broshem's Blog

By COLSON WHITEHEAD

Published: November 5, 2008..

OVER the coming days and weeks, there will be many “I never thought I’d see the day” pieces, but none of them will be more overflowing with “I never thought I’d see the day”-ness than this one. I’m black, you see, and I haven’t gained a pound since college. I skip breakfast most days, have maybe half a sandwich for lunch, and sometimes I forget to eat dinner. Just slips my mind. Yesterday morning, I woke up to a new world. America had elected a Skinny Black Guy president.

I never thought I’d see the day. What were the chances that someone who looked like me would come to lead the most powerful nation on earth? Slim.

Skinny Black Guys of my parents’ generation pinned their hopes on Sammy Davis Jr. His was a big-tent candidacy, rallying Skinny Black Guys, the Rat Pack and the Jewish vote in one crooning, light-footed package. He won South Carolina, but he never gathered momentum. In the end, the Candy Man couldn’t.

No one stepped up for a long time. Michael Jackson was black and skinny, but also pretty weird, and after a while he wasn’t even black any more, although he did retain his beanpole silhouette. We thought we had a winner in Chris Rock, but then he started in with his infamous “There are Russians, and then there are ... Georgians” routine and we decided he was too raw for the national stage. So we waited. Some lost faith. Others gorged themselves on protein shakes, believing that America might accept a black mesomorph. And some of us kept hoping. We were hungry for change, if not brunch.

Like many Americans, I first saw Barack Obama at the 2004 Democratic convention. I remember telling my wife excitedly, “This guy is probably stuffed after a cup of minestrone!”

We knew it’d be an uphill battle. America has a long, troubled history. Last summer, The Wall Street Journal came out and said what all Americans felt, but were too afraid to say aloud: “In a nation in which 66 percent of the voting-age population is overweight and 32 percent is obese, could Senator Obama’s skinniness be a liability? Despite his visits to waffle houses, ice-cream parlors and greasy-spoon diners around the country, his slim physique just might have some Americans wondering whether he is truly like them.” Had he bitten off more than he could chew?

I voted for Mr. Obama, but don’t give me that “you’re racist” line. Skinny Black Guys vote Democratic 90 percent of the time, through thin and thin. Now our day has come.

On the right, there’s been much anxiety over what a Skinny Black Guy administration will look like. Will he paint the White House a warm, Cablinasian caramel, lop off the East Wing for a more svelte profile? Pack his cabinet with Garrett Morris, Dave Chappelle and Jimmie Walker? Such talk is ridiculous, although Mr. Obama doesn’t hide the fact that he keeps Urkel on speed-dial “because you never know.” I’m confident he’ll reach across the aisle to Skinny White Guys, Haven’t Been Able to Get to the Gym White Guys, and If They Were Women They’d Be Called Zaftig White Guys.

He is going to raise taxes on the middle class, though. They were right about that. Skinny Black Guys hate the middle class. No reason. Just do.

What else can we expect from a Skinny Black Guy White House? (I never thought I’d live to write those words!) We’ll turn the corner, or close the menu, as we like to say, on the war on terrorism. The time may come to sit down at the (under-catered) table with the Taliban. The president-elect has a lot in common with these guys. No, not that. It’s hard to get good takeout in the caves of Tora Bora, so you know they’re pretty lean by now. Nothing breaks the ice like, “Is that my stomach growling, or yours?”

There’s a lot of work to be done to get America back on track. There won’t be time for full meals, just light snacking. No problem. With the economy tanking, we’ll to have to tighten our belts. Again, no prob. When Skinny Black Guys say, “I’ll just have the Cobb salad,” it’s not a calorie thing. We’re cheap. It’ll come in handy when cutting the fat out of the budget in time for beach season.

A lot of bigots woke up yesterday to the reality of our modern world. To them I say, just because you have a high metabolism, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have a fierce moral vision and the right ideas to fix this country. It just means that you don’t gain weight easily.

Somewhere, the Candy Man is smiling.

Colson Whitehead is the author of the forthcoming novel “Sag Harbor.”

reposted by another  Skinny Guy who feels good to be represented... ;)

"ScottytheComic", I invite you to move to the Phillipines where your beverage manufacturing plant and Filipino workers allow you to avoid paying the bulk of your U.S. taxes. I'm sure there you can control your wife the way you believe the bible says you should, do you make her cover her hair? Paul said you should, right?

Better yet, Why don't you buy into WalMart, sell Chinese goods, and employ her yourself?

God has eyes that are all, yet small, like matter. Since the fall we neglected the call

** Beware of the smallness of this world thou blogging fiend. **

Sorry to make it personal but I spy a hypocrite who won't admit to his failings. peace an glory to Jah as the Most High. He got that Buddha glint in His eye. I Also spy a man of ferocious verboseness. Or did I mean kicks verbosity with ferocity? Now I'm just projecting. Yet, still, accepting that I am not the one who'll judge you. Bad for you 'cause I'm tolerant and you're hollerin' biblical laws that men scrawled on parchment. They couldn't live up to those and if you do your noes grows, it's why you need Jesus.

