Getting the Truth is Like pulling Teeth

I finally got relief when my molar was pulled but not before I had to endure extreme pain every time the dentist would come to check the numbness of the affected area. The dentist had a knack for finding the nerve that caused the most pain. Afterwards, his assistant gave me a list of do’s and don’ts. Whatever happened to the old pioneer days when the patient was given ½ bottle of whiskey got the tooth pulled and then went out and plowed the back 40?

I got home around 10:30 AM, took my pain pill, turned on the television, and I thought I was going to catch up on the news. I don’t know if it was the pain pill or the sheer boredom of watching the same stories being rehashed that put me to sleep. I know it’s the “dog days of summer” but how many stories can you do on “who will win the Republican presidential primary in 2016?” We’re only eight months into President Obama’s second term!

Every now and then I do hear something that makes me laugh such as Rand Paul saying “There is no greater defender, truly, of minority rights... than myself." I tend to believe Hillary Clinton when she said “Anyone that says that racial discrimination is no longer a problem in American elections must not be paying attention.” Rand Paul is a lot like his dad, because they both like to use statistics to try to pull the wool over people’s eyes. In this case he correctly says that more black people voted than whites but then he goes on to say that it proves there’s no racial discrimination. Of course, we no longer have Jim Crow laws but Section 4 (pre clearance) of the Voting Rights Act was largely responsible for that large black turnout, and we all know what the Supreme Court did to that. One only has to look at the recent North Carolina voting laws that were passed if you want to know what voter suppression looks like. Like the snake oil salesman that he is, Rand Paul said “who can be against showing proper ID before you vote?” That’s one of those questions that require more than a yes or no answer and politicians know that.

Usually a political strategist gets away with their exaggerations and half- truths, but that was not the case yesterday when a Republican strategist tried to blame the Democrats of today for the actions of the Jim Crow tactics that were used by southern Democrats of yesteryear. The pundit told the strategist that he could not let him get away with that, and then went on to tell his audience that the two parties have changed sides.

If there was evidence of rampant election fraud, then both parties should sit down and work out a solution; not just GOP legislators and governors trying to enhance their chances of winning. The issue is not just about the voter ID. It's about the cost, what will be accepted, and availability. Voters have already shown proof of who they are, when they registered to vote; it wasn’t a matter of just signing your name. I’m all for a national ID card, but I can just hear the outcry from libertarians by the sheer mention of it. How ironic, conservatives are dead set against regulations unless it has to do with voting and a woman’s right to choose.

Ben Smith, who runs the website ,BuzzFeed, said he took off for a week, turned off all his electronic media devices and then came back to find that he didn’t miss a thing because it’s the same news on a continuous loop.