Talking with David Shuster about Florida scrambling GOP primary schedule, Bachmann’s misfire at Obama and Huckabee eyeing the social conservative chair in the presidential race. (“Countdown,” Current TV, 09/30/11)
Interview begins at 2:15
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111 Responses to Florida Strikes Again [VIDEO]
Now on The Trail
Woo Woo.
Forget politics: our problems are with economic philosophy.
*****
Most Democrats and all Republicans still embrace policies that, day after day, steadily weaken government regulation of the economy.
There is nothing more destructive to a society than unregulated capitalism. Marx saw this and said that revolution was “inevitable.” What he did not predict was the rise of the labor union movement and the “reform” movement, which was a movement to end child labor and create a minimum wage to reduce poverty, a movement led by upper and middle-class women. These movements arose simultaneously in the United States and Western Europe.
The labor union movement and the reform movement “saved” capitalism in the late 19th century. All FDR did was to throw the support of the federal government behind the policies they advocated, and the economic philosophy they were based upon. After world War II, the USA imposed this system on the rest of the “developed” world.
The USA and Western Europe prospered as a result of the regulation of capitalism. But, starting in the 1950s, a simplistic right-wing critique of “welfare capitalism” arose. The unregulated “free market,” which no one in the West had actually experienced in over a century, was romanticized.
“Conservative” economic philosophy has a two basic appeals.
First of all, it is SIMPLE whereas regulated capitalism is complex, requiring endless adjustments through a tedious democratic political process. It’s easier for stupid people to understand conservative economics.
Secondly, conservative economics glorifies selfishness and greed. It’s OK to get rich, in fact, it demonstrates that you are morally superior to people who are poor. And you shouldn’t help them; they deserve to be poor. Thus, conservatism appeals to people who, by their nature, are selfish and mean-spirited. (There’s a lot of them.)
Usually, conservative philosophers advocate that wealth-creation be limited to “legal” activities. (No cocaine dealers!) But if conservatives control the government, they can re-write laws and, all sorts of things which used to be “illegal,” under financial regulations, are now “legal.” Banks and corporations today routinely do things that used to be illegal. And that is a problem, because it causes economic instability.
An ongoing series of increasingly severe “financial crises” (another one is threatening the Europeans at this moment) are leading us back into a period that Marx would recognize.
Once again, capitalism is destroying itself, but this time,
the destructive forces are immensely more powerful, and our economy is far more fragile due to it’s incredible complexity and interdependence. (As an example, most of us eat food that is transported from hundreds or thousands of miles away. It wouldn’t take much to throw that whole system into chaos, and within a few days, we all begin to starve!)
The only solution, as Marx predicted (he just got the dates wrong), is revolution.
Lenin led a revolution, but so did Hitler. They come in all flavors. The only thing you can count on is that it’s not going to be very pleasant.
So, go ahead and argue endlessly about who will win the 2012 elections. It doesn’t matter. Regardless of who wins, we are still heading for the same nasty outcome.
As Marx said, it’s all an inevitable and self-sustaining process beyond our conscious control.
Craig…excellent…I am glad you have the stomach to listen to conservative radio! Now we know!
http://craigcrawford.com/2011/09/30/cain-and-obama-insult-blacks/#comment-271359
Jamie,
Good news is the younger generation is going to deliver us from most of this nonsense..
Gayness in women is more accepted! Look at all the straight male porn where lesbian/male three some’s are all the rage. Its so-called straight men mostly in the world that perpetuate this kinda BS! I say so-called because its mostly them so-calleds that hit on me.
http://craigcrawford.com/2011/10/01/florida-strikes-again-video/#comment-271368
BW,
Grace listens to FOX all day and Rush in the car between jobs!! Haha but when its my turn to drive we listen to America Left on XM. I love it when Tom Hartman is on one of his appology tours for Obama, just about makes Grace’s head explode! 
You got that right, it takes a strong stomach.
Florida conservative Republicans create chaos in the Republican Party. Party unity???
Nash,
You hit the nail on the head. Now can we beat it into our stupid politicians? NO, they are too busy doing fund raising.
Universe
“The standard explanation for how the universe evolved after the Big Bang is known as the Lambda Cold Dark Matter model, and it is the theoretical basis for the Bolshoi simulation. According to this model, gravity acted initially on slight density fluctuations present shortly after the Big Bang to pull together the first clumps of dark matter. These grew into larger and larger clumps through the hierarchical merging of smaller progenitors. Although the nature of dark matter remains a mystery, it accounts for about 82 percent of the matter in the universe. As a result, the evolution of structure in the universe has been driven by the gravitational interactions of dark matter. The ordinary matter that forms stars and planets has fallen into the “gravitational wells” created by clumps of dark matter, giving rise to galaxies in the centers of dark matter halos.”
http://craigcrawford.com/2011/10/01/florida-strikes-again-video/#comment-271367
Nash, Thanks for that 11:37, excellent!
Solar,
Enjoying your posts as well..Wow, so much interesting reading today that i’m behind on my housework..
