Tea Party Nation announces ‘top 5 liberal hate groups’

[kpete]

Tea Party Nation announces ‘top 5 liberal hate groups’

5. NAACP

4. SEIU

3. ACLU

2. The Department of Homeland Security

1. SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center)

http://www.examiner.com/religion-politics-in-wilmington/tea-party-nation-announces-top-5-liberal-hate-groups-conclusion
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/29/93143/731

[nmbluesky]

1. WTF?????

:wtf::argh:

[Bluzmann57]

2. Dept. of Homeland Security?

Wow. Just wow.

[mrmpa]

4. ditto

[peacebird]

5. really? How did they decide those gestapo are LIBERALS? Don't they remember ot was

created by their guy - the chimpster-in-chief?

[MiddleFingerMom]

11. But didn't conservatives (especially the far Right) turn on him late in his administration? n/t

[toddwv]

19. RMHS (Right-wing Memory Hole Syndrome)

They want to forget about the 6 years during which they had complete control and bungled nearly every aspect of governing.

[OrangeGrapes]

79. I'll have to remeber that one.

And tease my father with it. Because he has that very syndrome.

[Recursion]

48. W was never for it; it was pushed by Democrats and GOP moderates

Now, once he got it, he used it to his advantage as much as possible, but he was against having a DHS and a DCI when they were created.

[barbtries]

61. please provide a link

cause i don't believe that.

[Recursion]

63. Seriously?

Do you not remember early 2002?

http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/George_W__Bush_Homeland_Security.htm (about 3/4 of the way down)

"So, creating a Cabinet office doesn't solve the problem. You still will have agencies within the federal government that have to be coordinated. So the answer is that creating a Cabinet post doesn't solve anything." " from here: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/07/b42263.html

Etc.

[barbtries]

64. for less than 3 months

BUSH OPPOSES THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY..."So, creating a Cabinet office doesn't solve the problem. You still will have agencies within the federal government that have to be coordinated. So the answer is that creating a Cabinet post doesn't solve anything."

...BUSH SUPPORTS THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY "So tonight, I ask the Congress to join me in creating a single, permanent department with an overriding and urgent mission: securing the homeland of America and protecting the American people."

thanks for the link. no i did not recall that. note that the first statement was made by a spokesman and the latter by ol' gw hisself.

it's an interesting page.

[Recursion]

65. He finally flipped on it when they said the employees can't unionize

But, like most of the GOP, he wasn't a big fan of concentrating that much power in one part of the bureaucracy.

[barbtries]

67. no?

not a big fan of executive supremacy? i'm referring to gwbush.

[Recursion]

69. DHS is mostly made of of professional civil sevants

GOP doesn't like those guys.

[geckosfeet]

74. Like you can believe anything at that POS said. Posturing and politics. eom

[JHB]

55. Thery're still in a snit from when it flagged rightwing extremists...

...and the FOX carnival barkers told them all that it meant THEM, not Tim McVeigh-types, white supremacists using the military to get weapons and explosives training, and the like.

[justabob]

24. really....

I can't think of anything but wow....we have reached a new plateau in surreal

[hobbit709]

41. HS is to the left of Temujin-ergo liberal.

[Lorien]

50. Apparently they forgot who got that ball rolling. nt

[valerief]

81. Double triple wow. Makes no sense. nt

[bobthedrummer]

82. My thought too n/t

:crazy: :silly:

[arcane1]

3. DHS is a "liberal hate group"?

I wonder what they were prior to January 09? :shrug:

[H2O Man]

6. Pathetic.

Irrational thinking on their part.

[Hawkeye-X]

7. Uh-huh. Here's mine.

1) Tea Party Nation
2) Tea Party Patriots
3) The Republican Party
4) Anyone who still "admire" Ronald Reagan
5) Exectives who steal money from the citizens and hide it and refuses to pay taxes

[ananda]

8. Insanity lives.

nt

[DCKit]

22. No, it THRIVES... on willful ignorance. nt

[lpbk2713]

9. Pot/Kettle

The height of absurdity is this bunch of wackjobs pointing their gnarly fingers at anyone and saying "hate groups".


