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Thom's Blog Is On the Move
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Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
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Here is another great article from one of my favorite writers.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Myths-of-Our-Time-by-Paul-Craig-Roberts...
Yahm (spelling?)
Father Ray gave a great homily or sermon on Saturday, November 14, 2009.
He discussed the word, Yahm. It is a Hebrew word that means day, a period of time, or a great period of time.
In the Bible the Good Book says that God created the world in six days and He rested on the seventh day. The fascist-Nazi fundamentalists take the Bible literally. For God one Yahm may be ten trillion years and six Yahms may be the equivalent of sixty trillion years. God may have created the world in sixty trillion years and not six days as the Bible says. God’s time schedule is different from our time schedule. He is a very patient God.
The Catholic Church says that the Bible must not be taken literally. That is one reason why the Church accepts evolution as a possible evolving of our world and of the human species. But, the psychos and the sociopaths stick with the literal interpretation of the Bible.
The apocalyptic writings in the Bible attempts to inform us of what may await a person. God does not want to surprise us at our last judgment. He loves us and He wants us to prepare for the last judgment.
The fascist-Nazi psychos and sociopaths use the literal interpretation of the Bible as wedge issues in order to be elected. Please never forget that we have lunatics running our asylums in government.
Father Ray also talked about predictions for the end of the world. Nostradamus and the Mayan culture predict 2010 as the end of the world. Chinese culture predicts 2013 as the end of the world. Gordon Thomas in his book, “Seeds of Fire,” predicts that a nuclear holocaust will occur in 2015 between fascist-Nazi America and China. Maybe that is why we are embedded with China in SUPERFUSION. As China gains in economic power, she can swallow up fascist-Nazi America like a bug.
There are also apocalyptic writings about hell. I envision three hells. A definite hell is the loss of the beatific vision of God for all eternity. Another hell is fire and brimstone. The third hell is to relive each second in hell as we lived the eight years of hell under the Hitler Bush and Hitler Cheney cabal.
We must be prepared for our destiny before God. A good preparation for all of us is to have lived our lives by the Golden Rule.
P.S.
Jeremy doesn't understand the magnitude of the situation because he was drunk and passed out through a good part of it.
Another Day in America
Friday there was a standoff at my house. All the police available along with 2 swat teams from the Minneapolis suburb in which my house is located (a rather nice one, though older) surrounded my house for almost 5 hours, hoping the Iraq vet that was renting a room and now threatening his own life would eventually come out without hurting himself or the neighbors. I sat on a side street in my car in the rain as we waited. Finally he came out with his hands up, was taken into custody (along with the arsenal of guns, knives and body armor no one knew he had.) He is due to be released today (Monday) and I will be there to meet him with the friendly suburban police to escort him away from the property when he comes back.
He's still angry; he doesn't understand that neighbors are now afraid (after being sneaked out of their houses by police.) His mother is coming sometime this week to gather him, his shattered leg, his weapons (which legally must be returned to him) and his other belongings to take him back with her to the family home in North Dakota. I will be waiting, with the police.
Jeremy is a vet who has lived with constant pain from his leg (acquired in a car accident stateside after he returned from his most recent tour --- his second --- in Iraq.) He was scheduled to attend weekend training this last weekend so he could deploy a THIRD time to Iraq this year.
This was on the news here in Minneapolis and now on YouTube. The "leads if it bleeds" element is there. It just doesn't convey the heartache, both for Jeremy and our neighbors. I have been crying for all of them (and us) for the last 3 days. It's not over...and there will be many more "Jeremys" before we finally end these wars.
Meantime, if you pray, please pray for us (Jeremy first.) Now we all have PTSD.
It was noted in a story last week concerning the exit of Lou Dobbs from CNN--apparently brought on by tension between Dobbs and management over his inability to maintain some semblance of intellectual integrity--that CNN has attempted to position itself as a source of “hard news,” as opposed to the opinion heavy Fox “News” and MSNBC. I’m not sure they have been particularly dedicated to this process, given the cheap tabloid nature of much of what it considers news. But regardless of its intent, CNN continues to lose audience share to its competitors. What does this mean? That people are becoming less attentive to the details of public policy? That they’d rather have someone tell them what to think, whether it is from the right or the left?