Tony,
Did you know that Private Companies are to Launch Astronauts to Space by 2015?
They want to be able to reach orbit before NASA. Can this be the reason that Nasa laid off so many people? Nasa not expected to launch Astronauts until about 2017 or so….mmmmmmm
If the huckster jumps in, all bets are off, There will be no one to stop him.
He popular with the tinfoil caps and the biblethumpers, he is not an offense to Catholics, and is sensible enough that Big Greed could make up to him. Big Greed’s alternatives, paul, perry, and bachmann, scare the crap out of the Big Money Fascisti. Compared to them, the huckster is the boy next door.
Big Greed’s preferred candidate, willard, is a proven loser. And gingrich is anathema to the Southern Baptists, Brethren, and the major varieties of Pentacostal.
The only guy who is acceptable to almost everyone in the rip up party is the huckster, and if he wants the nomination, the rest can go home.
The huckster can make his party sound plausable, thoughtful, and conservative, rather than the way they sound now, preposterous, reckless, and radically reactionary. This guy actually could beat oh,bummer.
cat will mew and huckabee will have his day…
They are all ‘hucksters’ if you ask me.
Dash of Dan: Pumpkin Apple Ginger-Crunch Muffins
by Daubry
Well Obama has set yet another precedent.
The first was when he was complicit in the cover up and non prosecution of the previous administration for War Crimes (Crimes against Humanity, Kidnapping and Torture) and now with his authorizing the assassination of those whom we call terrorist (enemy combatants) including American Citizens without due process under the Constitution.
So the question I have is since it is now legal for the President to order the killing (assassination) of those whom he considers a threat to our Country and National Security, even when their American Citizens, then when will he order the assassination of the Republicans in the House and Senate for their Acts of Terrorism against American Citizens and America itself?
After all they have taken America Hostage three times in the last nine months hurting our National Security and our Economy. And are in all senses Acts of Terrorism against our Country.
So please President Obama label them enemy combatants or terrorists, which is what they are and order them to be exterminated with extreme prejudice.
After all since it is now a precedent set by you it is entirely conceivable that if a Republican takes control of the White House and both Houses of Congress they will not hesitate to order the deaths of Democrats and all those who speak out against their policies. Just like Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler did in their respective countries.
Been off line for a few days to a corrupted operating system and a crashed hard drive. Just got up and running late yesterday and also discovered that a few capacitors on the motherboard are leaking. Don’t know how much longer this computer will be running and need to get another motherboard and cpu installed when I can afford it. Hope this one lasts until then.
Have a great day.
why did the armadillo make one last futile attempt to cross the road?
Lenny on Law and Order: “You think Manhattan’s a wasteland? Wait’ll you see Rikers Island.”
Nash…fabulous post! Not that there aren’t many others here whose posts are fabulous, but yours at the beginning of this thread couldn’t be more ‘right on’! Do you suppose our political leaders recognize what they’re doing, but persist because it both lines their pockets and keeps them in power? It boggles the mind that we’re so willingly allowing the destruction of our country!
Would you mind if I reposted your post on my Facebook page? (assuming I can figure out how to do that???)
Harborwoman: Yes you can use my post. Please note that none of it based on original thought. I get all my ideas from liberal economists & historians who are real scholars. I just read a lot. I am not fit to polish Paul Krugman’s boots.
Well, I guess I am fit for that, but he probably wears sneakers. (Mass produced by adolescent Asian girls in sweatshops.)
re: Florida
I spend three miserable weeks there in July. It’s too hot. No wonder they’re all half-crazy there.
It’s also too flat. As a native of the rocky hills of New England, I always feel I’m going to float off out into space.
*****
re: early primaries
Why not end all this nonsense and have the primaries (for the next elections) the day after the elections?
That will give the nominees four whole years to campaign.
Anon,
I do too, its nice to see you though as always..
Harborwoman:
re: Can politicians understand what’s going on?
Philosophically, Marx was a “determinist.”
He felt this whole process of economic instability followed by revolution was beyond anyone’s conscious control. As far as politicians’ ability to “understand” the process and change it, Marx felt that the process itself would mold their thoughts into patterns that sustained the process. Or, voters who did not understand, would elect equally clueless leaders.
Politicians who actually understand what’s going on (Bernie Sanders) are marginalized, not by conservatives, but by the impersonal, nonhuman deterministic process itself.
We like to think we can control things, but Marx thought that “things control us.”
Marx was a bit of a nut, of course.
Nash,
Yep, its HOT here much of the time, less humidity today but still 90..
Watch out now, i live here!
Thanks, Nash! It’s just that you’ve put what I think into such a coherent collection of paragraphs. Perhaps I would be fit to polish your sneakers….
Nash…I should break down and read Marx, I suppose. Am reading Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine right now.
Tony…I’ve lived in Florida twice…in Pensacola in the late ’60s/early 70s and in Pompano Beach in the mid-’70s. Loved living there! Of course, what’s not to love about being young and single and living on or near the beach!?!