:rofl:

[Arkana]

18. Projection. Pure projection.

That's all it is.

[wakemewhenitsover]

38. Bingo.

That tired Republican tactic: accusing Democrats of what they, the Republicans are guilty -- in this case, belonging to a hate group.

[Hawkeye-X]

10. Oh here's a couple of more that they forgot...

AFSCME

Democratic Socialists of America

ACORN

NARAL

Planned Parenthood

Ummmm.....

[baldguy]

25. They might as well add the United States of America to their list.

[JHB]

56. Don't leave out the New Black Panther Party!

I mean, how could you forget such a pervasive, efficient, widespread, and effective organization?
:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: (there just aren't enough :sarcasm: 's to adequately convey the degree of :sarcasm: on this one)
Rest assured, the Teabaggers live in fear of it.

[county worker]

12. My union is a hate group? How do you fight against such ignorance?

They repeat the propaganda they hear on faux news and from their organizer corporations.

[denem]

13. Er Rand PAUL son of Ron PAUL (R - Libertarian)

Right Libertarians are part of the Tea Party, if only for the moment.

Intrusive Big Government = Liberal

[madmax]

14. These people are bat shit crazy - for sure. nt

[edbermac]

15. DU didn't make the top 5??

:wtf:

[KansDem]

21. Yeah, really! Color me shocked!

:wtf::wtf:

[Harry Monroe]

37. Wish we would have!!

To make their "hate" group would be such an honor. The more progressive and forward your group is, the more they "hate" you!!

[EFerrari]

52. That's really disappointing.

:)

[LongTomH]

75. Maybe we should complain?

:rofl:

[Cheap_Trick]

87. The question is....

what can WE do to make sure we top the list next year?

[Cleita]

16. Bigotry much?

With the exception of the Department of Homeland Security, the other four groups stand for the rights of minorities and the underclass.

[ClassWarrior]

66. Bingo.

NGU.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

17. AKA "Five groups who are on to us."

[nemo137]

33. Heh.

:toast: Good one.

[alp227]

20. As Colbert said, reality has a well-known liberal bias

these tea party fools are just embarrassed that's why they put out that list. I bet that the Tea Party wouldn't think twice about inviting speakers from orgs like the American Family Association that put out all sorts of misleading anti-gay propaganda. Or VDare.com, American Renaissance, etc.

[marmar]

23. Teabaggers hate people who hate them for their hate.

Got it? :silly:

[Old and In the Way]

26. "I know you are but what am I"?

They took a lot of thought projection. Basically, any group that exposes the bigots and racists are the 'haters'. That's quite a list, maybe 10% of the country? We tend to focus on the rather small militant anti-socialists...they seem to prefer to label mainstream Americans as a hate group.

[Canuckistanian]

27. What? No "New Black Panthers"??

They're slipping.

[tsuki]

28. And Teabaggers are not affiliated with any party. nt

[Initech]

29. And they say they're not racist. Oh that's rich.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[w8liftinglady]

30. funny thing-here's a list of hate groups in the loving Texas Tea Party

areas...coincidence?????

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map#s=TX

[Prophet 451]

31. Gee, there's a shock

Four groups that the ultraright has been bitching about for decades. The only surprise is the DHS.

[Generic Brad]

32. DU did not make the list?

I would love it if we were up there with those honorable organizations.

[Capitalocracy]

34. That's a headscratcher.

Is this an SAT question?

Which of the following does not belong...

[tex-wyo-dem]

35. One thing that always gets me is the...

Amazing level irony that the RW achieves...it's truely astounding.

Then I have to remind myself that it's actually driven by well planned projection.

[Rex]

36. Okay I know you lurking Teabaggers are there!

Please explain to us here in the DUniverse how in your reality, the DHS is considered a liberal hate group. We await your reply, thanks.

[Vinnie From Indy]

39. Rush Limbaugh and FOX News are to blame

They pump this shit out daily to their idiot band of listeners.