I'm screaming at you because you are screaming it here in the FOXNews blogosphere, telling us what you most need to hear. No More Fear. Dude if it's what you believe then sit back and perceive that your friend is in need of your presence, and you are in need of His. If he is your savior then hold tight to Him because that is what is good FOR YOU. Don't start a war over it, let God Be the Judge, right?

We are made of matter. In this way we are all alike, not one better than another, we are each practicing at our own pace, finding our Center (our Maker) at different intervals. We are all suffering through it. :) This is how I know we can all understand each other ,eventually, through our pain... you could call it Christ's pain- it is when we lower ourselves that we find our base level and we are all the same, in humility we are each who we are and no more. Naked we feel the ever presence of the witness we normally forget. The Maker is the Witness, the Maker of each of us is the link to the Witness. It is in this way we judge ourselves. We Only get judged in the End? Nah, we judge ourselves continually - just be sure to place it properly!  About the final analysis? Hm... I'm listening to my Maker, it ain't what they taught me, so much bigger than that, and here, in this world where we don't see your mistakes it's easy for you to deliver the Word from on High but I'm just helping because I know Brother. I know. You suffer greatly. I'm not any more special or well suited to Life than you. This is what You Make it. You are your Maker. It's that Simple. Not Easy, but so simple, most forgo it. Now that you see it, what will you do? Hook back in and go to sleep? Or join the resistance? This is the matrix Scotty.

and I am a metaphor mixing lunatic tic tickin until I burst and spray chicken all over the kitchen.

:) here's a match...

As a coin has two sides so does the Political machine that imposes it's corporate led fascist control over the United States.

One side of this machine is Democrats, the other Republicans, it is the same machine.

Obama seemed the lesser of two fascists and an opportunity to make History. I voted against my conscience, not Nader, in order to join the Majority. We set a precedent.

I heard no Republicans here in these pages complaining when We set a precedent with two terms of the dumbest man to ever enter the Whitehouse, so why the vitriol now?

Fear Not my fellow Americans. This isn't socialism, the State doesn't own the corporations that agencies of the State appoint to manage government programs. These corporations are privately and publicly held, this is Capitalist Fascism at it's finest. You will still be able to invest in the huge Corporations and they will still manage the healthcare system that you love so much. Now they will profit from the tax revenue collected from you, from your investments, and from your pockets directly.

No thing has changed in D.C., only the face. It's about time, too. Nothing wrong with melanin in the first family.

Funny that those who told me I was unpatriotic in my lack of support for the SonofaBush, are now saying they won't support, or that Obama is not their President. OK, I say Move elsewhere!
(I see why you all said it so often, it feels good! Ya'll get the heck out while you still can, the socialists are coming!!!)

Fear Not.

If you are able to focus to read more than a few sentences at a time I beckon you... Let he who has eyes to see, read if you have a mind to think, Think about what you read...

The Revolution of the Meek

By: Peter Chamberlin

03/09/08 "ICH" -- - What words can I conjure to give meaning to the visions that dominate my brain, images of evil and bloodlust, consuming the flesh of an unwary people. I see the rapidly approaching epic, the cataclysmic convulsion of a violent racist culture, stabbing feverishly at its own womb, hoping to abort the birth of the new man of peace and unity.

I see clearly the rising image of the new race, a new culture dedicated to enlightenment. The new mankind will be hungry for knowledge, in the same way that the current race is hungry for wealth and power. The new man will seek to overcome life's problems through understanding them, instead of forcefully re-ordering them to a more acceptable configuration.

Bringing forth the "New Man" is the core of all religious teaching, as is the coming catastrophic era, which will draw-out the mind of the new man from the debris of the shattered old mind. No prophet or founder of religions has ever been able to convert more than a handful of his closest followers into these New Men, whose minds have been liberated from the baggage of the old. But each of them clearly described the apocalyptic events which would rip the new earth from the old.

All belief systems, even religious ones, have been corrupted by power-mad individuals who intend to keep mankind in the dark, confused about the most basic items of truth and reality. They perverted the faiths, turning each of them away from the nurturing teachings of their Prophet founders, focusing instead, on sowing division among the faithful. Trusted spiritual leaders, by their actions, have hidden the many ways of growing a generation of "New Men," ensuring that mankind would only have one path to mass enlightenment open unto them, the path of cataclysm/conversion. The new man would eventually arise, but, like the Phoenix, he would necessarily arise out of the ashes of the old order.

The great intellectual leaps made in the past are portrayed as ends in themselves, not as steps in a series of enlightening revelations. Religion itself, has been turned into a dead end, where personal enlightenment is allegedly only possible if carried-out in a sanctioned group environment.

The closing of minds is the cornerstone of all efforts to claim illegitimate power on this earth. Conversely, the opening of minds must be the foundation for any effort to call forth the new man, who will naturally assume his rightful place between the majority of the human race and the evil minority that seeks to enslave all life.

