Finding some Barack (Blessings and Thunder) Amidst Gloom and Doom

Rep. Seel: Dumb&Dumber Unified

Every so often it's nice to come across something positive in the news. The bias is toward the negative, usually deliberately (it sells) or accidentally (it's human nature). One is not inclined to thank the heavens or luck for waking up alive, when in fact there was traffic on the road, work was long and dull, and taxes remain undone on the day of dunning.

(Incidentally, if you are one of the anachronistic few rushing out to the post office to meet some artificial midnight deadline, relax. Turn around, hit up Chick Fil A, and go home. The twelve or so hours between sending it now and waiting till morning will not have a meaningful impact on your economic life, whether you are expecting a return, or owing. A fifth horseman will not ride in and steal your soul or money, nor will your vehicle turn into a pumpkin. So chill.)

We begin with the pleasant observation that President Barack Obama and wife managed to contribute 14% or so of their income to charity. Granted it's a write-off, and not the secret giving that Jesus and superfriends would encourage, but it's nice to see money given. Critics will still find room to complain, like the myriad of birthers and others who consistently find it impossible to determine where the President's income comes from. But those of right mind and attitude can feel reasonably satisfied at the first family's generosity.

The recepients of some of that largesse include veteran's organizations, and if anyone should have soldiers on their mind it's the commander and chief.

Fox Latino reports (wow, didn't know they had that division):

The biggest donation, $131,075, went to the Fisher House Foundation, which offers lodging free or at a minimal cost to veterans and military families receiving treatment at military hospitals.

The president also donated the after-tax profits from his children's book, "Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters," to a Fisher House scholarship fund that aids the children of soldiers who died or were disabled in combat.

(Fox Latino)

Another marginally related positive event in the news? The governor of Arizona, Madame Brewer, (Lil Jan if you are nasty), vetoed the birther law (HB 2177) that was put forward by an Arizona Legislature that took a break from scorching the earth to pass the most ridiculous of ridiculousnesses. The bill was designed to make you prove your authenticity as an American presidential candidate by providing a long form birth certificate. But in a kind of legislative internal regression to the stupid, you could instead provide other documents like your baptismal papers if you lacked the document the legislation was designed to make you prove you had.

According to Fox (the non-Hispanic version), "If candidates don't have a copy of their birth certificates, they could meet the requirement by providing baptismal or circumcision certificates, hospital birth records and other documents."


What was truly funtastic about the legislation was the responsibility given to the secretary of state to create a review committee, should those alternative documents prove sufficiently vague. We've no doubt that such a committee, in such a state as Arizona, would come to the ultimate right, or hard right decision, while violating the Constitution in ways creatively un-American.


Governor Brewer can be applauded (briefly) for imposing some wisdom on the fartist efforts coming out of the Republican controlled Legislature, who also found their law to enable armed citizens on campuses vetoed.