[rucky]

40. LOL@DHS

I'd love to hear the rationale for that one.

[felix_numinous]

42. Haha Homeland security must have visited them

a couple times to have made that list, it wouldn't be there otherwise.

[eShirl]

45. +1

[FSogol]

43. Looks like Tea Party Nation got their junk touched at the airport.

:facepalm:

[peekaloo]

51. got pissed when they were allowed to board based on insufficient evidence.

:-)

[bullwinkle428]

44. Mental note to make another donation to SPLC!

[JAbuchan08]

46. I was going to write a sarcastic list which included

the ACLU and SPLC as well as "black people" apparently satire is dead.

[Hugabear]

47. Funny. That has about as much validity as a Aryan Nations list of "hate groups"

Pretty ironic, a hate group calling other groups hate groups.

[proud2BlibKansan]

49. I'm a donor to 3 out of 5. LOL

[awoke_in_2003]

84. they are coming to lock ...

you up soon :)

[Raschel]

53. What about the Palin family?

[FrancisTreptoe]

54. Hilarious.

I find it ironic that they constantly preach constitutional values and the protection of the constitution, yet they bash the ACLU.

It is f**king disgraceful that these idiots dominate the political discussion in this country.

[AsahinaKimi]

57. I bet that

A lot of this was generated by crap coming out of Glenn Beck's mouth.

[Fleshdancer]

58. I'm really sick and tired of their hypocricy when it comes to the ACLU.

They love to hate ACLU until it's their civil liberties at risk. Idiots.

[OnyxCollie]

62. The Tea Party are trained monkeys

doing the bidding of their corporate organ grinders.

The relevance of group homogeneity, group cohesiveness, and groupthink
to organizational crime becomes even more evident in light of differential
association theory. This sociological theory of crime was developed
by Sutherland (1939, 1947) and later modified slightly by Sutherland
and Cressey (1978). According to this theory, "crime" is defined as such by
society. Some individuals live in accordance with these definitions; others
do not. Those who do not are seen as "criminal" in that their definitions
of acceptable behavior are deviant. An example of differential association
would be a group of executives who have defined a regulatory
agency, e.g., the EPA, as antibusiness and a hindrance to U.S. industrial
competitiveness. Violation of EPA rules could then be viewed by them as
patriotic and supportive of free enterprise.

Daboub, A. J., Rasheed, A. M., Priem, R. L., & Gray, D. A. (1995). Top management team characteristics and corporate illegal activity. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 138-170.

[Ikonoklast]

91. I guess they need to hate Limbaugh, too.

http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/aclu-asks-court-protect-confidentiality-rush-limbaughs-medical-records

Every Republican hypocrite hates lawyers until they need one.

[OnyxCollie]

59. Destroying the pluralistic characteristic of democracy.

Totalitarianism, being a dictatorship, characteristically includes the coercive
qualities noted in such varied dictatorial systems. But unlike most dictatorships
of the past and present, the totalitarian movements wielding power
do not aim to freeze society in the status quo, but on the contrary institutionalize,
or plan to, a revolution which mounts in scope, and frequently in intensity,
as the regime stabilizes itself in power. This revolution is to pulverize all
existing social units in order to replace the old pluralism with a homogeneous
unanimity patterned on the blueprints of the totalitarian ideology. The power
of the totalitarian regime is derived not from a precarious balance of existing
forces (e.g., church, landed gentry, officer corps) but from the revolutionary
dynamism of its zealous supporters who disarm opposition and mobilize the
masses both by force and by an appeal to a better future. This appeal is normally
framed in the official ideology, or action program, of the movement. In time, of
course, the dynamism decreases, but by then the system is buttressed by complex
networks of control which pervade the entire society and mobilize its
energies through sheer penetration. An institutionalized revolution, patterned
on the totalitarian ideology, thus makes totalitarianism essentially a forward-oriented
phenomenon. Most dictatorships, on the other hand, have as their
object the prevention of history from keeping in step with time. Their survival
depends on maintaining the status quo. When they fail, they become history.2

