freshwest
freshwest's JournalIRL, you have to take the good with the bad, and make alliances. Online, one can be a purist. Saving
lives is more important than ideology.I've said before, I'm not Catholic. I never took religion seriously unless I saw the Golden Rule being applied in it as these people did, and one doesn't have to religious to follow that path, either.
Those who shunned, beat and killed this woman didn't follow the Golden Rule, whether they were part of an organized religion or not, it doesn't matter. Their deed defines what they are for the rest of their lives, or if one is religious, for eternity.
Some have forgotten the mission of those who created ideologies, or at least progressive and liberal ones. They love the slogans, long for the perfect, don't think with the heart, and effectively work for the same goal as those they call their enemy, excluding all but the perfect.
We have to remember the goal is to save life, not to be correct about everything. It's not about us in the long run, it's about everyone, which is humbling and broadens horizons.
Thanks so much, DV for bringing this here. These 4 paragraphs say it all:
If you think that selfishness and cruelty are fantastic personal traits, you might be a libertarian. In the movement no one will ever call you an asshole, but rather, say you believe in radical individualism...From the ashes of the election rose the movement that pushed me from convinced libertarian into bunny-hugging liberal. The Tea Party monster forever tainted the words freedom and libertarian for me. The rise of the Tea Party made me want to puke, and my nausea is now a chronic condition...
I began to think about real people, like my neighbors and people less lucky than me. Did I want those people to starve to death? I care about children, even poor ones. I love the National Park system. The best parts of the America I love are our communities. My libertarian friends might call me a fucking commie (they have) or a pussy, but extreme selfishness is just so isolating and cruel. Libertarianism is unnatural, and the size of the federal government is almost irrelevant. The real question is: what does society need and how do we pay for it?
...I don’t think regular Americans have any idea just how crazy libertarians can be. The only human corollary I can offer is unquestioning religious fervor, and hell yeah, I used to be a true believer. Libertarians think they own the word “freedom,” but it’s a word that often obfuscates more than enlightens. If you believe the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quote “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free,” then libertarians live in a prison of their own ideology.
That and his mention of how often they use the n-word says he has truly made the change. Yes, they do, but don't want to be called racists. I've run into these overbearing, proud fanatics who destroy democracy with zeal, using philosophical points to call it mob rule because they see themselves above others. They speak in the language of aristocrats and the plutocrats when they scornfully refer to social justice movements.
Much conspiracy against government is from the sources that enriched themselves off all the wars, to defame democratic government and push people away from working their minds in the real world instead of the feverish fantasies this man describes so well here.
JMHO.
If everyone of those affected by this, directly or indirectly, called the Congress, it'd work.
And we all are affected by having any of our fellow citizens wihtout work, as they are used to bully those with work into working under bad conditions.
I don't expect those on UEB to call, or their families, as they have been so stigmatized for daring to ask for help, Help in keeping their homes, their kids in school, their credit up, their health, etc.
So those indirectly affected, meaning all of us, must call, although I don't think calling Rand or Ryan will help. Another outpouring of letters to Senator Sanders can be used to show the truth of what is happening.
On the other hand, I sometimes feel they should apply for some new form of disability. They have to be 'sick' of being held hostage to the GOP plan to bankrupt America. This is just one of their plans, and they are relentless on that task.
Yes, we are in distress, and we know from whence it is coming from.
Such devotion to oppressed Republicans is *touching.* Like gagging oneself with their fingers...
As far as some glorifying these guys, it's an effect of media. There are many who refute the media cult, such as the piece by Tim Wise:
http://www.timwise.org/2012/01/of-broken-clocks-presidential-candidates-and-the-confusion-of-certain-white-liberals/
They won't be considered because being part of the 'winning team' or 'wave of the future' that the GOP and Libertarians say is 'inevitable' is so enticing. Just blindly ignore all the prophecies the GAS team has put out so far:
There were hundreds of threads at the time in the DERP category. I was very grateful for EarlG's clearing it up.
The belief that Obama was going to be dining on the blood of Syrians, after a tasty snack of the blood of Libyans, while recovering from drinking the blood of Afghans, Iraqis and the prisoners of GITMO, was a sure thing with some.
It was and is an article of faith, more like the WBC's, Infowars' and Beck's dogmatic dogshit about Aurora, Newtown, Boston and every other event in the USA, that underlies it. Obama is up to NO GOOD! Don't be decieved by the anti-Christ, even if you aren't a Christian!
And that GAS is next on the menu, always, maintains their attempt at being relevant by hanging onto the Dark Lord's coat tails. All three will past their media expiration dates soon and PBO will never eat them. His vice is eating pie, not people.