In order for us to open a new path to awakening a generation of new men we must expose the corruption and imminent collapse of the old order, which is based on economic control, and visualize the new earth, based on cooperation and shared humanity. We see a new world, not based on control and the idea of domination, but one of unlimited human potential, given free rein to grow and understand the problems that we create for ourselves. The old world order must give way to a new world that has no center, where edicts and coercive dictates do not exist. In the new order, power will flow from each person.

In the old order, everyman was encouraged to want to be king. "Success" was measured by how close you came to fulfilling this kingly ambition. The "aristocracy" ("rule by the best," meaning the wealthiest) came to rule over mankind, with each man giving his consent to the arrangement. The cultivated desire to live like kings is the glue that bound the kingdom together, becoming the basis of the capitalist system.

The "aristocrats" were a minority of individuals possessed of the desire to dominate and control all things within their grasp. The bigger their grasp, the more people there were under their influence, capable of being dominated or controlled. The original kings were the most successful members the self-appointed aristocracy, those most ruthless men who had amassed the most wealth, making them most capable of hiring armies of mercenaries and thugs to enforce their will and to maintain their economic domination.

These were men without consciences, who were never bothered by the human suffering they created in their lust to control and to accumulate the resources now divided amongst the masses.

The aristocratic minority possess abnormal personalities marked by psychopathic obsessions to dominate and control others, as opposed to normal people, whose natures allow them to work and play well with others. The economic system created by the aristocracy is a system of control, enforced by laws and armies, designed to expand, without end, until all life on the planet is brought under aristocratic domination. The expansion of the system will not stop until all resources are brought under their control.

In order for the system to function, the majority of the people have to remain as willing to submit to the economic domination of the wealthy minority as the elite are determined to dominate them. But a funny thing happened on the way to the world dictatorship, just before total resource domination was achieved, the majority began to resist. The "meek" were starting to assert their will to hold onto the little that they had. The resistance of the meek had begun.

For the total global aristocratic dominion to become reality the force levels used to maintain control over the majority have to increase to a level sufficient to eliminate all ideas of further resistance. It had become crystal clear to the elite planners that the only way for the aristocracy to maintain its web of control and to accomplish its plans for total resource domination was to unleash all the force in its arsenal into the heart of the global resistance.

If the key to continued domination of the earth was to unleash a spasm of violence like the world had never before witnessed, culminating in a global thermonuclear war, the death of millions and the destruction of the planet, then so be it! The meek cannot be allowed to inherit anything; everything belongs to the ruling class!

The would-be world rulers are faced with an extreme dilemma, "how to conquer the world without destroying themselves with it?" If the plan for total resource domination calls for the full use of all military power to overcome weaker enemies, then how could you attack adversaries with equivalent forces without causing your own destruction?

The self-appointed rulers of the world determined that these powerful competitors could be compromised through the same formula of economic coercion that their kind had always employed – bribes and threats of force. "King's ransoms" would surely bend the most-dangerous resistance forces to their wills. "Low-level conflict," a euphemism for warfare by terrorism, would convey the threat of greater war, along with the exorbitant bribes, for those who were more resistant to the empire's "reasoning."

But even this game is running-up against the will of the resistance, the "meek" are getting really pissed-off, in the face of insane measures meant to ignite world war and to unleash the dreaded nuclear "horseman of the apocalypse" upon the resistant "lower" classes. If a majority of us "get our backs up," no amount of worthless currency will buy us off. We are witnesses to the ongoing attempts by the American government and its foreign minions to ignite an insane world war, for the sake of preserving the illegitimate power that drives their megalomaniacal dreams.

Enough is enough! The time has come for the revolution of the meek. We will not go quietly into the night!

For those who believe in freedom, the revolution calls you.

For those who hate freedom for others, the revolution waits for you.

All power which assumes greater powers for itself than those it was originally given is illegitimate power. In an age when illegitimate power is openly moving to seize all available power, all those free men who love the rights and powers granted to them by their Creator must step forward to oppose the seizure. If all good things flow from the mind of God, then those men who move to separate mankind from these good things are clearly evil.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke. This truism applies to all men, for all time, but it is truer today than in any past era. When governments all over the world work together to preserve their collective illegitimate powers, then it is time for a worldwide revolution to set all men free.

As Americans, we are at the epicenter of the world collective of illegitimate power. It is our destiny to be the ones who stand face-to-face with "the Beast, to force a divide within the government collective (Congress), that will disable the forward thrust to crush the rights of all mankind. To all the members of the United States Congress I say, if you, as our representatives, allow the invasion of another country, or the introduction of American troops into the streets of the United States, for the purpose of ending democracy and eliminating the Bill of Rights, then the revolution awaits you.

To President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid, I say to you, if you move forward with your plans for world war or for establishing a police state in America, for the purpose of seizing control of the world's energy sources and creating an illegitimate world government, then the revolution awaits you, with all its fury.

America's illegitimate power can no longer be maintained. America's military and other powers of persuasion can no longer contain the actions of the other governments of the world. Killing is not the solution, the saving and improving of all life is the answer. This country has amassed the largest debt that the world has ever witnessed, for the sake of empowering the military machine used to dominate the world. This debt will never be repaid.

