Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Not much scarrier


than this guy as president!!!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Tempting Ignorant Simplicity

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Christian Right Wing Conservatives constantly repeat the mantra 'We are a Christian nation'; we are not . It doesn’t matter what our founding fathers believed about their own personal faith.

To be a Christian nation we would have to act like one. We would have to be the servant of all and as a nation make meaningful sacrifices for the good of all people. We would have to love those who hate us and wish to do us harm , pray for them, ask that they be blessed, forgive them and do good things for them as well.

Far too many times Christians have excused crimes against humanity. Our nation has too often placed into power or supported dictators guilty of many human rights atrocities for what is perceived as some short term foreign policy benefit. Often these arrangements are made for the profit of powerful international corporations; for the good of the selfish few at the great expense and hardship of the many.

A short list of sins against our neighbors would include; detention of innocents, accepting the use of torture, tolerance of the killing of innocent women and children as just a casualty of war, participating in and profiting from the arms trade, and supporting cruel and unjust economic policies in the third world.

These modern Scribes and Pharisees represent the loathsome voice of fascist Christianity. It’s an incredible distortion of the Gospel that’s being openly preached by right wing religious conservatives. It’s a heresy that’s always bad. They’re quite happy to be seen as defenders of the ‘faith’, a corrupt distortion of that faith, which can be used to their benefit.

Many members of the faith community have been unwittingly absorbed by this cancer but some are willing participants of this profanation. I never wanted to believe; in fact I was very resistant to the fact that many Christians embraced or were at least sympathetic to tolerant of fascism during 1930’s Europe. I’m seeing it happen now before my eyes and shamefully before all the eyes of the world.

Democracy Now: Christian Fascism in America
Pt. 1

Pt. 2



Pt. 3





I really believe their extreme autocratic nature is hazardous to all of us. Why is such hate filled ignorant simplicity so tempting to so many different people of different cultures in so many different lands throughout our shared histories?

Political scientists and historians will probably come up with a better more accurate and descriptive term for what is happening in our nation right now but, for us, for now, fascism is a good term.

‘God bless the whole world-no exceptions’.

Who would Jesus bomb and torture?




Ann Coulter is one of the more revolting voices of fascist Christianity.
What are fascinating about her and the others who spill this swill are the accolades they receive from those who call themselves good Christians among the religious conservative community.
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Some things from Coulters’ heart and soul:

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Yes, I am a Christian and that is simply a fact. And just by the way, Christianity, um, this isn't what my book is about, ended the practice of churches--I mean it basically ended religion. With Christianity, it is, Christ came and died for our sins. We no longer get to heaven by good works, no matter how many times we go to church, by how much we do this or that, or eating certain meals or not eating certain meals, or praying at certain times. The very essence of being a Christian is that it is not something man gives up. God has given it to us.
June , 2006
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"My libertarian friends are probably getting a little upset now but I think that's because they never appreciate the benefits of local fascism."
8 Feb, 97
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The ethic of conservation is the explicit abnegation of man's dominion over the Earth. The lower species are here for our use. God said so: Go forth, be fruitful, multiply, and rape the planet--it's yours. That's our job: drilling, mining and stripping. Sweaters are the anti-Biblical view. Big gas-guzzling cars with phones and CD players and wet bars -- that's the Biblical view."
12 Oct, 2000
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"God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.'"
20 Jun, 01
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"We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."
13 Sept, 01
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"When we were fighting communism, OK, they had mass murderers and gulags, but they were white men and they were sane. Now we're up against absolutely insane savages."
16 Aug, 04
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"Which brings me to this week's scandal about No Such Agency spying on "Americans." I have difficulty ginning up much interest in this story inasmuch as I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East, and sending liberals to Guantanamo."
21 Dec, 05





Media Matters / Ann Coulter
http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/search_results?qstring=Ann+Coulter+

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Americans United
http://www.au.org/site/PageServer
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Beware 'Christian nationalism'
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-159181734.html
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* Amnesty International Volunteers
http://www.amnesty-volunteer.org/

Thursday, October 25, 2007

'then let them die and decrease the surplus population'




