Oh Please

I wasn't even going to comment on this one: the hubbub over the president's lack of emotion with regard to the situation in the Gulf. But I can hardly take it anymore and I can be brief.

Here's the spiritually responsible deal: 1) to exercise compassion is to allow people to be who they are without judgment, period; 2) when we are judging someone for being something or not being something, we are only and ever talking about ourselves. As one caller into C-Span's Washington Journal so eloquently put it recently - and I'm paraphrasing - do we show enough emotion when we see a homeless person die? When soldier's families are torn apart by war? When people die because of lack of access to health care? Etc. Etc. Etc.

The evidence is fairly strong that, as of the moment, this is truly a made-up-by-the-media-non-scandal-appearing-to-be-scandalous thought with which "the American people" are not necessarily aligned. But for anyone who is, please oh please take a look in the mirror and let us talk about some of what is really going on.