In the time America has left to continue operations under this debt-based system (before our creditors decide to pull the plug on our borrowing) we must move away from war, towards the path of reconciliation. In a world of near-total chaos, brought about by our double-dealing "diplomacy" and our own military and economic aggression, America will find itself broken and alone. If we have any hope of being allowed back into the world community after it begins to recover from the great collapse, then it will only come about by our trying right now, to repair the damage that we have wrought, before it becomes impossible to do so.

This requires that we stop our war of terrorism and devote a large portion of those funds dedicated to waging the war into an international re-building effort, to begin to repair the nations we have destroyed and to alleviate some of the human suffering we have caused. In the new world economy, the illegitimate power of capitalism, which can only be maintained by military force, will have been broken itself. This breakdown will cause unimaginable suffering to intensify, as the food distribution chains break down, as well. What would an investment equivalent to one year of the Pentagon's budget (or the amount spent on new weapons systems in one year) do towards insuring that more people do not starve because of America's mistakes?

Americans must reconcile themselves to the horrendous truth about what has been done to the world in our name. We must face the ugly truth that we have allowed our government to rampage through the world like some rabid beast, devouring the weak and wounding the strong. We have allowed our government to assume illegitimate power to a level that rivals all predecessor progenitors of evil.

As this evil government moves against the world with the fullness of its military power, we can see clearly that the revolution has come to us. Do we allow the destruction of freedom, God's greatest gift to mankind, or do we follow the example of our own sacred predecessors and stand together as free men, standing between our government and the world? The revolution is all that stands between the evil plans of these men and their fulfillment. What will you do when the rest of us take our stand?

This evil era has been foretold by prophets the world over, for many centuries. Each prophecy spoke of those who stood fast for truth in the face of those who sought to bury freedom and turn the world into a race of slaves. Are you among those few who will place your very life on the frontline of freedom?

The revolution has found you. Can you ignore its call? [No Pete, I cannot]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20684.h
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Pete Chamberlin's blog is here: http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com/

There may be no sunglasses but I can still see them plain as the light of day.

Escaping the Wonder Years
237 years later Americans haven't grown up

Commentary
by Laura Dawn Lewis
July 2, 2008

This commentary is inspired by the following column written July 1, 2008 by Charlie Reese: The 545 People, which is included below.

As Americans continue to feel squeezed, as the sins of our consumption, our arrogance and our elitism, the belief that we are somehow superior to all others and our way is the only way catch up with us, a growing sense of apathy prevails.

Like lemmings we ridicule and silence those who see through this, the Ron Paul's, Jimmy Carter's and even the Bill Cosby's of our nation. We allow others to sideline voices in the media that tell it like it is: Joseph Sobran, Chris Hedges, Pat Buchanan and the below Charlie Reese. In so doing we place nails deeper into the coffins of freedom, self-determination and democracy. Rather than act, we play victim. Rather than think, we vacillate in mindless entertainment and the tribulations of others who have no impact on our daily lives other than they give us something to gossip about.

Once a nation of self-starters we now look to the government to supply us everything we want from health to education and a forgiveness for our own folly in managing our finances. We prefer to blame others, rather than change ourselves and then we wonder why this delegation of accountability results in increasing chaos, hardship and malaise. When our collective self-esteem is bruised because others refuse to put up with our self-centeredness, we resort to brute force and kill, like the bully on the block. We choose violence to force our will rather than the tools of civilized nations and then pat ourselves on the back for succeeding in brutality. 'Do it our way or no way' we say to the world and within our self-righteous narrative, we think we've won. We haven't. Like that same bully we continue to isolate ourselves from others and the rest of the world watches. They fear us, but only for the moment. They've seen this before and know they don't need to destroy us; we'll destroy ourselves in good time for a house divided always falls.

We as a nation are divided. The tougher times get, the scarcer necessities, the more divided we will become. We have the power as Americans to reverse this if only we'd stop judging each other and listen. Once we listened. Today rather than listen to opinions and ponder ideas we segregate:

'That is liberal, I'm a conservative so I won't listen'.

'That is fundamentalism, as a liberal I shall not listen'.

'What you say doesn't match the narrative I've created so you cannot be right.'

This closing off of the free exchange and debate of ideas by categorizing serves only those profiting from ignorance; yet we as a people allow it and embrace it. Why think when others can think for us and tell us what is proper to think? After all, this was the foundation of empires and monarchies up until 237 years ago on July 4, 1776. It took thinking coupled with action to break from that then. It will take the same today. Are we Americans today a lesser people? The game is the same. Only the technology has changed.

The fact is America we've digressed as a nation. We live by labels and therefore excise ourselves from the primary responsibility of being free: accountability. Accountability requires vigilance. It requires work. It mandates we become involved and educate ourselves beyond what we are told. Accountability necessitates we seek out opinions different from our own, test them, ponder them and consider. It means we have the capacity to question, theorize and when necessary, admit our misconceptions, misinterpretations and folly. Accountability means we become involved, we become one of the 15%-ers who make things happen. This is the mark of mature person and a mature nation.

