“Mr. Obama recognizes the stakes, threatening yesterday to veto the Boehner plan in a tactical move to block any Democratic support. The White House is afraid that it will pass the House and then become the only debt-ceiling vehicle if Mr. Reid can’t get 60 votes for his own proposal in the Senate. This would short-circuit Mr. Obama’s plan to blame the GOP for a U.S. credit downgrade, any market turmoil, a possible default, and the lousy economy too . . . It’s true that the Boehner plan doesn’t fix the long-term debt problem, but Mr. Obama won’t agree to anything that does.”

Harsh words from a respected journal – not exactly a bunch of hate-mongers.

I had a fairly hard crisis of conscience when we discovered that prisoners at Abu Ghraib had been tortured, and that we had been waterboarding people. To think that Americans would sink so low as to torture people was extremely disheartening, and to learn that a government agency sanctioned waterboarding was, to say the least, disappointing.

I don’t view America as being perfect, and I think there are a lot of things that are deeply flawed in our society, but that doesn’t mean I hate the country and want to destroy it. It’s actually the oposite: I love this country so much that I want to change it for the better.

I’ve heard all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories about Obama, that he’s secretly a Muslim who is some sort of sleeper agent who is trying to destroy America to please his Muslim masters. I’m sorry, but that’s tin-foil-hat type stuff. I’m not saying you believe that, but that’s what I was thinking of when I made that comment.

It’s more reasonable to think that Obama loves America and genuinely thinks that his policies will make it better. It’s reasonable to think that of any president. Do we think that GWB hates America because of the disaster that is NCLB? Are we going to look back into history and accuse every president that ever had a failed administration of hating America and wanting to destroy it?

I certainly hope not. We might judge them as crappy presidents, but they are men who are just as capable of failing as you and me. If I were president and everything I did failed, I’d be hurt for people to assert that I hate America, as would you. As would anyone.

My opinion that Obama hates America is based on observation of the man, his choice of words, the tone of his voice, his body language and in Obama’s case the manner in which he has talked down America in his dealings with foreign dignitaries. In truth, I can speak intelligently about Hitler. But I can with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. I have never heard these two men talk down their countries. or demonstrate any disdain for their countries. I worry that Obama holds the same views as his pastor of twenty years in Chicago; that America is a country created and built by rich white racist. So, that is how I arrive at my opinion. Surely we can agree to disagree without resorting to personal attacks.

As I mentioned in one of my previous comments, I do believe the debt ceiling needs to be raised, but I think there has been an extreme amount of hype added to that necessity. Again, the politics of the situation raises it’s ugly head.

I would raise one more point or question about this entire scenario. Both parties are trying to work a deal that increases the debt ceiling by a particular amount. Any budget cuts or tax or revenue increases are to be implemented over the course of ten years. However, are those cuts and increases going to be set in stone? What is to stop the next Congress, be it controlled by the Republicans or Democrats, from ignoring those and passing a budget that contains neither? If that happens, haven’t the Democrats gotten what they wanted all along; an increase in the debt ceiling with no strings attached? I think it is something to consider.