This proposition can be further developed by examining the fate of restraints on political power, which are present in varying degrees in all societies, once
the totalitarian movement seizes power. These restraints can be broadly listed in three categories: 1) the
direct restraints, expressed through pacta conventa such as the English Magna Carta or the Polish Nihil
novi .... , the Bill of Rights, constitutional guarantees, a rule of law, or even the broad consensus of
tradition which rules out certain types of conduct, such as the use of violence;
2) the indirect restraints which stem from the pluralistic character of all large-scale societies, and which
necessitate adjustment and compromise as the basis for political power, e.g., the churches, the economic
interests, professional, cultural or regional pressure groups, which all impede the exercise of unrestrained
power; and 3) the natural restraints, such as national character and tradition, climatic and geographical
considerations, kinship structure and particularly the primary social unit, the family. These also act to
restrain the scope of political power.

Brzezinski, Z. (1956). Totalitarianism and rationality. The American Political Science Review, 50(3), 751-763.

[barbtries]

60. hate groups?

don't they mean groups we love to hate?!

amazing. and out of the blue, the dept of homeland security, bush's very own! where'd that come from?

[DainBramaged]

68. GOOD close the DHS reassign the duties to the agencies who had them BEFORE 9/11

and save BILLIONS of dollars. it was just another scheme by the GOP to have a department to sell useless shit to.

[OnyxCollie]

73. That would be the Office of National Preparedness.

I wrote a paper about that for a class I had.

Carter identifies four approaches used to manage national security threats from terrorism.1 The first approach, used by the Clinton Administration, was to assign the Department of Justice to threats within the borders and the Department of State to threats outside the borders. This was later modified to place authority to respond to terrorism by what department had been affected.2 This approach, based on the assumption that departments already held the ability to battle terrorism, did not offer any means for prevention.

The second approach was to appoint the Department of Defense (DoD) to monitor terrorism threats.3 However, to adequately perform such duties the DoD would be required to stray beyond the scope of its authority, thereby encroaching upon other agencies. The DoD instead favored to relegate its position to that of backup.

The third approach was the creation of a terrorism “czar” to coordinate agencies to combat terrorism.4 This approach acknowledged the need for a leader to direct multiple agencies across an expansive field of capabilities in order to fulfill the directive. Lacking any true power however, the terrorism czar approach failed to take into account competing agency objectives issued by cabinet secretaries and by Congress, rendering the position impotent.

The fourth approach (and the one ultimately decided upon by the Bush Administration) was the creation of a single agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).5 Without providing existing agencies with excessive new powers or forcing them to go beyond their purview, DHS would oversee agencies with a singular objective to combat terrorism. As seemingly beneficial as this approach appeared, directing agencies to combat terrorism often created redundancies amid accepted agency duties.

Prior to the development of DHS, President Bush created a new office under the auspices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to assess terrorism risks.6 Headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, the Office of National Preparedness would establish a plan to coordinate agencies to respond to a catastrophic terrorism attack. “It is clear that the threat of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons being used against the United States --while not immediate – is very real,” wrote Mr. Bush.7 Joe Allbaugh, the director of FEMA at the time (he was succeeded by his college friend, Michael Brown,8 who gained notoriety for his handling of Hurricane Katrina), conflated catastrophic terrorism with natural disasters, thereby including terrorism as a responsibility under his command.9 According to the report, an unnamed terrorism expert and former government official questioned the effectiveness of putting FEMA in charge of managing multiple agencies, observing that “it was smaller and less well financed than many of the other agencies involved in counterterrorism.”10

