At base level I am at heart a child of the seventies with a love of all things political. The memories of Vietnam protests are still burnt in my memory, which helped form my deep love of politics...so much so I majored in political science in college.
I grew up with the Weather Underground, Abby Hoffman, the Chicago Seven trial and the SLA. I have seen this country go from Kennedy and King to the election of the first Black President, and everything in between. I have seen the devastation and aftermath of natural calamities and I have cowered in front of the television as my parents watched live reports of the Watts riots, an area all too close to where we lived. The act of protest is, and always has been, a part of free speech and an engaged electorate. But until now I had yet to detect the stench...the palpable stench of fear I see that exists across this country at present.
As I watch each health care town hall meeting, I have seen the usual protests, of course. But I have also seen fear. I have witnessed American citizens who still bare the scars from 9/11 in fear. We have all seen these angry, out of control citizens screaming and interrupting the meetings out of fear, and a desperate sense that this time..... this one time they have to be heard and they will be heard, because this once great republic they grew up loving is at risk. At risk, and they are terrified. Possibly for the first time in their adult lives, they are scared that the dream of this great republic might be in jeopardy. And these for the most part, are not organized nut jobs. A lot of them are tax paying good guys who are scared. Scared and ignorant, pushed and emboldened by the bully pulpit media who tell them to fear. Fear and hate, and that is a dangerous combination. The kind of fear, hate and ignorance that gets large groups of people to listen, and believe damn near anything.
This is about more than just health care. This is about broad stroke philosophies of government that strike at the core of our nation. The majority of these town hall protesters aren't political savvy operatives. I get the feeling many of these voices are coming from concerned citizens suddenly awakened, and suddenly engaged. These are good people answering a clarion call from extremists who have been given a pulpit over our airwaves, and because they have these public pulpits, it gives them a degree of legitimacy, and a perceived level of intelligence they may or may not hold.
I say it's time for America to get a grip on their emotions and stop listening to every ignorant voice on the Internet and in the media. Stop listening to the ignorant voices who claim Obama is both a socialist and fascist (an impossibility by definition, by the way), and a Hitler incarnate.
It's time for the base of America to do a little research and listen to some saner, quieter, more intelligent voices. The ones who don't preach hate and gloom and doom. Maybe this is the only way for America to get its collective confidence back, and maybe even a little of its swagger back. There is nothing, but nothing that will slow down the economy faster, or prolong the recession than a nation without the confidence to re-enter the market and the confidence to go out and spend a couple of bucks.
I see positive signs already in the market......I see an administration that cares, and wants to find a middle ground, a bi-partisan effort to get this country back on its feet. I also see an opposition that wants it to fail. Wants it to fail because it is the best way for them to win, even if it results in additional body blows to our countries well being.
Things are getting better... or at least aren't getting any worse, and that is a blessing in itself considering where we were headed a scant 200 days ago.
True recovery will take time, but we should have a little more confidence in our government, and the people we have elected to serve us. At least we should have a little more confidence in our Senators than we do in these radio and TV zealot entertainers and reactionaries who are trying to convince middle America and our middle class that we are turning into Fascist Germany, for gawd sakes.
We have all heard the famous quote..."the only thing we have to fear...is fear itself." I am not sure if that applies any more. The only thing we have to fear, is fear and ignorance itself. Wake up America. Wake up, have a little confidence, and do a little research. And believe. Not in hope, not in change, but in a still proud nation that won't let a little hard times destroy it, or get us down. We still are that proud nation. We still are that world leader that everyone looks to when times are a little rough. And I'll be damned if I am going to let eight years take that away from us. We'll be back. Bigger, brighter, and healthier than ever. And I for one, am going to take that confidence to the bank. God bless you, and may God continue to bless America.
And that is the world...."The World According to Kimba." Thanks for reading.
3 comments:
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How many would agree with this statement that are readers here?
