Joe the Plumber

Poor Joe the Plumber. He thought he lived in a country that had free speech and allowed for the engagement in such free speech. I'll bet he didn't know that if he spoke words that didn't fit whatever the present acceptable template was that he would be fried by the media. Talk about your "Chill Wind".

We have thought for years that it was just lazy apathy that got us here but now I am beginning to think it actually is fear. And the fear of politics is working. Watching this media frenzy looking to just destroy a man that asked a question of Obama is like watching the dam Godfather movies!

We can not question Obama on anything because if we do we are racist.

We can not question associations of Obama because if we do we are dredging up the past.

We can not question the politics of the party because if we do our entire lives are diced and bits and pieces are parsed out to be chewed on.

Who would want this in their lives? It is apparent that many people have decided they just don't need the aggravation. We all have skeletons. We have all made mistakes. And certainly those mistakes do follow us in all that we may want to do. Most people agree that actions when one is a young person can be forgiven and forgotten as they grow up if indeed they have learned from their stupid mistakes or actions. Being a politician does open you to greater scrutiny, none of which we have actually seen from the media regarding Mr. Obama. But being a citizen that simply asks a question means your entire life is fodder for a media with an agenda? That to me is a "Chill Wind".

(See http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0416-01.htm to get the "description" of a chill wind as given by Tim Robbins. Silencing of free speech because you don't like it is wrong no matter what side of the fence you sit on. I do not sit on the Robbins side of the fence, but I am experiencing his "chill wind".)