Mental health awareness

A volunteer for the Republican National Committee has been violated. She has been violated by her own mental illness and by the very party she volunteers for. Oct 23, Ashley Todd, a 20 year-old Texas A&M student accused an Obama supporter of attacking her and scratching a "backwards B" into her face. Today, she admitted to making the story up and scratching the B into her cheek herself. See the article here. Perhaps the most distressing aspect of this whole scenario is that Todd does not remember scratching herself. The police are holding her for psychiatric evaluation. On Oct 23 some supporters of the Republican Party ran with it. Sean Hannity apparently claimed that "this is what Obama supporters are like" when he presented the story. Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose. Ultimately it makes me more disgusted with the depths that people go to to try and get votes. I know I've said it before but my sincere hope is that Americans will fight the "fear doctrine" so that people can start being calmer, more sensible and actually stop to think on their own (you know independently and with freedom). I also hope that Ms. Todd gets the help she needs, and a sincere apology from the people who tried to exploit her situation. While we're at it apologies should go out to Obama and African-Americans across the country.

This is a perfect segue into my next thought. The McCain/Palin campaign has been trying to sell a bunch of "us against them" retoric. How so? By claiming that urban residents and liberal east coasters are anti-American. By claiming that rural dairymen (and people like them) are the only patriotic pro-Americans. Frankly I refused to believe that people out there could actually agree with that. Then I saw the Daily Show clip of people being interviewed in Wasilla, Alaska. They kept espousing the same ideals that McCain and Palin have been on their campaign trail. The best part? Whan 9/11 came up they used it as an example of how rural America came together . . . even when they were reminded that the events occurred in NYC they tried to play that off as coincidental. My gods . . . they really are crazy! All of this anti-American rhetoric has me offended. According to conservatives (at least the ones currently getting the most publicity) the only way to be pro-American is to be anti-abortion, anti-religious freedom, anti-equal rights, anti-environmental, pro-oil drilling in highly sensitive places and by voting for McCain. Well, I'd like to remind these people that this country was founded by people seeking religious freedom, hence the separation of church-and-state and our founders recognized the importance of equality (read the Declaration of Independence). Obviously not everything our country was founded on has proved to be a good idea. Eminant Domain had some pretty negative results (ask the Indians and natural places and critters) and slavery went on for far too long. Finally, capitalism was a bad idea, at least unchecked capitalism was a bad idea. We've made mistakes, recognizable, diagnosable mistakes. Let's learn from them and move forward with the memory and realization that being pro-American means allowing others to be as they are, not persecuting them, not forcing them to conform and punishing them if they don't. As long as our country promotes Christianity as the only true and pure religion, minorities as being less equal (based on sexuality, ethnicity, race, or whatever) and war as the only solution the country as a whole will remain profoundly un-American.