Harborwoman:
Marx is tedious to read. Dull & long winded. (Like me.)
Also, pure “determinism” is a bit hard to take. After all, if there isn’t anything we can do, if the impersonal process controls everything, we might as well give up and watch Bugs Bunny cartoons until civilization collapses.
I actually prefer to read liberal economists like Krugman, who think, “yes we can” understand our economy and change it.
(Ooops. Bad choice of words)
But we did figure out how to get out of the Great Depression, after all. Well, OK. It was World War II that did that.
Maybe if we can get the Chinese to attack Pearl Harbor, we can get this country back on the right track.
Tonyb: Why would any sane person want to live in Florida?
I heard (on the Discovery channel) that giant African rock pythons are crawling out of the Everglades into the suburbs of Miami, devouring pets, and the occasional child and/or diminutive senior citizen.
As if gators weren’t enough.
Marx dull, maybe, but what an opening line: Workers of the world, unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains.
or There’s a spectre haunting europe….
well…. gonna have to look into the marx opening lines a bit.
and then there’s this:
“A Spectre Is Haunting Europe is a progressive deathrock band hailing from Vancouver, Canada.”
Are there regressive deathrock bands?
Renee..I also really liked Water For Elephants. Now, I’m going to order the book. Unfortunately, in Salem we no longer have a real bookstore. The two Borders closed last month and the local independents have been gone for a long time. You can get books at Costco, but I like the atmosphere of a real store. I guess I’ll have to go to Powell’s in Portland…a great bookstore..even they had to lay off some employees this year. Without their online service and tie-in with Amazon, I think they would go under…
Portland’s “Progressive” radio talk station seems to be walking away from the progressive label.
The motto has been, Portland’s Only Progressive Talk
Now it is Portland’s Talk.
I was really excited when the station started, but soon became disillusioned with the anti-Clinton lineup. There are really interesting liberal talkers like Bill Press and Stephanie Miller, but they only get weekend or middle-of-the-night time here.
We’re stuck with Randi Rhodes, Thom Hartmann (Somebody wake me up), Ed Schultz and others.
One good, recent addition is Adam Klugman on the weekend. I think he is starting to write on Huffington Post. He actually listens and responds respectfully to his callers.
tonyb…
Had another drive with the OS on it already and when wiping the drive out was unable to reformat it. Received a bad allocation table error on format than the drive became toast.
Took my backup drive, which is half the size of the one that crashed, and installed it (that’s when I found some leaking capacitors on the motherboard). Thereupon just needed to update some programs and MS updates to it. Also changed anti virus and now once again able to get online.
This is my choice for entertainment so as stated previously do not have cable. Only antenna TV which is good enough for me.
I have another computer which has Windows 98SE on it and what I want to do is reinstall Win98 than install Win2k as a separate OS so I can still use my old scanner.
Then the cpu and motherboard I bought last year can be put into this one and install Win XP. Since moving I still don’t have everything unpacked and I do not know where the other board and cpu are.
So I do hope this one holds up until then.
Hope your ready for the cool down this weekend when it goes into the upper 50′s. I get to turn the air off and may have to turn my heat on for the first time. Hope there are no problems with the heat, can not afford to fix if there is.
Anyway later my friend, need to see what’s happening on the other sites I read.
Have a great day.
http://craigcrawford.com/2011/10/01/florida-strikes-again-video/#comment-271391
Harbor,
Yep, its lovely to be young and near the beach, hell its lovely to be near the beach. I live about 5 miles away and i love just escaping for a midnight walk with the waves crashing in the background..
Nash,
Yep, the damn snakes are vicious here. I just killed another Coral snake two weeks ago. I have a lake in the back of me and the Water Moccasins are plentiful. I have an enclosure around the pool so there’s no problem. Florida just requires you pay extra attention..
I love living here and your body does acclimate to the heat, ah but the A/C helps.
Anon,
.I have had the windows open all day and the house stayed a nice 83. I hope your computer problems get sorted out. Windows 98SE, will the video card play current videos? Have a great rest of the weekend..
Oh yes, i’m ready for a cool spell but i bet it won’t last a day
Progressive Notes: Occupy Wall St. Grows, MT Gov. Schweitzer Pushes for Single Payer, CA Atty Gen. Wants Better Deal, and Other Doings
by Art Pronin
http://craigcrawford.com/2011/10/01/florida-strikes-again-video/#comment-271375
Solar,
I didn’t realize private companies were so close to taking over with a space program. I miss NASA here so very much, so many jobs lost here in my community. I’m only 20 miles from Titusville/Cocoa and its really hurt..
Obama Gay Rights: President Headlines Human Rights Campaign Dinner
Julie Pace
http://craigcrawford.com/2011/10/01/florida-strikes-again-video/#comment-271367
Nash
That element of Capitalism requiring ethical regulation was known clear back in the 1700s only the simple minded crowd only wants to read the easy quotes of one of Adam Smith’s books rather than paying any attention to all of the conversation going on among him and his contemporaries for years after its publication not to mention some of his final books. When Capitalism becomes criminal it sows the seeds of its own destruction and now we have a global economy that could very well crash in a whole spectrum of ugly ways courtesy of combined greed, lust for power, and ignorance.