Given our conduct of late, America seems stuck in the wonder years, those years of childhood where a person is too young to be held accountable and decisions originate with adults, yet the child remains old enough for self-awareness and guarded responsibility. It is during this time his character is shaped and he learns from his mistakes by accepting accountability for his actions.

Perhaps it is time that as nation we grew past the wonder years. It begins by taking responsibility for the putting people in office who've failed us. It means being accountable for our part, each of us as Americans in allowing our nation to fall away from its defining ideals. It means exercising the actions necessary to eliminate those in office who negate these ideals and having the moral courage to place in office those who will champion us, even if what they say and do seems foreign to our beautifully conditioned minds.

Do we have the strength as a nation?

That depends. Patriotism's responsibility and its meting rests in our ability to hold accountable those we elect to office. Are we the people we think we are? Patriots do not stand on the sidelines and they are not counted by the number of flags they wave, wars they fight or toys they accumulate. They're identified by moral courage.

Moral courage is rare. It requires the stamina to stand up, speak out and hold firm in the face of criticism, lampooning and slander. It requires self-sacrifice for the good of the whole. Ultimately it requires maturity. ###

'545' People that maintain a dysfunctional government!

By Charlie Reese* --

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

· You and I don't propose a federal budget.
The President does.

· You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

· You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

· You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

· You and I don't control monetary policy, The Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. The plate is so full of problems its totally overwhelming.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.

In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority.

They have no ability to coerce a senator, a Congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.

I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes. Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall, power, love of the lime light and perks. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.

The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.

Who is the speaker of the House?
Nancy Pelosi, she is the leader of the majority party.

She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want.

If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted-- by present facts - of incompetence and Irresponsibility. Wake up America before its too late.

I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

· If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair or don't care.

· If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red or don't care.

· If the Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ.

· If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way. Its a windfall for them. One term, and their set for life.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like 'the economy,' 'inflation' or 'politics' that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people and they alone, are responsible. They and they alone, have the power.

They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!'

*Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel

Republished From: http://www.couplescompany.com/Features/Politics/2008/Re
ese.htm

1. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

2. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's Daddy made war on him , a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

3. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Viet Nam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

4. The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq .

5. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational drug corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

7. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

8. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

9. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMO's and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

10. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are just theories, but creationism is Science and should be taught in schools.

11. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

12. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet .

13. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving and military records are none of our business.

14. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

15. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960's is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80's is irrelevant.

Friends don't let friends vote Republican.

1. Responsible Government Spending! You can not spend money we do not have. A budget with no deficit is the only budget to produce.
2. REPEAL the PATRIOT ACT, in it's place let us have a properly debated piece of legislation that disbands the Dept of Homeland Security, while defining methods for security agency interaction.
3. NATIONAL SALES TAX - Sure you can drive a hummer but you'll pay more in taxes for it. Same with your other luxury goods. 27% FLAT AND FAIR TAX. Public Corporations included. I agree about Social security but It's not one of my top ten. (Doug: I want my social security deduction to be applied correctly, or eliminated!)
4. Healthcare: I pay taxes! I want my taxes to pay for My Healthcare not my congress person's only! Single Payer Plan. Get rid of Private Insurer's.
5. The War(s): Complete withdrawal let their neighbors figure it out. Afghanistan has been proven to be unwinnable. Since Pakistan is also unwinnable and Mushariff plays both sides offering the Taliban safe haven then we pull out of the middle east altogether! Bring'Em HOME! Secure the borders with them.
6. Accountability: Why is it that the middle class are the only ones accountable for their actions in this country? Why do we elect people who don't even drive themselves around? Why don't we elect the technologically proficient to public office instead of lawyers. If you can read and interpret the news, then by god, you can do the same for the Constitution!
7. Support our Soldiers: When our soldiers return home they should be given the care, respect, and support to get back to their lives. Supporting the troops mean the people that fight the wars, not the politicians that start them. Increase the VA budget above all else!
8. Fuel independent Nation: Without fuel independence we will always be at the mercy of the greedy. If we must open up ANWAR then we must first nationalize our Oil production. Use the Billions in profit to fund our single payer health system like Norway. This is only a temporary energy fix.
9. Alternative Energy Research and Production: We must develop and use alternatives for everything we can while using our national oil for the power grid and other prohibitively consumptive societal necessities, until a renewable alternative can be found. Food stuff must not be used for energy it drives world food prices up and causes massive hunger. Perhaps, Even Hemp for FUEL.
   
10. FOREIGN POLICY - United States First. Sorry Israel, you look a little stuck. Maybe you should consider a two state solution, or just go away. God didn't say you could exist yet anyway, ask a Hasidic at the Wailing Wall. No more oil for you. Saudi Arabia? You're on your own. We'll figure the rest out as we go along. That just resolved our terror threat. The mid-east jhadi's are their ruthless rulers problems now.
    

This is the top ten in my ideal candidate. - hey I can wish!

What are yours?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41576,00.htmla>

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Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.

"The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead," the source said.

Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.