If some people prefer to be told what to think (and I’m sure this does not describe anyone on this page), this can be expected to have the predictable result of the dissemination of falsity as fact. This past week’s issue of the Seattle Weekly featured a story on Alan Gottlieb, that bow-tied gun-nut operating an organization called the Second Amendment Foundation out of an office in Republican Bellevue. Gottlieb’s attacks on Barack Obama’s alleged efforts to take people’s guns away border on the psychotic, if only because these attacks have no basis in discernable fact. Obama has in fact been careful not to “upset” gun owners by proposing anything that would, but that has not stopped 55 percent of the public being convinced by all the propaganda that he will.
We have to be honest about this. People like Gottlieb and other gun rights advocates have become, if anything, more fanatical and paranoid than ever. Why? Because they think, according to Gottlieb, that “ gun bans that leave them defenseless against merciless thugs." And who are “them?” White people, perhaps? And are the "thugs" merely a euphamism for minorites? I know Thom is reluctant to apply racism to much of the right-wing criticism of Obama (especially from tea-baggers), but it is becoming increasingly more difficult to escape that conclusion.
According to the Weekly article, Gottlieb admits to basing his anti-Obama campaign on three basic premises: playing on the “fear, hate and revenge” of the paranoid and bigoted. And someone must be designated as a "bogeyman" to focus this hatred and fear on, and Obama fits the bill "perfectly" as a black man. Gottlieb also confesses that hatred and fear are good fund-raising tools, which explains why this ex-felon is a multi-millionaire.
What can be done to reverse this trend toward lies passing as truth? Not much, so long as the undercurrent of racism, and the idea that government “favors” minorities over whites, motivates (spoken or unspoken) them. To deny it merely ensures that it continues.
The Red List of the world's endangered species...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/datablog/2009/oct/23/endangered-sp...
We don't need to continue/recreate a manufacturing culture based on petroleum/coal. We must rather thake advantage of the ONE positive thing about increased CO2 levels -- and that is, plants like them. We must go along with this, or rather follow its lead and create PLANT-BASED economies. Cap and trade, like one caller said last week, is nothing but indulgences for sins. It was a ridiculous notion for the Catholics and is a goofy idea now (and serves only those who can finesse it, such as the biggest companies/corporations.
The more I hear about it, the more it looks like a shell game. And JUST WHAT does cap and trade do to arrest further environmental degradation and loss of species? Only reforestation to habitable landscape can do that, and THAT is what is needed to take advantage of the huge success CO2 can bring the plant world. What is wrong with those in charge who cannot see this obvious link? REFORESTION must be the first priority (and it will create lots of jobs).
The notion that we can continue to live our plastic, lights on day or night, drive around in autos anytime, buy energy-intensive toys and gadgets lifestyle is absurd. The word 'modern' no longer describes that old, filthy, wasteful, destructive lifestyle. The word 'modern' must come to describe something thoroughly new, plant-based, sustainable, zero pollution, and resulting in simplified lives.
President Obama is an authentic realist who has inherited a disaster, and he is using everything in his power to make things right. I find it interesting how he backs up a little when he wants us to fight harder to help him do what he needs to do. He is having to learn how to navigate congress while at the same time masterfully guide the progressive voice like wind in his sails to get us all where we need to go, before it's too late.
What a laugh: Obama is a sane president? Thanks for the chuckle Thom Hartmann and a reminder this site is a monumental waste of my time. Carry on with your self indulgent garbage while Obama takes us into a deeper and interminable conflict with Afghanistan, advances a fantasy known as clean coal, builds untold nuclear without wisdom, conducts covert war on innocents - no doubt your little darling will be safe and sound while the poor die on your behalf. Or more TARP and FISA giveaways, rendition and torture, and naming more corporate insiders to insure we the people are oppressed. Apparently being a moron runs in the family.
I hate Bill Press
I can't get enough Thom Hartmann and Stephanie Miller. Bill Press is an embarrassment
"Feeb", short for "Feeble"
My husband used to refer to Reagan as President "Feeb" from the first year of his presidency, chiefly because his pronouncements seemed so dim-witted. Eight years later, we found out that Reagan actually did have Alzheimer's.
Unfortunately, Reagan was a puppet. People who actually lived through that period will remember how DISLIKED he was for his policies and his ideology. It has only been within the last decade or so that history has been rewritten by right-wing ideologues and others who needed to make a Republican hero out of him.
He will always be "Ronnie Ray-gun" to me.
Ugh........time for the Socialist Senator to spew his talking points and call republicans "Right-Wingers" ( So original)........and time for Hartmann to be his lap dog.
Must be Friday.
@DDay -
So was Dubya.
Apparently, so IS ReaganRules. :D
Reagan was an authentic dolt.