Here’s a few quotes of Smith’s that goes to the responsibility of wealth:
“The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”
“The rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.”
“Every tax, however, is, to the person who pays it, a badge, not of slavery, but of liberty.”
Absolutely amazing!
tonyb…
I have ATI AIW cards in both computers. And yes they do play video as well at television with either an antenna or cable hook up attached to them.
Still have too many boxes to unpack and do not know where a lot of stuff is or which boxes they are in. The other computer is sitting in the enclosed carport and I still have to figure out a way to run a network cable from the room this computer is in to the room I will put that one in.
More than likely I will have to get a network guy to help me is getting it set up for internet. I do not want to go wireless with it as it makes it more difficult in my opinion to secure the connection.
Also it would be attached to a router which I currently use and is a wired router.
Really do need to start getting everything unpacked and put in its proper place which would make it much easier to find things I need when I need them. LOL…LOL…
Of course after I win the Power Ball tonight I will be able to buy a much better computer and maybe even afford to get cable TV. LOL…LOL…
Catch you later.
Tony, Solar here is an article on SpaceX
As well as a cool animation from them.
I prefer John Dewey:
“Social Democracy is best” His position lies between the liberal democracy espoused by Locke and the communist socialism of Marx.
First I have thought some more about what Obama said to us minorities…definitively not democratic…he was trying to subordinate by coercion..coercion does not have to be physical.
I have to give this one to Jack that saw right through this one….he told Danilo, and the other Obamats…that the people he was lecturing, and trying to coerce (my word) were doing the hard important things, while Obama was sucking oh his moms teat….that is what made me think about it….
How do you do that to a bunch of men that would normally tell you to piss up a rope? I think that we need new leadership all around no?
Anyway…anyone up for a beer?….J. D…..no not John Denver….John Dewey believed that “Universal suffrage, recurring elections, responsibility (have to get my second shot of teqkillya-only have one or two on dance night, stuff can make one dizzy) of those who are in power to the people…us the voters
I have practice the principle of equal suffering by all….it works…here at home, and with my employees…but you need to get co-operation by all in order for it to work…or kick them out..not my family…but..a form of speech, but if they don’t want to share equally in the suffering…then they don’t reap the benefits either……
That is very easy to say…but a muther-f-to make come about..
“Western Democracy” was first started:…equal suffering when the Greeks stopped killing each other for the common good…that was for all of their tribes to defend against Persia….there were two more important battles than the “300″
Messengers where sent to tribe to tribe to fight together against Persia in the battle of Marathon, and the earlier Navy battle of……?
In the battle of the 300 the real war was won by stopping the Persians in the rest of the country…by all the tribes combined…those that did not…were out of luck later on.
But I also come up with my conclusions by reading different people/books…specially Anthropology, and evolution……A cpl of excellent ones” The ape-man within us…. “The Red Queen Sex, and the evolution of human nature” (this last one…studies, and compares bird species mating habit, and sexual life….reads very familiar to us humans, and explains much to me about our need (and there are needs) to be disloyal to our mates…(and it is all about keeping up with the Jonses)…female as well as male..great reading.
Cross this with my favorite Philosopher…Spinoza, evolution or course, and a cpl of others…like Carl Sagan…some others…I can get a great picture of things
We can limit the suffering, or try to by others…but it will continue forever and ever….
People on this blog, and people like them on this blog…will never have the ability to make things perfect….the R;’s can, and do try to make the perfect human being…just like Hitler, and some before him…the fn popes and all religions
But I know that the perfect Human being…..equals the Perfect Animal
…we are animals…this is why the R;s win so many people by lying to them…they appeal to the animal inside of us….and why we needed Gore to stand up to them in the Courts…I blame him a lot….he made us look weak…to weak to be leaders of the jungle…
Be right back…..Jane just told me-me Tarzon…we don’t say Tarzan in Spanglish… to throw out the garbage…….Im going to show her….I won’t like doing it….but she wins cause I know what is good for me….besides she threw it our yesterday….I cooked…equal suffering…..
Jack, thanks, very nice.! I checked out the expansion (posted?) of the universe in 3d…also cool…..
I seem to stop the conversations…sorry..last one
Nash…have to say it again: Deregulation (business) was started by Jimmy Carter…sorry…the R;s just did a better job of it….Reagan and the R;s made off like it was their idea…they just did more of it…and the rest is History….
LBJ, and Obama have a great thing in common…they were both told that if they discontinued the wars…..they would lose significant political positions……they both elected to get our kids killed…for ratings
Been saving this one for my brother the wanna be priest…says that we were made whole…doesn’t want to hear anything about science:
DNA Scraps found in meteorites
Fascinating article on the science of brain formation and the concepts of empathy: The End of Evil
I guess that Jimmy Carter did feel a little guilty when he deregulated the Oil Industry….b/c he initiated the windfall profit tax….that made up for it no?
