An email I can't believe I had to send

Quick backstory: 
One of Brownie's uncles is a born again Christian of the Conservative Glenn Beck-loving mold.  Over the past few months, he's taken to sending out a bunch of tasteless jokes about how liberals are all unpatriotic idiots, reminders that Jesus loves good mommies, and various bits of tea party bullshit.  He's been mass emailing these to everyone in the family and some friends (from his work email, which I find tasteless as well, but whatever).  I've been ignoring/deleting them, hoping at some point that he'd figure out that spamming friends and family is not a good way to get his point across yet is, well, rude.

This afternoon he sent out a forward of some Shepherd Smith (a FoxNews anchor) insanity about how Obama never takes his wife to Muslim countries because he's Muslim and doesn't force his wife to follow Sharia Law or some such bullshit.  I'd post a link here but I honestly don't feel like helping anyone to read the steaming pile of idiotic faux-rationality FoxNews came up with - I don't like spreading lies.

Anyway, I'm fed up, so after stewing about it for hours, I finally sent the following email:


Dear Uncle _____,


I've been enduring these Conservative emails from you with no comment because I felt, as family, that I should. However, you've now crossed a line in my eyes. In sending this email, you've stated a belief that Obama is a Muslim. Per the link that Aunt _____ sent out [a reply-all with a link to the Snopes article on whether or not Obama is Muslim] and, well, reality, Obama is not a Muslim. He is a Christian, of the UCC denomination. Here is a link to an article from Newsweek that eloquently describes Obama's Christian faith and his journey to it: http://www.newsweek.com/id/145971 The article is from Newsweek, a publication I frankly find to be Conservative; as I assume you will most likely see Newsweek as being somehow Liberal, I'm hoping that maybe we can ultimately agree on it as a fairly neutral, factual source.


To continue, however, were Obama in fact a Muslim, the fact would be irrelevant; this country has no official state religion, ergo being Muslim would not disqualify him from the job he was elected to do. Furthermore, to imply that being Muslim means that Obama (or anyone else of that faith) might be working against the best wishes of this country is deeply prejudicial. That sentiment insults not only the President, but the citizens of this country who used their best judgment to elect him in a free and open election and all the members of the Muslim faith worldwide. Khalid Sheik Mohammed is no more the poster child for Islam than Timothy McVeigh is for Christianity.

It saddens me to see an email like this in my inbox, filled with prejudice and hatred, from someone of whom I had thought better. In consequence, I am requesting my removal from this email list. The insult to the President, who, as President of the country I love and Commander-in-Chief to the Armed forces, demands my respect, is beyond what I find tolerable. I can roll my eyes at stupid jokes, but I can't roll my eyes at this. My sense of patriotism demands more of me than an eyeroll. Please stop sending me these forwards.

Yours in Christ,

Your niece-in-law, nunkin, the embodiment of the secular-progressive-liberal-socialist-communist that Rush Limbaugh and FoxNews warned you about, and yet still a Christian and a patriotic American. +

RRRRRRRRRRRR

So the AP is reporting that the 10 Senators tasked by Harry Reid to put together some sort of compromise have killed the public option. Then Reid semi-contradicted it, and as of now it's completely unclear as to what the hell is going on. The best I could tell from admittedly incomplete information is that it seems like they're cutting the public option in favor of extending Medicare down to the age of 55, which is fantastic and all that for anyone who's reached that age but does fuck all for anyone who isn't that old yet.

And so, again, just as with the Stupak amendment, I'm left feeling like voting for Democrats by and large means being thrown under a bus by the people who claim to be representing my interests. And I'm again reminded why I'm registered Independent, and why one of my two favorite Senators is Bernie Sanders (I-VT) (the other one is Al Franken). And why the only two Democrats I don't regret having voted for are the governor of the state I live in (because that governor is fairly genuinely progressive) and Obama (who I'm not thrilled with, but who at least hasn't made me regret the vote).

So I'm trying to temper my general feeling that the ten Senators involved in the compromise (along with the Blue Dog Democrats, most Republicans, all Tea Partiers, the insurance companies and Wall Street in general) can FOADIAF and am hoping that, once the dust settles at some point and we know what the hell actually is in the health care bill, it won't be as bad as it sounds right now. But I have very little hope for that, and I hate it.

I want to move to Canada. Or Norway. Or any other country that genuinely respects human life.

Back to your regularly scheduled thoughts later.