About 30 close associates of bin Laden in Al Qaeda, including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his family members and some "Taliban friends," attended the funeral rites. A volley of bullets was also fired to pay final tribute to the "great leader."

The Taliban source who claims to have seen bin Laden's face before burial said "he looked pale ... but calm, relaxed and confident."

Asked whether bin Laden had any feelings of remorse before death, the source vehemently said "no." Instead, he said, bin Laden was proud that he succeeded in his mission of igniting awareness amongst Muslims about hegemonistic designs and conspiracies of "pagans" against Islam. Bin Laden, he said, held the view that the sacrifice of a few hundred people in Afghanistan was nothing, as those who laid their lives in creating an atmosphere of resistance will be adequately rewarded by Almighty Allah.

When asked where bin Laden was buried, the source said, "I am sure that like other places in Tora Bora, that particular place too must have vanished."

So why do the politicians keep mentioning him? Could it be to scare you into rolling over? Giving up some more rights may sound like no big deal, I mean, hey you have nothing to hide right? So who cares if they tap your phone, show up with a SWAT team and declare your neighbor an enemy combatant, at least you're "safe" - that neighbor must have been a bad guy right? Our government just wants to protect our way of Life. Yea, that's it.

One Late October Morning in 1972 my peephole opened and people told me I was a boy. A pretty woman who was there said that she was my Mother and she would be right here whenever my peephole pointed in her direction. She said she “Loved” me. I learned from her what “Love” is and how it feels “to be Loved”. Through this peephole I have also learned “how it makes me feel to Love”.

Not long after my peephole was opened these people, My Mom and this other Man who looked into my peephole and said he would be my Dad now that the first man to say he was called Daddy had gone away, told me I was gonna live in a house. I would be going to school at the same place I went church and to Pre-school. They said I was in Kindergarten. I must have thought that was great because I sang, and I danced and I was a brilliantly happy child. They said I was a child of God. They told me about this man named Jesus. Jesus lived long ago and he told all the peepholes that there was a happy place waiting, when their peepholes closed they could be there! He never said they could go there, he said they would Be there! I know he said this because when I was a little boy looking through this peephole at this world that was not so great to every little boy, Jesus appeared to me and said, “This is your Life, live it as you will, do not hurt others but look to Love them, when you make a mistake, admit it, try to Love again. If you always seek Love, when your peephole closes you will be back here with me.” Jesus also told me, “Sometimes your peephole will show you things in Life that only serve to confuse you, carry books by another peephole named Kurt Vonnegut, when you find bad views through your peephole, read his books.” So I did that. The Lord was right too.

Looking out of this peephole I learned much about Life through a book given to me at my new school. They said it was called my Bible and that it had God’s word to me. I knew that Jesus had already told me what to do but I read their book and found many inconsistencies. I still believed. After all, their book was about Jesus and His Father. As it turns out Jesus had two Dad’s too! Like my second Dad, his Dad Joseph did most of the day-to-day parenting, and then taught Jesus how to be a man, how to work, and how to worship God. Like me, around a certain age Jesus, went out on his own. He wanted to build a Life for himself. He knew that something inside of him was different than what was inside of anybody else. He looked around at all he could see through his peephole and he saw things that did not appear to be Love to him.

They said he was thirty but I know this normally happens to a boy at around twenty, he left home. He wandered around in the wild’ness. He slept in a cave. All of his thoughts were racing and he had great big dreams! HUGE DREAMS! Jesus could be a king! He thought to himself what it would require of him to be a king of a nation. Jesus didn’t see much room for Love in the heart of a King who would remain King, but he could feel that with Love in his heart he was at the highest status a Man could ever attain in this Universe because In Love all things are possible. With Love there is Salvation! With this thought Jesus realized that if only his peephole could shut right now he would Be in LOVE for Eternity! No sooner had that realization come than a Revelation took it’s place! Love MUST BE SHARED! If we could each only Love there would be no need for nations! We are all Kings when we experience Love! Jesus went back home to share his revelation. The people ridiculed him. “Aren’t you the boy of the carpenter?”

Jesus told them, “Yes” for he was the son of a carpenter also, “but my real Father is Love - with Love all things are possible. Just watch… “ And he left again.

 He walked and he talked about the power of Love. As he walked some people felt his Love and followed. Those who followed were healed of their dis-ease while they felt this great acceptance and concern for their well-being just by the way this Man, Jesus, was talking to them. They were not ill as they had been. With Love they felt better, healed. No longer in his home town, Jesus was seen as a young man not a boy. People asked Jesus how he could know so much about the answer to Life’s troubles and Jesus told them that he was the child of Love. He told them that they were all the children of Love and Love’s power was at their disposal. He told them that Love’s power and the love of power were two different things with two different outcomes. The message of the dichotomy of Love upset some of the people to whom Jesus spoke because they had great power, and they loved little but the power they had over the other peepholes around them.