Jamie, Im going to read about that later on..but I don’t think that evil will ever end..does it exist?
There are some women in New Guina that think that if the husbands are not beating them on a daily basis…that they must be evil…here we separate evil from good….on Sundays….on Monday thru Saturday…evil wins hands down….but two our fathers, and a cpl of virgin marys later, we are forgiven again in order to receive the blood, body, and soul of the forgivee…all while watching that skirt in row 5, seat 4…..Human/animal nature to seek out the weak, and depress them, take what ever they have away….have to be strong to keep it…that is unless they come at you like the too big to fail shit, that made us all slaves to the corps again……is that more evil than someone that robs a bank?….later
Last, last one….it is not all bad….we have laughter…that always wins out, on evil.
Just finished watching a movie called “Una Abuela Virgen” = the Virgin Grand-Mother… think from Columbia. The Grand Mother that passed away, inhabits the body of her 20 year old virgin G D….was very funny, she was not a virgin for long…not a dirty movie. and had just enough skin in the game …will tape it the next time….lots of laughs in it…that I missed im sure….
HA.! It was the “Yanomamo Tribe” of New Guinea. I won’t bother you all for a long time now, shot my mouth off enough….thanks
Now I can go to sleep…if my insomnia will let me.
Chloe, 99,98,97
Has it occurred to Those of DC to start referring to congressional salaries, presidential salary, Judges’, Marshalls’, staffs’, and all the like publicly paid-for salaries as Entitlements?
jamie, thanks for the adam smith quotes. especially this part:
adam, imho, must mean “the revenue” enjoyed includes public roads, utilities, law enforcement, commercial standardizations, etc which help the haves have more and have more easily than the have nots who at best may get to enjoy public parks and some federal cheese at the food bank.
sturge, “entitlement”? just what did they, critters and el pres, do to “entitle” them to those emoluments and perks?
voted themselves raises?
Solar, 96,95,94
(… better late than never?)
Sunday Sublime.
I didn’t think that it was possible in AZ. but I woke up to a morning that felt for all the world like Indian Summer. Enjoy
http://craigcrawford.com/2011/10/01/florida-strikes-again-video/#comment-271408
Jack,
Thanks, great video!
Nemo,
Welcome, pull up a chair and stay awhile
CulinaryChef Culinary Chef
World’s First Fat Tax in Denmark as Food Sin Taxes Become Reality in Europe ~ goo.gl/Bm8sn #Food
Jamie,
Thanks so much for the link on the End of Evil.
Great read.
I think that I am a bit old school when it comes to evil. I think that it is a lot like energy, in that it can be neither created or destroyed. It simply exists.
As for the concept of free will, each of us must make our own determination. I think that it is free will and the exercise of same that separates us for better or worse from all other creatures.
We are born children of a broken(fallen)humanity, and there is ample evidence to suggest that humanity is still badly in need of repair.
patd
That is the heart of the Elizabeth Warren speech making the rounds. The wealthy receive way more value from “The Commons” for which we all pay. An educated, healthy and honest workforce in a stable and secure environment is what allows business to profit or they rapidly descend into the free for all that is the world of robber barons and crime syndicates.
Secret U.S. memo sanctioned killing of Aulaqi
Peter Finn
Jace
My take on it is the old nature vs nurture. Outside of the obvious exceptions of brain damage in some form, all children arrive with a personality and the brain is the source of that person, but then they are acted upon by their surroundings. It has long been known that the criminal and the policeman often share psychological traits. An environment that doesn’t conflict with a basic personality in one child can be horribly destructive in another and we simply don’t know why as yet. Fortunately, most human beings fall in a comfortable middle between the sinners and saints, neither of which are particularly entertaining to be around.
On Day Obama Gets Awlaki, Fox And Friends Says He’s Too Weak On Terror
By Alex Seitz-Wald
No surprise that Gretchen has no shame, she fits right in on FOX(the no-shame propaganda channel).
Rich people are being ‘demonized’ for flaunting their wealth. Poor dears!
By Barbara Ehrenreich
U.S. Lags Far Behind in Worker Protection
by DAVID MACARAY
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer Will Seek Health Care Law Waiver To Establish Single Payer In His State
By Zaid Jilani
Tony… yes it’s been a year since we were in Daytona Beach. We were celebrating our anniversary there… our 36th is this coming Tuesday. We had a great time meeting you.
OD… I think independent bookstores are having a better time of it in areas like the one I live in. There’s a wonderful independent in the biggest town in this area, Peterborough (population 6,500-7,000). It’s an hour drive to the nearest Borders or B&N. I’ve bought books online from Powells Books… it looks like a great place to spend some time.
I like to shop locally if I can. It’s a bit of a dilemma now that Craig is advertising Amazon… do I buy my books there or the local independent. As much as I love this place… I have to admit the local bookstore is winning out so far.
My Dad for President
On the 20th anniversary of the day her father, Bill Clinton, announced his candidacy for the presidency, Chelsea Clinton remembers telling her parents why she supported them—and the important lessons of the campaign.