“If relativism signifies contempt for fixed categories and men who claim to be bearers of an objective, immortal truth… From the fact that all ideologies are of equal value, that all ideologies are mere fictions, the modern relativist infers that everybody has the right to create for himself his own reality…”
I suspect many would. I do not, even in this form. However the person that wrote this had a masters degree in philosophy and wrote extensively on Fascism, here is the full quote:
“Everything I have said and done in these last years is relativism by intuition…. If relativism signifies contempt for fixed categories and men who claim to be bearers of an objective, immortal truth… then there is nothing more relativistic than fascistic attitudes and activity…. From the fact that all ideologies are of equal value, that all ideologies are mere fictions, the modern relativist infers that everybody has the right to create for himself his own ideology and to attempt to enforce it with all the energy of which he is capable.”
Mussolini, Diuturna pp. 374-77, quoted in A Refutation of Moral Relativism: Interviews with an Absolutist (Ignatius Press; 1999), by Peter Kreeft, p. 18.
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Now, Kimba said:
"Stop listening to the ignorant voices who claim Obama is both a socialist and fascist (an impossibility by definition, by the way), and a Hitler incarnate.
This is a false statement.
See my: http://religiopoliticaltalk.blogspot.com/2007/08/mussolini-defines-fascism.html
One need only read my post on this subject matter. Every Fascist movement has been socialistic. German "Fascism," was a mix of New Age occultism, the attempt to change Christianity to a New Age understanding.
(Go to Barnes and Noble and try an experiment. Wait around in the New Age book section and people reading about Wicca, Satanism, Tantric meditation, UFO abductions, Tarot Card reading, etc... ask them if they lean towards the liberal side or the conservative side.)
Obama went to a church that entertained the idea that a black scientist about 6,000 years ago created the white man in a lab on the island of Cyprus. They entertained as well that many black "acolytes" were taking up in UFOs to meet "God." This is occultic. And many at this church have a socialistic view of government. You see, what was happening in Germany really wasn't Fascistic, it was occultic (The History Channel shows a great series once and a while called "The Occult History of the Third Reich"... one can usually find the DVD at Best Buy for $15). True, philosophical "Fascism" lived in Italy.
So this distinction should always be drawn. If you read Mussolini's stuff, it is pure socialism. In Germany, it was pure socialism mixed with gods and goddesses.
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From: http://religiopoliticaltalk.blogspot.com/2007/11/hitlers-homosexuality-pedastry-and.html
Many of the Nazi emblems, such as the swastika, the double lightning bolt SS symbol, and even the inverted triangle symbol used to identify classes of prisoners in the concentration camps, originated among homosexual occultists in Germany (some, such as the swastika, are actually quite ancient symbols which were merely revived by these homosexual groups). In 1907, Jorg Lanz Von Liebenfels (Lanz), a former Cistercian monk whom the church excommunicated because of his homosexual activities,[19] flew the swastika flag above his castle in Austria.[20] After his expulsion from the church, Lanz founded the Ordo Novi Templi (Order of the New Temple), which merged occultism with violent anti-Semitism. A 1958 study of Lanz called, Der Mann der Hitler die Ideen gab or, The Man Who Gave Hitler His Ideas by Austrian psychologist Wilhelm Daim, called Lanz the true father of National Socialism.
List, a close associate of Lanz, formed the Guido Von List Society The Guido Von List Society was accused of practicing a form of Hindu Tantrism, which featured sexual perversions in its rituals (the swastika is originally from India). A man named Aleister Crowley, who, according to Hitler biographer J. Sydney Jones, enjoyed playing with black magic and little boys, popularized this form of sexual perversion in occult circles.[21] List was accused of being the Aleister Crowley of Vienna.[22] Like Lanz, List was an occultist; he wrote several books on the magic principles of rune letters (from which he chose the SS symbol). In 1908, List was unmasked as the leader of a blood brotherhood which went in for sexual perversion and substituted the swastika for the cross.[23] The Nazis borrowed heavily from Liss occult theories and research. List also formed an elitist occult priesthood called the Armanen Order, to which Hitler himself may have belonged[24] in Vienna in 1904.