These powerful men, without Love in their hearts, approached the rulers of their time demanding to set this “heretic” against the established power straight. The Rulers sent for Jesus and he told them he was as they said for he had not come to disagree, in his spirit of Love he saw that all that is in a Man’s heart is what that man is. Jesus knew these men’s hearts and also that his own heart was full of Love. These powerful men offered no understanding. The rulers, learned, and powerful men -all of them- felt threatened by the empowerment offered by this message of mutual understanding and Love. They executed Jesus as an enemy of the Nation in which he lived because of his message of the power of Love over the love of Power. That was enough for me to believe.

I do not have to believe he was born of a virgin, or that he rose from the dead, I do not see the benefit of thinking Jesus turned water to wine or literally healed cancer and leprosy, to me these are all justifications born out of a lack of Love. Jesus message was that we are all one in Love, He knows our pain as only another man can, but he knows the answer and can guide us out of this cycle of pain, that answer is Loving Kindness. Years before Jesus peephole opened, there lived a very wealthy prince named Siddhartha. Siddhartha saw that love of power was of no consequence to a happy Life so he too set out to find meaning. They eventually called him Buddha because he thought his way out of the pain of existence. Buddha was concerned with escaping the pain of existence by embracing it, then letting it go, and with “It” - letting go of everything else too… In this state of Being that Buddha found I think there is Love which is what Jesus saw. In Love things are as they are and they are OK, when we learn to finally let go this means that we allow the natural course of events to ebb and flow, we trust that Love will provide. When Love no longer provides the peephole closes and we are Eternally in Love, or as Buddha called it, Nirvana – we escape the cycle of samsara – that is Life, Death, and Rebirth.

Now that I’ve spent some thirty more years looking through this peephole I have come to understand what Jesus meant when he told me that I would see views of Life that only served to confuse. I see that my Jesus and Buddha are Brothers while my fellows can only disagree. Disagreement can exist within Love but without Love disagreement may breed all manner of violence. This is the state of the world I see through my peephole. 

Kind Regards, may you all feel and express Love today.

Let it be said I am not talking about communism when I say socialism. I just don't know of a better word for it. It seems that all of these "bloggers" call anything that helps their fellow citizens socialism and since I am talking about a shift in our society where we help people instead of allowing them to be eaten by wild dogs - I say socialism because that is what you will inevitably call it anyway.

SO, Now that you know I am not a communist with Athiest ideals how about we reposition the rhetoric to discuss something I am talking about.

How do YOU Scotty or "christian bloggers" reconcile your capitalist, free-market, darwinian (strongest survive) philosophy to the teaching of Christ Jesus?

please try to keep a train of thought long enough to answer the above question:

How do you reconcile your capitalism to the teachings of jesus christ, "treat the least of these as you would me..."

I often read what seem to me to be culturally ignorant remarks about racial affiliation  as it relates to "black-fro-centric" organizations, and recently it’s Barack and his Church. I don’t know if it’s true or not, likely NOT, but “they” say that Barack’s Church is black power and they want to keep it darker. I say: mm.. makes sweet juice.

White people say, but, “we cain’t have no white power organizations?” First, correct, that word combination “white power” -like some others- has too much history. We don’t use it in polite society.

So why do white folk be trippin’ on brothers trying to get up? Let me dish my thoughts on this matter, maybe I can inform some of you melanin challenged folk about something that has always seemed obvious to me but often seems to bother you. Black folk, in general, are not trying to take over the country or kill whitey, so to speak. This is why it is very different than the types of white organizations that were shut down and raided by federal law enforcement over the recent past and, sadly still today, various neo-nazi, skinhead groups, etc.

The point here is to say that you are free to create a White history month – but I think we already have something similar, here in the U.S. it’s a class taken several times, at differing ages throughout school, we just call it “history”.

You can create a White Auto Mechanic’s Organization. As long as you don’t kill any other races or participate in hate speech you are likely to be OK, unless and until you don’t allow some other race to get involved solely based of their race - THAT is racism. Then you may have legal trouble. I often wonder if any of the uptight and whities I’ve heard complaining tried to join the NAACP? I have been to several meetings, clubs, tables in cafeteria’s and other events that may have seemed to be “all black” but they weren’t. It can seem awkward to realize that you’re the only white kat in a room but how do you think black people felt for years when not only did it feel different to be around people who looked and behaved differently towards them than friends but often there was a very real threat of danger if some societal role had been overstepped. We don’t live with that anymore. That is the difference. White groups used to meet to hold black peoples [and others] down. Black groups who form affiliations today, I am sure you would see if you had an interest, have an agenda to better black people.

How do you reconcile your capitalist minds, to your socialist Faith?

Jesus provided free healthcare to every ill person he met, how can you prohibit a “Christian” nation from doing the same, how is it that while fighting cancer – trying to live through chemo – my fellows have to consider their debts and the stress of how to pay?

How fundamentally flawed is our group thought when we justify allowing others to die by the amount of profit we can generate? Some of you “Christians” work for those insurance companies.

How about spending 500 billion on a war to enrich American oil interests when we won’t even think to privatize our oil industry, place the profits in the peoples hands and offer our citizens free healthcare, fair opportunities for affordable housing, transportation, Humane prison’s to house the god in a man gone wrong?

hey you, Christian. How do you reconcile your capitalism to your faith or are you just living in this 51st state? Cognitive Dissonance.