Jamie,
Loved your reply, and agree.
An environment that values good, will probably in most cases,produce goodness.Just as we have the capacity to return goodness with goodness, we have also the ability to return treachery with treachery, malice with malice, and so on.We are the products of those values that we nurture.
As for the topic of this thread… yes, my state’s first in the nation’s primary brings mucho moolah along with it. But with all the problems our nation faces…
IMO, the parties look like children throwing temper tantrums over this who goes first stuff. It’s this kind of thing that turns people off of politics and gives credence to the idea that government no longer works for the people.
I’m a political junkie who lives in NH… and I don’t give a shit who goes first any longer… I can only imagine what the average person living in hoboken thinks.
Obama, don’t run from class warfare
By Howell Raines,
Nemo,
Sunday….have my apple?
Jamie, Jace,
The Brain grew the body, connection by connection to it, with the spine as the communicator. Very little room for free will imo.,
We can diverge, but only to a certain extent. When we go to far one way or the other: The Captain (brain) will give us the order to get back into what it has learned for million of years of evolution, in order for us to live a proper healthy life.
When we ignore it often enough…this is not free will, it is ignorance of what the consequences are going to be……unless one believes that we were all, the whole world, born from two people that were made with just a thought…the only thing that I believe from that tale…is the talking snake……..
“The chessboard is the world; the pieces are the phenomena of the universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake or makes the small-est allowance for ignorance”
-Thomas Henry Huxley
Obama HRC Speech 2011: President Talks Gay Rights At Human Rights Campaign Dinner
by Amanda Terkel Video
Reporter: So, Christie, you running?
Christie: No.
Reporter: You sure there’s not some way you’re thinking about running?
Christie: Yes, I’m sure. I’m not running.
Reporter: You’re kidding, right?
Christie: No, I’m not kidding. I’m not running.
Reporter: But I heard from some guys in the back room that you might be considering it.
Christie: I’m not considering it. I won’t run.
Reporter: I don’t believe you. I think you’re running.
Christie: You gotta believe me, I’m not running.
Reporter: This guy who knew you in high school says he has proof that you’re running.
Christie: We all hated that guy. I’m not running.
Reporter: That’s not fair. We can’t start taking you apart brick by brick until you admit you’re running.
Christie: I will not run.
Headline from resulting Exclusive Interview: CHRISTIE CONSIDERS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT
Sturg… ROFL!… ah… but oh so true.
Craig… I just ordered some stuff from Imus… I’ve always wanted to try the cleaning products. And yeah, I ordered some coffee also.
We’ve been remarkably sheltered in Madisonville for the past forty years and more: we had last lost a local soldier in war during Vietnam, sometime before 1970, if I remember right.
That changed on September 24 when Marine Lance Corporal Franklin N. “Frankie” Watson was killed by a sniper in Afghanistan. He was born in 1990, a Madisonville native, but had lived in Vonore, about ten miles up Highway 411, since he was twelve. He played football with my nephew and graduated in 2008 in the same class as my older niece.
He came home yesterday--military escort, state trooper escort--his guardian is an active duty Tennessee state trooper, and Frankie was planning a career in police work when his hitch was up--to people lining the sides of 411 from McGee-Tyson Airport in Alcoa all the way through Vonore and Madisonville to pay their respects.
I don’t often comment on politics here--I don’t feel comfortable doing so--but to me this is a political issue: another death in pursuance of an utterly pointless conflict in a land that has been the graveyard of empires for millenia.
We here in Madisonville and Vonore knew Frankie, know his birth family (and that’s a sad, sad story), know the man who has been his guardian and mentor for more than half his young life. Frankie was truly one of our brightest and best here in Monroe County.
This afternoon they’re receiving friends in a church sanctuary because the local funeral home’s chapel isn’t big enough to accommodate all those visiting. Flags are flying along every street in town, and in the grassy medians down the highway. Tomorrow, by order of Governor Haslam, flags at all state government installations will be lowered to half-staff, as will the giant garrison flag at the Veterans’ Memorial on the hill, the flag you can see, on a clear day, for miles in any direction, here in town.
Frankie will got to his last and longest sleep in a tiny Church of God cemetery in the knobs out past the college, with full military honors, around ten o’clock.
No doubt we all thank him for his sacrifice.
But it’s time, too, we began speaking loudly, as many of us did in the Bush years, to those in Washington who have extended this war far beyond its effectiveness in the “war” on terror, if effectiveness it ever had,
We lost a local Vietnam veteran, some years ago, to cancer from Agent Orange exposure. He used to say that in Vietnam we were “the unwanted doing the unnecessary for the ungrateful” and it’s hard, today, not to apply those same words to this debacle in Afghanistan.
It is time for this war to end. Now. Not when the brass think it’s “safe”: Afghanistan will go its own way, as it has every time a foreign army leaves; its government will continue to be corrupt, its people will continue their traditional way of life, with change coming slowly if at all.
