Coffee Talk (found on Twitter)

[TBF]

[Gothmog]

1. Great meme

How are things going in your county?

[TBF]

2. I really haven't been involved Gothmag -

have been recovering from illness this past summer (kind of serious). In 2008 I walked door to door for Obama, but this time I'm just sending donations. From what I've seen on Bernie's page and emails the team is already in Texas organizing. I like Bernie's "all the states" approach which goes back to Dean of course. I hope the eventual nominee, whomever it is, continues that strategy

[Powers Hapgood]

3. It's always bugged me that . . .

. . . considering that Allah, Yahweh and Jehovah are all the same god -- "God of Abraham" -- I have never been able to understand why so much blood and violence results between Christians, Jews and Muslims. It seems to me that there's enough in common to make for constructive relations and cooperation. In fact, there are great examples of Christians. Jews and Muslims in very functional cooperation.

Down deep, my ideas on religion are impacted by Michael Harrington's work, "The Politics at God's Funeral" -- which explores the possibility of solidarity amongst people of goodwill of various religious convictions -- from the deeply religious to the very secular -- who share a vision of a functional and tolerant society.

[TBF]

4. I suppose the answer to that is that there are people

in this world who prefer to keep different factions at war in order to maximize profit.

I'd prefer your suggestion - a functional and tolerant society.

[Powers Hapgood]

5. Yes, there's a lot of war profiteering, but . . .

. . . wars are also beloved of master classes because it concentrates their authority, and weakens the will of the subject classes to resist. It intimidates the opposition and stokes fear. Besides, it feeds upperclass ego to imagine that the masses are willing to die for them.

[TBF]

8. Yes, there is definitely the power element as well.

nt

[Powers Hapgood]

6. As to religion . . .

. . . it is always best to bear in mind that at the time most of the major religions were founded politics, religion and economic power were essentially indistinguishable. In Roman times, slaves were made to pray to their masters. Tribalism may be thought of as essential accompaniment to hierarchical regimes.

[TBF]

7. Religion is for keeping folks in line ..

Marx got that one correct.