Protests, Signs and an Email

Yesterday was a day of protest in DC, with teabaggers coming to town to demonstrate their unhappiness with Obama (interesting that a lot of their signs were anti-Democrats and Obama when the fiscal bailouts they were protesting were started under the previous administration).
They also were opposing the proposed health care reform. It was here that I found the signs most revealing. Many of them were the typical death panels will go after grandma and Obama with Hitler's moustache, ideas and images that have gotten lots of coverage. Others were confusing:
How does this protest link Obama's health care or government spending with the twin towers that we should never forget? How is Obama's health care related to the large image of Terri Schiavo, also with the never forget slogan? Wasn't that the case of the Republicans in the government trying to intervene against the wishes of her husband and what he said she would have wanted and wouldn't some counseling have been preferred over diagnoses made via video tape for political gain instead of patient care?
I have chosen two signs that really made me wonder about their carriers:


Here I was focusing on the hands off sign in the front of the image. I find it amazing that this line is being used by Michele Bachmann who is anti-abortion. Is there a contradiction in this? I can't speak for the sign carrier, but the question does come up whenever I hear the statement or see signs like this.


The second image is about the sign on the far right referring to freedom and security.
Again, I wonder about the views of the sign carrier toward establishing free speech zones, screening attendees at public events based on assumptions about their political views, the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretaps, kidnapping and rendition, and, of course, advanced interrogation and torture.

Finally, I recently got an email from a cousin. She and I have had quite a few political discussions, which end with agreeing to disagree, but this posted message made me angry as well as feeling despair for the future:

"An 'eye-opener" photo. And I checked the authenticity of this on "truthorfiction" site, and the photo is authentic. It was taken by Doug Mills for the New York Times when Obama was i Bozeman, Montana. (surprise this got out, New York Times is LIBERAL)
This will open your eeyes .. What does Obama read?
"The name of the book Obama is reading is called "The Post-American World" written by a fellow muslim. Post-America -- the world After America???
"Please forward this picture to everyone you know, conservative or liberal to expose Obama's radical ideas and intent for this country!
"photo verified by snopes"
Usually, I don't respond when I get emails like this, I have never been able to convince my cousin that Hillary probably isn't a lesbian (and what if she would be?) so what's the point of wasting my time and raising my blood pressure? However tis time I had to make another (probably futile) attempt:
And what's the book about? From a review: "The author sees the "rise of the rest"—the growth of countries like China, India, Brazil, Russia, and many others—as the great story of our time, and one that will reshape the world. The tallest buildings, biggest dams, largest-selling movies, and most advanced cell phones are all being built outside the United States. This economic growth is producing political confidence, national pride, and potentially international problems. How should the United States understand and thrive in this rapidly changing international climate? What does it mean to live in a truly global era? Zakaria answers these questions with his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination."
Zakaria, a U.S. citizen, was educated at Yale and Harvard, is editor of Newsweek International and writes weekly on foreign affiars. He was also a supported of Ronald Reagan and initially backed the Bush invasion of Iraq, although arguing that it should be a UN-sanctioned invasion with a much larger troop count. His book, that President Obama is reading, is concerned with how his chosen country can continue to prosper in a global economy where other countries are taking the lead in the production of goods and services.
Unlike other countries (for example Germany), the U.S. chose to devest in manufacturing (where the profits were averaging only 4 or so percent) and put its economic future into a deregulated finance system. Look where that got us, lending institutions that were concerned with only maximizing profits and a populace hoping to cash in on one or another bubble, using their inflated real estate to keep up with rising costs, while their wages stagnated.
Meanwhile, a lot of the rest of the world became centers of manufacturing (look at China as an example). As a result, I don't know about your things, but my cell phone and one of my toilets (ironically an American Standard, ince when most U.S. citizens say American they mean U.S., discounting a lot of the other countries that occupy this continent as well as the continent that is South America) was made in Mexico, my car in Sweden (although over a year ago the U.S. company that owned Volvo was planning to sell it b ut I can't find any reference to a sale), my TV in Japan and my keyboard and mouse made in China (as was the landline phone), my stereo from Canada.
Don't even let me commence on the "fellow Muslim" part of the forwarded message or the liberal media notation.
See why I worry about the country?