The SCHIP (health care for kids) debate in Congress illustrates, once again, the moral corruption of todays' GOP.
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People do have, however they vision it, a responsibility for themselves, family, community, country and God, as they see God, but for a variety of reasons both legitimate and illegitimate within ones control and outside of it, these responsibilities may become compromised. The conservative Republican mantra of ‘individual responsibility’ is designed to absolve oneself of any responsibility except for those so conveniently cherry-picked while easily lowering the dignity and humanity of those in need.
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Political use of the term
'Individual responsibility' means everyone else’s responsibility but mine. It’s an ideological principal embraced by modern conservatives that is designed to protect the conscience of the individual or group from social or religious liability. It’s used to absolve one from long held Judeo-Christian principles such as, ‘by the grace of God go I’ and ‘to those who have been given much, much is expected’. It implies that the gifts from God which we all possess in one form or another have been distributed in equal measure with similar qualities. It’s been used as an excuse from responsibility from everything from the homeless addict to the poor and those with mental and physical illnesses, to such extremes as victims of natural disaster. They believe that families and churches should be the sole suppliers of aid to those in need and never the government.
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We work best when we pitch in as a nation to solve these problems together. That way the areas of our nation of large areas of poverty are able to be helped. The radical conservative way would only mean a lot sicker under nourished people many of whom will end up on the street. I suppose the conservatives would just end up passing laws to outlaw the poor homeless then put them in a jail-type setting so they are no longer visible. If they are not visible they will be able to claim success. Remember the truth doesn’t matter to this current bunch of conservatives. All that matters is creating a perception of success to placate their supporters and those under their thumb.
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We can do much better as a society in taking care of the most vulnerable among us. It’s a sinful crime the way the conservative Republican right would have the poor, sick and disabled of this nation treated. Katrina highlighted their hypocrisy for the entire world to see. It’s shameful. The safety net is full of holes and requires better stewardship from our nation’s leaders.



To those on the Radical Christian Right I say; love, forgiveness, turning the other cheek, loving our enemies, and doing good to those who hurt us are teachings of Christ that are wonderful gifts from God that we all too easily turn our back away from when we are wronged or even worse when, as a country, some financial or foreign policy benefit may be realized. The temptation to give into rationalizing away someone’s humanity is often great but it’s also always wrong; always sinful.
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In a world with a superabundance of information, but which paradoxically finds it so difficult to communicate and where living conditions are scandalously unequal, it is important to spare no effort to ensure that everyone feels responsible for the growth and happiness of all. Our future is at stake. An unemployed young person, a handicapped person who is marginalized, elderly people who are uncared for, countries which are captives of hunger and poverty: these situations all too often make people despair and fall prey to the temptation either of closing in on themselves or of resorting to violence..... "NO TO SELFISHNESS"! In other words, to all that impels man to protect himself inside the cocoon of a privileged social class or a cultural comfort which excludes others. The life-style of the prosperous, their patterns of consumption, must be reviewed in the light of their repercussions on other countries. Let us mention for example the problem of water resources, which the United Nations Organization has asked us all to consider during this year 2003. Selfishness is also the indifference of prosperous nations towards nations left out in the cold. All peoples are entitled to receive a fair share of the goods of this world and of the know-how of the more advanced countries. How can we fail to think here, for example, of the access of everyone to generic medicines, needed to continue the fight against current pandemics, an access — alas — often thwarted by short-term economic considerations?Pope John Paul II


The heavy hand of thought suppression.


Rep. Pete Stark's* apology really depressed me. I, like just about every other progressive felt he may have gone a tad bit overboard by stating that the president enjoys all this war and occupation business but we applaud his passion and in no way feel he owed anyone especially Bush an apology.


He seems to enjoy being 'the war president / decider / commander guy'.



The Dems are caving-in, backing down and apologizing far, too often, even when they are 100% right. I can't help but wonder what kind of threats the Bushies and Republican leadership have on our Senators and Representatives. It might not be just personal either, most people are more likely to give in to protecting family and friends from the onslaught of conservative attacks than for themselves. They have demonstrated to what extent they will go to destroy someone, many times, the most famous of which is what they did to Valerie Plame Wilson and more recently the sick children who spoke out in favor of SCHIP.




Fox and Reactionary radio are fomenting war, hate, and distrust of all who don't walk lockstep with Neocon objectives. WHY?

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It has already been well established that the Neoconservative dominated Cheney/Bush administration are fascists. All totalitarian oriented societies or political parties whether they've achieved complete power or not need, no must have, a propaganda arm. Fox and reactionary radio are that arm. Their job is to take a spin on the truth, a distortion of it or an outright lie and paint it as the most pro-American or pro-Christian point of view for anyone who loves America. Their very good at playing on peoples prejudices and weaknesses. In other words they are very gifted at getting people to believe what isn't true with gusto. The sad thing is they have no idea it's all being used against them and that the propagandists have no love or respect for those who they fool.

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It's absolutely amazing for those of us who have been fortunately immune from this vileness to watch their effect on their mesmerized adherents. The word or phrase of the moment that encapsulates Neocon ideas or concepts are universally parroted by the blind sheep. There's no amount of facts, proof or evidence that can deter them from their hypnotic trance.This same group screams about the liberal press but that same press much of which is corporate controlled does little to expose the distortions and lies of the Conservative right. They do little to aid in exposing the truth which is much too often treated as opinion. To their credit they do the right thing now and then but they play ball far too often with administration and corporate goons.