No more of the blood of our sons and daughters must darken those mountains. Bring them home now.
I think I’m going to forward these thoughts to my senators and House representative. I’ll get the usual patronizing nonsense in response, if I get a response at all, but at least they will know that antiwar sentiment is alive in one little Tennessee town.
Thanks for letting me rant.
Faire,
That was a great rant. These wars need to end sooner rather than later. They have served no good purpose.
The lives lost and the treasure squandered have accomplished nothing.
Solar,
You are indeed correct.
I am perfectly comfortable with the laws of nature and the scientific explanation for the ‘how’of human development, although I really like that snake story.
I am a good deal less sanguine as to the ‘why’ of human development.That part has not been handled quite so thoroughly or nearly so successfully by the scientific community. Hence, my curiosity causes me to look elsewhere.
http://craigcrawford.com/2011/10/01/florida-strikes-again-video/#comment-271443
Faire,
Absolutely the greatest rant! I so badly hoped the wars would have ended by now but nope more of the same. Its looking more like it will take an uprising by the people to get them to stop but it doesn’t seem like we have it in us anymore..I hope i’m wrong?
Progressive Notes: Pres. Clinton Schools Dem Party on Messaging and How to Hit Tea Crowd
by Art Pronin
“Maybe if we can get the Chinese to attack Pearl Harbor, we can get this country back on the right track.”
Nash
You might want to read “White Lotus” by John Hersey. Old 60s era novel about the “Yellow Peril” finally winning and taking over the US. Brings in a lot of Civil Rights era black stereotypes and smashes them all to pieces by applying them to whites. Good story.
http://craigcrawford.com/2011/10/01/florida-strikes-again-video/#comment-271439
Solar,
What the scientists are arguing is that certain formations in the brain govern actions to the extent of varying degrees of empathy and that “Evil” is the result of certain developments within the brain structure that can only be impacted to a lesser degree by external forces. IOW if you don’t have the cells for a “guilty conscience” you can’t feel guilt no matter how often you are taught that certain actions are “right” and others are “wrong”.
Dick, Liz Cheney Praise Anwar Al-Awlaki Killing, Say Obama Owes Bush Administration An Apology
I’ll tell you what Mr. Cheney, I’ll offer the Bush administration an apology on the day you kiss my ass at the foot of the Washington monument!
Until then STFU!
Fair,
Great post, Im with you Sister.!! Iv’e been a little lax about posting anti-war rants, but will get on my hoss now…specially when it comes to those that steal land from others……building homes on them (around 1,500 this time), then denying that they are settlements…
But we should get all of our soldiers home where they belong; take the money saved and start a new way of life for the next generations…..as it is; there isn’t a kid born today that when they get to be of age, won’t think about serving their country…..Military-Patriotism is a strong feeling….( a nephew just joined the Marine Corps recently, great clean cut kid…)
too bad that the children of the President, Senators, and congressmen won’t have it…they will be kept from harm….doing more important work….like fund raising no?
Solar,
Thanks for the post. If the purpose of these wars was to cause pain and misery to man, and impoverish a nation,
then it has been successful beyond measure.
If it was to make us safer as a nation, then abject and dismal failure might be a more apt description.
I’ve come to the opinion that any journalist/interviewer who interview Dick Cheny needs to first under go a little inhanced interogation for a few weeks. Just so they will understand the subject matter and be able to conduct a proper interview.
Why is this man on TV expressing his opinion about anything?
Jack
Jace,
I also love the story about our Real Mom and Pop, Adam and his Rib-called Eve.
Do you think that when we discover life on other planets….that they are also Adam and Eves children?
Did Jesus/God become alien; and die for their sins also ….do they sin? In the past I asked these silly questions…but forgot about them; now they are being asked in a serious way……If there is a Hell, I wish to go to an alien one…im sorta tired of us Apes…..
In their worlds; are they born without sexual contact?…then there won’t be a virgin birth…but an old fashion intercourse miracle…..science is cool huh?…and a lot more fun for me……going to try to find that article…..
Let’s see, Obama actively killed terrorist.
Bush let the get away at Tora Bora, then invaded Iraq, who had no connection to the terrorist.
And who owes who an apology?
I’m with Jace.
Cheny should STFU and go home, he has done enough damage to this country.
Jack
Jace,
For me the purpose of war should be to protect the Country from losing our freedoms, and should strike back at those that do harm to us…unmercifully but only after making sure of who done it…and once done….get back home.!
This should not break the treasury…just an expense to be free that we all can understand….( or as I say…the price of doing business)as it is, these wars are for nothing else; except to give our tax $’s to a bunch of selfish pricks that manufacture these wars to begin with……
If I can’t have regenerative immortality and youth in perpetuity I want reincarnation.
Jamie,
ME TOO.! but I want to come back as a big Tom Cat…belong to someone like Coreen, Patd, and some of the others that know how to treat a person…………
Ps….or a Bear…that lives on Spider-Women’s back yard….and tease the hell otta her all the time…….