The Nazi dream of an Aryan super-race was adopted from an occult group called the Thule Society, founded in 1917 by followers of Lanz and List. The occult doctrine of the Thule Society held that the survivors of an ancient and highly developed lost civilization could endow Thule initiates with esoteric powers and wisdom. The initiates would use these powers to create a new race of Aryan supermen who would eliminate all inferior races.
Hitler dedicated his book, Mein Kampf, to Dietrich Eckart, one of the Thule Societys inner circle and a former leading figure in the German Workers Party (when they met at the gay bar mentioned earlier).[25]
And among them I want also to count that man, one of the best, who devoted his life to the awakening of his, our people, in his writings and his thoughts[26]
After the above dedication, the notes in this edition of Mein KampfDietrich Eckart was the spiritual founder of the National Socialist Party.[27] The various occult groups mentioned above were outgrowths of the Theosophical Society, whose founder, Helen Petrovna Blavatsky, was a lesbian,[28] and whose bishop Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, was obsessed with Freemasonry,[29] which is full of occultic influences and practices.[30] read, was a notorious pederast Charles Leadbeater.
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Alert: Part of the controversial Obamacare proposal pending in Congress that discusses "end-of-life" counseling and medical procedures that could be rationed based on the age of the patient and other factors was written by suicide advocates who argue openly for the "right" to death, according to reports.
The sources for the Obamacare provisions have been documented on a blog for Family Research Council Action and discussed by prominent pro-life columnist Jill Stanek.
"Come again that promotion of euthanasia isn't part of Section 1233?" Stanek wrote in her new explanation of the dangers of Obamacare. "Kudos to FRC's The Cloakroom and #133;for drawing attention to the fact that the two authors of Section 1233 are major proponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide."
The authors include an Oregon congressman who has argued for assisted suicide before federal courts and an organization that openly boasts it helps "thousands of clients each year by ... guiding their search for a peaceful, humane death...."
FRC Action reports on its website the group "has been getting some heat" for its criticism of the plan.
"Today comes (a) smoking gun and #133; with the group Compassion and Choices coming out defending the questionable rationing portions of the bill and admitting THEY ACTUALLY WROTE THE LANGUAGE!" FRC Action said.
Stanek took up the explanation:
"The group Compassion and Choices, formerly known as the Hemlock Society, also says it had a hand in crafting Section 1233, writing July 27: 'Compassion and Choices has worked tirelessly with supportive members of Congress to include in proposed reform legislation a provision requiring Medicare to cover patient consultation with their doctors about end-of-life choice (section 1233 of House Bill 3200),'" she wrote.
"Compassion and Choices calls itself part of the 'aid-in-dying movement,'" she continued, quoting from the organization's description of itself:
... An organization dedicated to care of terminally ill patients, including those seeking a hastened death....
Compassion and Choices... improves care and expands choice at the end of life....
Our professional staff and trained volunteers help thousands of clients each year by... guiding their search for a peaceful, humane death....
We offer information on self-determined dying...
The second party claiming authorship of some of the controversial parts of the plan is Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who wrote about his state's "Death with Dignity" law that allows doctors to give patients fatal doses of medication:
"The amicus brief I have filed with other members of the delegation supports the (appellate) court's decision to uphold Oregon's Death with Dignity law. In 1994, Oregon overwhelmingly approved physician-assisted suicide in a statewide vote. and #133; Former U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft repeatedly attempted to undermine the Oregon law using various methods. Each time the judge ruled in favor of the Oregon law. I am pleased that Attorney General Gonzalez' attempt to overturn the will of the people has been no more successful than his predecessor's."
While physician assisted suicide is a contentious issue, it is an issue handled at the state level and the attorney general should not be permitted to deprive the citizens of Oregon and the nation the opportunity to make end of life decisions."
Blumenauer has condemned criticism of Obamacare's provisions.
"The provision included in H.R. 3200 simply allows Medicare to pay for a conversation between patients and their doctors if the patient wishes to speak about his or her preferences and values," the congressman said. "The new Medicare benefit would allow doctors to be compensated for these conversations every five years, and more frequently if a patient has a life-limiting illness or health status changes."
He said without such "discussions," "families are left struggling to make decisions in the midst of turmoil."
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