1. Carter, A. B. (2002). The architecture of government in the face of terrorism. International Security, 26(3), p. 11.
2. Address by President Bill Clinton at the U.S. Naval Academy, May 22, 1998; White House fact sheet, Combating Terrorism, PDD/NSC-62, Protection against Unconventional Threats to the Homeland and Americans Overseas, May 22, 1998; and White House fact sheet, PDD/NSC-63, Critical Infrastructure Protection, May 22, 1998 as cited in Carter, A. B. (2002). The architecture of government in the face of terrorism. International Security, 26(3), p. 11.
3. Ibid
4. Ibid
5. Ibid
6. Bruni, F. (2001, May 9). Bush taps Cheney to study antiterrorism steps. The New York Times. Retrieved April 15, 2009 from http://www.nytimes.com
7. Ibid.
8. Noah, T. (2005). Joe Allbaugh, disaster pimp. Retrieved April 15, 2009 from www.slate.com
9. Carter, A. B. (2002). The architecture of government in the face of terrorism. International Security, 26(3), p. 8.
10. Bruni, F. (2001, May 9). Bush taps Cheney to study antiterrorism steps. The New York Times. Retrieved April 15, 2009 from http://www.nytimes.com

[DainBramaged]

86. Joe Allbaugh

http://www.allbaugh.us/

The Allbaugh International Group, LLC provides world-class emergency, security, disaster and anti-terrorism planning, management, response, recovery, economic, real estate, training and implementation services to governmental agencies, and private companies, and select individuals.

Another Booshe buddy who made out like he found the goose that laid the golden egg.

[OnyxCollie]

89. I was wondering where that POS went to.

From the paper I wrote:

Mr. Allbaugh’s disaster management qualifications were questionable at best. Before
becoming FEMA director, he served as Mr. Bush’s gubernatorial chief of staff and later as Mr.
Bush’s presidential campaign manager in 2000.12 “Allbaugh? He was inept. He didn’t have an
emergency management background, other than the disasters he ran into in Texas, and he wasn’t
a very open guy. He didn’t want to learn anything,”13 offers Claire Rubin, senior researcher at
George Washington University’s Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management.

During Mr. Bush’s presidential campaign, Mr. Allbaugh had acquired a reputation for
being parsimonious. “It’s not what you raise, it’s what you have in the bank. So what if you raise
it all if you don’t have it when you need it. So yes, I’m pretty frugal.”14 Mr. Allbaugh adapted
that attitude to FEMA as well, privatizing public services to whomever could provide the lowest
bid. Addressing the Senate appropriations committee in May 2001, Mr. Allbaugh said:

Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both
an oversized entitlement program and a disincentive to effective state and local
risk management. Expectations of when the federal government should be
involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an
appropriate level.15

Privatization of public services, especially disaster management services, may be pennywise
but pound-foolish, leading to unintended consequences. “Pretty soon governments can’t do
things because they’ve given up those capabilities to the private sector. And private corporations
don’t necessarily maintain those capabilities,”16 says Georgia State University disaster expert
William Waugh.

12 Balz, D. (1999, July 23). Team Bush: The iron triangle. The Washington Post, p. C1.
13 Elliston, J. (2004). A disaster waiting to happen. Retrieved April 16, 2009 from http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A22664
14 Balz, D. (1999, July 23). Team Bush: The iron triangle. The Washington Post, p. C1.
15 Ibid.
16 Elliston, J. (2004). A disaster waiting to happen. Retrieved April 16, 2009 from http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A22664

A strong advocate for Project BioShield II was Jerome Hauer, who gave his assessment
of Project BioShield I in December 2004, “Bioshield I was a good start; there’s no question
about it. It was intended to engage the industry (and) to stimulate the industry. …But it appears
to have had just the opposite effect for many of the pharmaceutical companies.”49 At the time Mr.
Hauer gave that statement, he was no longer acting assistant secretary for emergency
preparedness at HHS; he was working as a lobbyist for BioPort Corporation.50 He is currently on
the Board of Directors for Emergent Biosolutions (formerly BioPort) along with former FEMA
director Joe Allbaugh.51

49 Strohm, C. (2004). Congress seeks to stimulate market for bioagent vaccines. Retrieved April 15, 2009 from http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?filepath=/dailyfed/1204/121604c1.htm
50 Ibid.
51 Emergent Biosolutions Inc. (2009). Board of Directors. Retrieved April 15, 2009 from http://investors.emergentbiosolutions.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=202582&p=irol-govboard_pf

[Snotcicles]

70. How backward does one have to be to think that those who protect our civil liberties

is a hate group. Sounds like projection to me.