Solar’
I like these stories as well, but even I will admit that they are a little far fetched.
I am 56 soon to be 57. Obviously I have played out more string, than I have string left.When I get to the end of the spool however I would like to think that there was a purpose to my life.
If all I have been good for was to be born, procreate, and die, then a good deal of evolutionary effort and DNA has been wasted, because most of that could have been accomplished in a laboratory with little if any help from me.
I have reached the point where I have doubt that my purpose in life is to be great, time has passed me by.
I would however settle for a small purpose or at the very least an understanding of why I am here at all. What I refuse to accept is a life without purpose or meaning.
Rational science has left me with out an answer and I am desperately seeking one.
Therefore I seek answers and comfort in the meta physical for time is short.
Or one of ….Chloes….Horse’s, what a life.!…..make that her only Hoss.!!
Jace,
Not that hard to understand for me. We are Tubes that make other Tubes…two openings for food, and waste…
There are some things that we should strive for…but won’t go into all of that……
But there is one person that Blogs here that has done the most that any person can do….Flatus is an example of how to love the life that was given..and pass on to his other Tubes, the meaning of life….a love for ones life, and doing the best that you can for the others that follow you….without being a selfish shit….
Flatus…that’s what I meant to tell you a few months ago; but did not know how until now.
Another example would be how Lardass (Sean) has shown us how to always be unselfish, I have a Sister that passed away a few years ago…this past Sept….she showed me what real courage (just like Lardass) is made off…never a complaint or negative action…she left behind some great children…just like her…
War is not real courage…just another gang fight…now im going to think about my sister Maria…later
Forgot to add my favorite quote of any that I have ever read so far:
“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.”
-Mark Twain
Solar,
It is interesting that you should mention Flatus.
I read his posts often and come away thinking that this is someone who ‘gets it’ whatever ‘it’ is.
I have a sneaking hunch that there are others here that get ‘it’ as well. That is in short, why I came here, and why I stay.
get what?
Solar, amen to your thoughts on Flatus and Lardass. You and all who contribute here get credit for maintaining fantastic threads. I am getting many compliments from lurkers (many of them influentials you’d recognize) who’ve made TM’s comment sections a reading habit.
BTW, I enjoyed plenty of quality time with Lard (Sean) while in Orlando recently. His mind, wit and spirit inspirational as ever, no matter what the dang doctors say. Plan to get down there again for his birthday Oct. 29. I pray every day the Lord will keep Lard among as for own damn sake.
Solar,
They have found a way to determine life’s priorities.
A form of enlightenment that has so far escaped me.
Craig,
Thanks.! To me…those are examples of spiritual psychology..and what makes them so…is that they pass this on to those around them……no preacher can ever do that….those that own Mega-churches are the least to convey this.
Sometimes the other small ones come close…unselfish food-pantry’s for those that are hungry for one…but it is also human nature to take care of others in need….we can see ourselves in others that are suffering. some choose to help…others choose to take advantage of it…some are more evolved than others is all….taking care of each other…is the only way to be in a “state of grace” in the end…it all boils down to; did we love well no?
I love my refrigerator…..later
93,92,91
Craig…Thanks for the update on Lard! I pray that he remain among us, too. He’s one of the folks with whom I’d like to go on sharing this planet! Please wish him a happy birthday for me when you get there!
perhaps we can do something special on the trail on the 29th, lavishly lauding and loving lard, liberals and leaners and learners and lurkers all.
jace, take heart. to keep this little terrarium on which we live viable, we fleshy sacs must return rich deposits daily of processed matter so that our plant relatives may eat and exchange with them carbon dioxide for oxygen so that we both may breathe.
rejoice and go forth, grasshopper, do your dooty and do it well
If the protest lasts through the end of the month, maybe they can set a world record by doing a dance routine to “Thriller.” Then, at least, something will have been accomplished.
“…Wall Street demonstrators are being urged to dress in business wear with white faces and blood, and will march while eating monopoly money…”
Sooo much to protest about, but the nebulousness of their reasons and intentions is stunnning.
As the unions & celebs glom on to this FBtweet, um, revolution (?), maybe it will do something besides making the police look increasingly like thugs.
Is Washington DC paying attention to them, especially since the rallies are spreading around the country? October may become National Angry Villagers w/Pitchforks and Torches Month.
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/wall-street-protesters-dress-1193118.html
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Why did Mika change the subject on border security this morning? The panel went from talking about what an under-reported story it is, to changing the subeject immediately. Who is talkin’ in her ear???
“Number 9, number 9, number 9…” (The Beatles)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203791904576607330997185722.html
Something different enough to take hold, unlike Steve Forbes’ flat tax proposal?
—-
TTFN
“…Perry called Countrywide a good employer and said state government subsidies would help other such companies move their businesses to Texas…Perry spent tens of millions in taxpayer money to lure some of the nation’s leading mortgage companies to expand their business in his state, calling it a national model for creating jobs…”
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2011/10/03/perry_bet_big_on_tax_grants_to_subprime_lenders/
NEW THREAD