Do I have him to thank for me still having a job? Would my car have broken down he he had not willed it to keep running? Maybe he's also responsible for the increases in teenage pregnancy and smoking that have occurred under his watch? The idea that he is responsible for us not being attacked is just stupid.

The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is
> out there defending you and me?

The commander in chief that sent our all-volunteer army into harm's way to avenge his daddy or protect Israel or control the Iraqi oil supply or whatever stupid reason it is that we went there? The Commander in chief who basically deserted or avoided real military service using his familial political ties in a time of war (I'd respect him more if he fled the country or deserted outright than I can for joining the National Guard and then not even showing-up? Regarding the Army, they aren't defending me. I'm sure they'd rather be but instead they're on a futile and wasteful mission at the cost of their lives and health and American tax dollars (but not the rich people's tax dollars because it's more important that they have money to invest).

>
> Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this
> news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around
> for yourself and see all the good things and be glad? Think about
> it......are you upset at the President because he actually caused
> you personal pain OR is it because the 'Media' told you he was failing to
> kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day.

I don't watch cable or network news. They don't provide real news anymore. The anti-reality movement has ruined ruined the media. This kind of nonsense is a case in point.

>
> Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have
> volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have
> died for your freedom.

No; the ones in Iraq died for the president's misguided war. The ones in Afganistan continue to die because we took the emphasis off of Afganistan and put it on Iraq.

There is currently no draft in this country. They
> didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a
> ''general'' discharge, an 'other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case
> scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig.

Yeah, but an "other than honorable discharge" is like having a felony on your record.

>
> So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of
> Americans?
>
> Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and
> they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and
> guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media
> knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what
> sells, and when criticized, try to defend their actions by 'justifying' them
> in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like OJ
> Simpson to write a book about how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he
> would have done it this way......Insane!
>
> Turn off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom
> of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as country.
> There is exponentially more good than bad. We are among the most blessed
> people on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be
> thankful and appreciative. With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of
> control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country
> from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist
> attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of
> Allegiance ?

I don't blame the media for making people discontented; I blame them for not informing the public with facts, but instead waving the flag and sounding the march to war, when they should have been asking "what's the reason for war and where is the evidence and why is ours the only government on earth who interprets the intelligence this way?" I blame them for unquestioningly endorsing administration claims because to do otherwise might be interpreted as unpatriotic and be bad for ratings. "With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks," and with serious environmental, energy, and economic problems facing the US and the world we shouldn't be pissing away our wealth on an ill-conceived war; we should be prosecuting the criminals responsible for it, and we should all feel a sense of guilt for our waste and our disastrous actions against the people of Iraq.

>
> Jay Leno
>