@Mark & mstaggerlee,
Re: The public preference of Repubs vs. Dems in polls
It seems to me that for most independents and a sizable portion of the citizenry ideology isn't very important. What often matters more is authenticity. People have a sixth sense about it. It often trumps all other issues or traits when people go into the voting booth. Some extremely talented politicians are able to project a persona which inspires people to invest in them what they want to see. Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have this gift. The problems begin after we elect them and begin to see how they govern. All too often we find out that they aren't quite what we wanted to believe they were. Seeming to be authentic can get you elected. Being truly authentic is pretty rare now days. I think the jury is still out on Obama.
Today is another hour with the SOCIALIST Senator Bernie Sanders. Hartmann will continue to be his lap dog for the hour and not challenge him on 1 thing he says, as always.
Hartman and the Socialist will use the term right-wingers at least 10 times...........watch.
Does anyone know where the right wing Troll war room is located? Seems they have a place where they gather together and call talk shows to rant the same talking points over and over. I swear they all use the same scripts devoid of facts. I have heard this Jason freak many times on different shows over the last several years.
Jason drinks the Neo Con koolaid, and is a whiner. Clearly, he is unable to use critical thinking skills. Jason demonstrates how simple minds are easily manipulated and is more emotional than rational. He recites the misinformation dictated to him by those who control him,they'll give him a bone and pat him on his head while taking away his freedoms. He regurgitates Neo Con, corporate BS while accusing Thom of doing what he is doing. Jason is not bright enough to understand that our problem is not merely Republicans versus Democrats but it's Corporations versus the very people who create and sustain their wealth.
To the caller just now saying that white men (like me) are the most innovative on the planet, I offer the case of Qian Xuesen - a leading rocket scientist for America until he was deported on racist grounds. Everytime our troops are in danger from a Silkworm missile .... thank the racists who deported him:
http://www.honoraryunsubscribe.com/qian_xuesen.html
I heard one person today bring up the idea of taking away the tax exempt status of some religions. This dovetails with a thought I had earlier today.
If we have diplomatic relations with Vatican City and Vatican City is considered an entirely separate country, doesn't that make the biships and priests and occupying force?? Following that line of reasoning shouldn't the congressmen who negotiated with the Catholic bishops over the Stupak amendment be considered traitors and Quislings (sp?)?
I say it's time to throw the bishops and priests out of the country.
Careful, there, Senator - Worker ownership of the means of production??!! Sounds kinda Marxist,don't it?
But seriously, folks, I love the idea ... and I ALMOST work at such a place.
The four men who founded the company I work for now all used to work together at another company. Over the course of about 5 years (during the Reagan administration) the company that they worked for was bought and sold 4 separate times. Each transfer caused considerable turmoil in their lives - management shakeups, layoffs, etc. At various times, each of these 4 guys was supervised by one of the other 3. A couple were out of work for a while, then re-hired at reduced compensation.
Back in 1986, when they heard about a FIFTH buyout, they'd all had enough. All were considerably experienced, they saw market needs, and had product ideas to fill those perceived needs. So they pooled their funds, took out 2nd mortgages or whatever loans they could get, and founded this company.
I wouldn't exactly call this workplace a democracy (we are no, and likely never will be, unionized), but the 3 surviving owners treat their employees at all levels with respect. Yes, we had a layoff, and a couple of temporary hours reductions over the past couple of years, but those employees who remain here were recently given 5 additional paid days off each year. We all get a reasonable amount of inpurt regarding how our jobs are done, and where we fit into the company structure. All in all, it ain't a bad place to work.
What'll happen when these 3 men are ready to retire? Your guess is as good as mine, but with any luck, I'll retire before any of them.
@ Mark -
Regarding the rest of your 1st post - It is widely understood that given a choice between a Republican, and a Democrat who acts (how much did I want to write "smells" there?!) like a Republican, most people will choose the Republican.
@ Wildcat & Boris31 -
2 VERY kewl posts! Thanx!
Yes, Mark, that same post from DRichards WAS on yesterday's page, but nobody responded to it. I was kinda troubled by it myself, but had a busy day & couldn't get my thoughts in that regard in order, so I let it slide.
Somehow, DR, I manage to appreciate numerous women for their outer beauty every day, and while my thoughts may occasionally stray towards what's behind that plunging neckline, or under that short skirt, I've never gone as far as an inappropriate comment (that she could hear, anyway), let alone considering assault.
Does that make ME weird??