[The Doctor.]

71. OMGtehSTOOPID

Just fucking WOW.

NAACP?!?

"We're not racist! Really! Double Bla... er White magic!"

[jillan]

72. Maybe it's time for DU Nation to announce it top 5 teabag hate groups?

[Joey Liberal]

76. They are frickin' crazy! nt

[sam sarrha]

77. what are the F'n NeoCons putting their tea.... ?!!!

[sam sarrha]

78. the the Dominionists just make up shit and stupid people drink their Tea.>>LINK>>

http://doggo.tripod.com/doggchrisdomin.html
How comforting the Calvinistic idea of a “justified sinner” is when one is utilizing Machiavellian techniques to gain political control of a state. It’s more than comforting; it is a required doctrine for “Christians” who believe they must use evil to bring about good. It justifies lying, murder, fraud and all other criminal acts without the fuss of having to deal with guilt feelings or to feel remorse for the lives lost through executions, military actions, or assassinations.

Leo Strauss was born in 1899 and died in 1973. ... He is most famous for resuscitating Machiavelli and introducing his principles as the guiding philosophy of the neo-conservative movement. ... More than any other man, Strauss breathed upon conservatism, inspiring it to rise from its atrophied condition and its natural dislike of change and to embrace an unbounded new political ideology that rides on the back of a revolutionary steed, hailing even radical change; hence the name Neo-Conservatives.

Significantly, Dominionism is a form of Social Darwinism.<48> It inherently includes the religious belief that wealth-power is a sign of God’s election. That is, out of the masses of people and the multitude of nations, wealth, in and of itself, is thought to indicate God’s approval on men and nations whereas poverty and sickness reflect God’s disapproval.

(It was not until I read this article that I realized that this is a fundamental tenet of Dominionists.

Worldly wealth and power are signs of God's favor -- to attempt to limit or decrease one's wealth and power is to disrespect God.

On the contrary, God's elect on Earth are called upon to increase their wealth and power.

It is not sufficient for a man to be a millionaire, or for a country to have sovereignty within its borders -- a man must strive to increase his wealth as much as possible, and a Dominionist government's behavior toward its neighbors must be "invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity".

Furthermore, any attempt to decrease a person's or a country's wealth and power -- to take from the rich to give to the poor, to reduce military spending and power -- is a direct attack on God.)

If “Secular Humanists are the greatest threat to Christianity the world has ever known,” as theologian Francis Schaeffer claimed, then who are the Humanists? According to Dominionists, humanists are the folks who allow or encourage licentious behavior in America. They are the undisciplined revelers.

Put all the enemies of the Dominionists together, boil them down to liquid and bake them into the one single most highly derided and contaminated individual known to man, and you will have before you an image of the quintessential “liberal” -- one of those folks who wants to give liberally to the poor and needy -- who desires the welfare and happiness of all Americans -- who insists on safety regulations for your protection and who desires the preservation of your values -- those damnable people are the folks that must be reduced to powerlessness -- or worse: extinction.

What would a “reconstructed” America look like under the Dominionists? K.L. Gentry, a Dominionist himself, suggests the following “elements of a theonomic approach to civic order,” which I strongly suggest should be compared to the Texas GOP platform of 2002, which reveals that we are not just talking about imaginary ideas but some things are already proposed on Republican agendas.<60> Dominionism’s concept of government according to Gentry is as follows:

“1. It obligates government to maintain just monetary policies ... fiat money, fractional reserve banking, and deficit spending.

“2. It provides a moral basis for elective government officials. ...

“3. It forbids undue, abusive taxation of the rich. ...

“4. It calls for the abolishing of the prison system and establishing a system of just restitution. *...

“5. A theonomic approach also forbids the release, pardoning, and paroling of murderers by requiring their execution. ...

“6. It forbids industrial pollution that destroys the value of property. ...

“7. It punishes malicious, frivolous malpractice suits. ...