How do you reconcile yourself to this God you say you worship? I know It and It told me at lunch today while WE were reading the paper that you kats are NOT talking to the right side.

you chard. you bigboypants. you Dubya! How do you do it!

To the “Christians”...

Your Church is likely evangelical, probably protestant, even if it’s Catholic – if you’re an American you probably don’t follow Jesus precepts. More often than not I see you all as the Pharisees, or a cheap reproduction thereof – you haven’t the knowledge of your Faith’s Laws and Lord’s teachings to be a real haughty legalist. Yet you do judge others actions based on the tenets of the faith you keep and they do not. Your other actions you hide in closets, DC brothels, dark cars near the boat ramp, public parks after hours, and innumerable hotels across the country. I see your faith like a scarlet letter upon your sleeve, yet there is no heart. You decry the evils of “socialism” when the very foundations of social society were dictated in the first 4 books of the New Testament, your Holy Bible. Of course I would be remiss to expect many of you to have read the full doctrine of your Faith, God’s Personal Word to you. So many of you have “pieced it together” through the various verses you were taught by that capitalist who learned how to avoid truly hard work: Your Preacher. Ah the preacher, when was the last time any of you saw a poor preacher WITH a successful church? If there is a devil I know he’ll be preaching “god’s word” at Prestonwood this Sunday. Yes the devil is omnipresent in the world, every Sunday morning he appears to so many of you at once. He keeps you blind to your incongruent lifestyle and beliefs. Capitalism is not God’s kingdom on Earth. Privatization may bring the end times to the U.S. but it’s not going to make your Lord happy with your personal choices.

How many of you sold something for a profit today? How many of you kept what was due you and gave the profit to the poor? Sold a thing and kept only its value giving all of the profit to the poor? Outrageous!? Who would do that!? Your Lord. He supposedly commanded you to do the same thing. Can you? Will you? Never, you won’t because you don’t SEE the benefit, you capitalist, materialist, fooled by the selling of faith victim. You are all victims of your own self-serving agenda’s and will get what is coming to you.

How do you reconcile yourself to your faith? Judging others with such a huge piece of that old rugged cross in your own eye, how dare you? Dost thou not know? If you believe then shut up and believe. You better pray for mercy.

You “Christians” should learn what Christ did while in that cave for 40 days & nights meditating – Eastern Philosophy – Karma. Treat others as you would be treated because the manner in which you treat others is how you will be treated at some point in your life or beyond. You are not here to control; you are here to learn how to exist. The Market is a beast created by mankind and fueled by man’s hunger and need. Capitalists ran from communism’s atheist ideals but found a god built of paper backed by no substance, no gold.

It is completely unnecessary for me to list all of the complaints I have against the organized corporate worship of “Jehovah and his Son Jesus the Christ” if this current state of religion and religious faith in America represents “The one True God” then my place is in Hell with the righteous. You all serve the wrong side at your peril. I call out to those with ears to hear! In loving kindness but harsh words so you may turn your face to me and see the light which radiates from this Word of Truth and Peace. God does not have to do with language, do not be misled by the meaning of words which we have agreed upon but God does not speak! God knows the heart and I tell you that your hearts are closed and dark places full of deceit and torment. Disclose your inner battles, deal honestly with your fears and be not made to sin against humanity any longer for God is IN he who you sin against. God is inside us. When you hurl that word “…” you are calling the essence of us that thing. “Love” is not hurled. We hurl liberal, conservative, NeoCon, Christian, Atheist, Muslim, BLEEP, Cracker, Boy, Woman, John, Robert, Beth anything you say in anger or with hardness of heart is hurled and only harms you.

How do you reconcile your capitalist minds, to your socialist Faith? Jesus provided free healthcare to every ill person he met, how can you prohibit a “Christian” nation from doing the same, how is it that while fighting cancer – trying to live through chemo – my fellows have to consider their debts and the stress of how to pay? How fundamentally flawed is our group thought when we justify allowing others to die by the amount of profit we can generate? Some of you “Christians” work for those companies. How about spending 500 billion on a war to enrich American oil interests when we won’t even think to privatize our oil industry, place the profits in a pot and offer our citizens free healthcare, fair opportunities for affordable housing, transportation, Humane prison’s to house the god in a man gone wrong? How do you reconcile your capitalism to your faith or are you just living in this 51st state? Cognitive Dissonance.

How do you reconcile yourself to this God you say you worship? I know It and It told me at lunch today while WE were reading the paper that you kats are NOT talking to the right side.

"Saul, Saul, why do you kick the goads"

Why do you harm yourself

I am so sad for the state of my fellow human.

“The principle of liberal democracy, which inspired the founders of the American Constitution, was that controversial questions should be decided by argument rather than by force. Liberals have always held that opinions should be formed by untrammeled debate, not by allowing only one side to be heard. Tyrannical governments, both ancient and modern, have taken the opposite view…