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The propagandists have a back-up for when the corporate heads don't interfere with the press and they actually do their jobs, it's called 'distrust'. They have all made it very clear to their hypnotic audience that the truth comes only from them.

No one else is to be believed.

We hold the true truth.

It's dangerous to listen to them.

We are the truth.

LISTEN!

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Dissenting voices are considered wrong, portrayed as un-American, traitorous, or evil. Anyone who is not like them is not to be respected or trusted and they are routinely attacked, ridiculed and dehumanized. They advance hate for Muslims, liberals, the United Nations, any country that criticizes the neoconservative agenda and all those who fall outside their twisted moral view of society. Orwellian double speak, lies, half-truths, and distortions are their tools of choice. Anyone or group who disagrees with or contradicts the administration or its allies and benefactors are trashed mercilessly.




For all those who excuse such things as illegal spying on American citizens with the overused line of, "Why worry I have nothing to hide", "I say Oh really?". You just never know what opinions or relationships or the opinions and relationships of other family members or friends will place you out of favor with government goons. You could be in a whole heap a trouble and never know why. But you would still lose your rights as a citizen and your freedom just the same.






















Fascist America, in 10 easy steps
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html
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*Rep. Pete Stark (CA-D)
http://capwiz.com/networklobby/webreturn/?url=http://www.house.gov%2Fstark

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Randi Rhodes is better!!!














I guess the first thing I would actually like to talk about is Randi Rhodes*. She's number 1 in our home.
Here's how I found out about it.






We were immediately concerned which led to a morning of trying to find out what happened. They're wasn't a lot of information and as the day went on it only got more confused. There was nothing to do but wait till she returned to the air, which occurred the following Thursday.




It may be a lack of food and the excitement coupled with a few drinks that caused her to faint. I faint now and then. I'm a bit taller and heavier and when I hit the ground it's pretty hard. I've cracked a rib but I don't think I've ever crashed into the hardwood floor with enough force to do what Randi did. (Although she did hit a metal grate.) It is not beyond reason to wonder if maybe there was some alcohol induced person who decided to take down the liberal talk show host. Being alone and outside was the perfect opportunity for some nut to attack. I bet the guy would feel real proud of himself, too.
At any rate she is gladly doing better, but that had to be a terribly painful experience with way too much hassle for someone going through something like that.

We all see the growing anger towards us out there. We have fear of violence to those of the liberal/progressive persuation becoming more common, maybe even popular, especially toward those who speak against this 'president' and his corrupt policies. There's already examples of anthrax to Democratic Congressman in the mail. Keith Olbermann recieved fake anthrax at his home. Rush was recently caught manipulating the press with threats. http://mediamatters.org/items/200710160001?f=h_latest

There's many examples of hate approaching violence from reactionaries in all the places they meet. ( I suppose Iraq and what we are about to do to Iran is a marrying of hate and violence with a huge amount of ignorance for guidance).

Bush: Threat of World War III if Iran goes nuclear
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1732974320071017





I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
Albert Einstein


*
http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/

Friday, October 19, 2007

I'm hoping I may be back I think...



Between computer problems, family drama, and intense MS flair-ups and pain, which is already starting to get in the way, again, I haven't been here as often as I love to. I'm very sorry, if I've managed to accumulate any regular readers, to those who may possibly have missed me. Sorry!

Monday, October 01, 2007

killing 'Moslems' its okay; nooooo!!!


"Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,neither shall they learn war any more."
(Isaiah 2:4)

Read statement and sign-on
Words, Not War, With Iran

also read this......
God takes no sides in war

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Saint Francis of Assisi was able, during war, to walk between the Moslem side and the Christian side talking of love and peace and the architect of both. There are many people, I’m sad to say even some who have his statue in their gardens thinking of him only as a lover of birds and little furry animals, who would call him a vile traitor, liberal appeaser and dangerous threat worthy of torture and life detention if he were to carry out those same actions in today’s climate.

There’s been a lot of hatefulness from right wing conservatives, many who consider themselves chosen Christians, who feel the government has no business caring for the most vulnerable among us, while wasting money on corporation 'wellfare' and giveaway schemes or military adventurism is just fine.

Hate and prejudice directed at minorities, immigrants and anyone who voices dissent or interferes has not died. There are a sizeable number of people on the right who really don't care that the invasion and susquent disasterous occupation in Iraq is wrong and that as long as we're killing 'Moslems' its okay and the sooner we can do that in Iran the better.

War Made Easy, from Democracy Now









Democracy Now
http://www.democracynow.org/

War Made Easy

http://www.warmadeeasythemovie.org/