“8. It forbids abortion rights. ... Abortion is not only a sin, but a crime, and, indeed, a capital crime.”<61>
. . .

* Gary North describes the ‘just restitution’ system of the bible, which happens to reinstitute slavery,
like this:


“At the other end of the curve, the poor man who steals is eventually caught and sold into bondage under a successful person. His victim receives payment; he receives training; his buyer receives a stream of labor services. If the servant is successful and buys his way out of bondage, he re-enters society as a disciplined man, and presumably a self-disciplined man. He begins to accumulate wealth.”



http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm
But how could a leader get away with a religious fraud that barely hides its destructive and false intent?

Jim Jones’s history holds the answer. He not only proved the obvious fact that people are blinded by their religious beliefs and will only impute goodness, mercy, and religious motivations to their leader, but Jim Jones proved the efficacy of the basic teaching of Machiavelli: a leader must only appear to have the qualities of goodness—he need not actually possess those attributes.

In fact, Machiavelli taught that it is dangerous for a leader to practice goodness. Instead, he must pretend to be good and then do the opposite. Machiavelli taught that a leader will succeed on appearances alone. A good leader puts his finger to the wind and changes course whenever it is expedient to do so. Machiavelli wrote this revealing passage that could be applied not only to false religious leaders but to a false President:

“Alexander VI did nothing else but deceive men, he thought of nothing else, and found the occasion for it; no man was ever more able to give assurances, or affirmed things with stronger oaths, and no man observed them less; however, he always succeeded in his deceptions, as he well knew this aspect of things.”

“Everybody sees what you appear to be, few feel what you are, and those few will not dare to oppose themselves to the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the actions of men, and especially of princes, from which there is no appeal, the end justifies the means.” (p. 93)


http://blog.buzzflash.com/hartmann/10016
As Canadian (University of Calgary) political science professor Shadia B. Drury notes in her brilliant critique of Strauss, his work, and his students' influence:

"Strauss's students and their students have occupied important positions in the Reagan and Bush administrations and continue to play a significant role within the Republican party. Prominent figures on the American political scene include Reagan's ambassador to Indonesia, Paul Wolfowitz; Caspar Weinberger's former speechwriter, Seth Cropsey; National Endowment for the Humanities Deputy Chairman, John T. Agresto; National Security Council advisor Carnes Lord; Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, Alan Keyes; legal scholar and judge Robert Bork...; Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court; former Secretary of Education William Bennett; former Education Department Chief of Staff, William Kristol (later former vice-president Dan Quayle's chief of staff and then the chief pundit and policy maker of the Republican party). Journalists have been fully cognizant of this influx of Straussians into Washington and of the power they have within the Republican party. So much so that the New York Times has dubbed Leo Strauss the godfather of the Republican party's 1994 Contract With America."

[jobycom]

80. This will be the media's mantra from now on, you realize.

That's how this works. Conservatice groups spout out some nonsense, and the media begins reporting it as fact, and soon the average person starts repeating it. That's the meme now. Welcome to 1984.

[B Calm]

83. The ACLU went to Rush Limbaugh's defense over the seizing of his

medical records.

[LeftishBrit]

85. Hate groups? Any of these? How?

And since when has the Department of Homeland Security been any sort of liberal group?

[Rex]

88. And still I wait for some genus Teabagger lurker to explain to me

how the DHS got on that list...still waiting... :eyes:

[B Calm]

94. The DHS was started by a republican president. . Stupid cons. . .

[lonestarnot]

90. Heh, Vets for Peace not on the list! Now I'm pissed!

:D

[Sabriel]

92. And where's the NEA/AFT, I'd like to know?

I'm not paying dues for nothing, I hope! Geez.

I love, love, love that the SPLC is on there, because, by extension, so is its education arm: Teaching Tolerance. And Teaching Tolerance, as we are all aware, promotes hate.

[Warren DeMontague]

93. What's the "Re Tarded Nation"?

Sorry, never heard of 'em.

[roamer65]

95. More TEABAGGER stupidity.