There's also the element of being afraid of being 'left behind.' GAS and the GOP thorugh their new brand, Libertarianism, is cool, well funded, and rings all the right tones.
The media is what we get most of our food for thought, and we're drowning in an ocean of right wing bullshit. Hard to tell what's what, if one is only consuming 'news' and not thinking why anyone would concoct such elaborate ruses.
Yes, the government can do good things for people. The GOP is losing on this, and on the USPS:
So the Post Office Whipped UPS and FedEx in terms of delivering packages for Christmas 2013So much for trying to destroy the Post Office for the 'privatize goons'.
Delish! I'm lovin' it!!!
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
Bravo Post Office Workers!!! We've got your backs!!
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/12/26/ups-fedex-ruin-christmas-prove-republicans-wrong-killing-post-office.html
More at Politicususa and DU link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024232639
to Malaise!
The Democratic Party is the party of good governance, not putting profits over people like the GOP. Thanks for more of the good news, ProSense!
Demand from corporations? They have stockholders to pay. They are their owners and demand a return.
If consumers or workers demand better treatment they are the ones who 'race to the bottom' by moving to states with low minimum wages, use prison labor or move abroad. Right now they are using lobbyists to get Congress to screw the last vestige of a socialized universal service that provides for the country's people, not profits for a few.
And the 'starve the beast' crowd has made almost certain that the government, which was put in place to regulate them for the good of the people and not rip them off, has less power to stop them.
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains. ~ Thomas Jefferson
They are not the people's friends, even some non-profits extract funds and take public assets to give to private groups. This is constant pattern since Nixon started his 'government should be run like a business, and private business does it better' mantra.
To answer that, I would give the examples of Blackwater and these alternative mail carriers, who have raced to the bottom in wages and working conditions. The corporations hate those union postal workers with good wages, pensions and benefits, but won't allow unions and the same for their own workers.
They are the race to the bottom shills, who will never stop doing it. After all, it's their business model. As far as theft is concerned, the free market steals lives. Slavery was and is a part of the free market today. And their heirarchy has one purpose, to funnel the money to the few that own shares or the CEOs.
It doesn't make them evil. Their function is not the same as an institution run for the good of all.
Please don't take offense at my tone, I am not criticizing your general meaning, I just think the problem is bigger than the one think. I may be not speaking to the exact things you are concerned about. Peace.
'We have *turned our backs on* the unions and other agents who helped to decrease the suck...'
That says it all.Speaking of that... try this thread out. I posted on it with a few others...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101681251It'd be funny is so many hadn't fallen for the lies, and lost their souls to greed and bigotry. From the link, but the entire piece is worth the read, to understnad the depths of the depravity and the dangerous hypocrisy of the GOP:
A Christmas Speculation
Here are the passages I found in which Jesus tells his followers that they have a duty to take care of children, the poor, and other vulnerable people:
Matthew 18:6, 18:10, 19:21, 23:14, and 25:31-46; Mark 9:36-37, 10:21, and 12:40; and Luke 10:30-37, 11:41, 12:33, 14:12-14, 18:22, and 20:47.
Here are the passages in which Jesus tells his followers to pay their taxes without complaining:
Matthew 5:42, 17:24-27, and 22:19-21; Mark 12:14-17; and Luke 6:30 and 20:21-25.
Here are the passages in which Jesus tells his followers that they aren’t supposed to obsess about other people’s sins, but should leave that to God, and attend to their own moral failings instead:
Matthew 7:1-5 and 9:10-13; Mark 2:15-17; Luke 6:37, 6:41-42, 7:44-48, 15:2, 18:10-14, and 19
; and John 8:2-11.
And here are the passages in which Jesus tells his followers to blame the poor and vulnerable for their plight, direct benefits toward the already well-to-do at the expense of everyone else, refuse to pay their fair share of taxes, and obsessively denounce and punish the sins of people they don’t like while finding every opportunity to excuse their own sins and those of their friends:
(This space left blank.)
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/
IDK about your conclusions on individuals, but the 1% had better watch themselves.
There are millions more Catholics than there are of them. They should remember how many governments and other insitutions were brought down by religions in the past.
As the 1% deliberately weakened governments to remove a barrier to their power, they had best not try to incite the believers. They weren't merciful in the past when they had total control.
Dangerous game they are playing, to attack this Pope, especially. And yes, he has cut out a lot of their friends. He's going his own way, crossing barriers between different societal groups. He's already condemned the policies in the harshest terms, essentially saying they are going to hell.
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Member since: Fri Dec 10, 2010, 11:36 PMNumber of posts: 53,661
