Gordy—-I am on disability and presently writing a
book for teenagers which relates how the Bible relates to their lives.  I am a member of The Rotary
Club to provide community service and considering
re-joining Big Brothers to assist boys without
fathers.  I may not join at this time because I don’t
want to stretch my time to the point it influences
my health.  How do you serve your community?

The Tea Party is a distraction.

The Tea Party/Teabaggers is not really a movement, but rather a relatively small number of right-wing extremists who have been used by the Democrats as a scapegoat for their own hypocrisies.

It’s an Astroturf movement by such figures like Dick Armey and other Republican and conservative lobbyists who are manufacturing right-wing dissent to distract from the real left-wing dissent that is ignored by the media.

Think about it; what better way of getting the right-wing fascist message out there than giving it media exposure? And indeed, that is what we have.

If you follow the media narrative in America, there is no left-wing dissent. There is only right-wing dissent. This simultaneously legitimatizes the right-wing narrative and gives justification for the Obama administration to crack down on ANY dissent-because a handful of right-wing fanatics are given media exposure.

The point is to get liberals to react, and it keeps working again and again.

No tea bagger or Limbaugh or Fox news nonsense can stand up to a strong left wing narrative for even a minute. How any of us could ever lose a debate with those talking points, or be frustrated or worry about it is a mystery to me.

The worry is the potential for violence from the right wing media, it is not the “ideas” they present that are the worry. Those ideas only have traction because so many are chicken shit scared to be real leftists, for fear of being too radical or something, because they are too weak and confused and cowardly.

Teabaggers et al, are moving into the vacuum created by this timidity and confusion and playing on liberal/progressive identification with the Democrats.

The reason people like Fox news, Glen Beck etc. is because it is entertaining and because they can pick up talking points that will drive liberals crazy. For the ruling class agenda to be advanced, it requires BOTH the right wing media AND the predictable liberal reaction.

That said, it is dangerous. We contribute to the danger by taking it so seriously (the “opinions,” not the pandering to bigotry and hatred - that needs to be taken very seriously) and reacting so predictably.

What better way to “legitimize” the center-right policies of the Obama administration than to contrast them to the full-blown, ultra-right insanity of Sarah Palin-like Teabaggery.

Democrats are using the tea baggers’ antics as a tool to stifle dissent from the Left. How dare we criticize Obama when doing so is to be on the same side as the tea baggers? Obama apologists won’t even listen to any argument from the Left against Obama’s policies, they automatically categorize it in the same category as the crap being spewed by tea baggers.

The tea bagger thing serves the purpose of making sure the intellectual liberals get all worked up about Palin et al and are therefore estranged from and irrelevant to the general public. It works like a charm, every time, to decapitate the working class.

Modern liberalism is occupying the space where the Left should be, confusing and misleading people, steering people away from accurate perceptions and clouding their minds, preventing them from asking the right questions because they think they already have the answers. That is dead wood that needs clearing. If we are willing to kick over the beehive of modern liberalism you will see the true face and the true nature of the ruling class war against the people with crystal clarity. As it is, we can’t even see the enemy now. We are looking out the tent flap watching for the approach of those dreaded right wingers, and the enemy is behind us right in our own tent.

Clearly Obama has joined the elite political class.  The economic elites are being well served by him.  If we view elitism as a class that cannot be prosecuted for their crimes; and, cannot lose money on their investments, then it becomes clear that both Democrats and Republicans are complicit.  Put simply the people are being ignored.  The People are gently lied to then viciously undercut with legislation masked to appear favorable but by design harms the People.  The consistent passage of anti-people legislation has led to political reaction such as the Tea Party.  Today both parties serve corporate America, not the people.  The metaphor that I use to describe this reality is:  The Eagle cannot fly with two right wings!

““The devil will not get me with sex, food, power or money.  What’s he got left?  Nothing! “”

What devil are you talking about?  The only devil is see is in the details.  I am seeing nothing but ignorance and superstition in your comments.  Can you prove any of the so called miracles or even the Christ in your bible?  What about the Christ that led very much an identical life in Egypt 2000 years before your christ appeared.  The legend continues, even in modern times, there is still stone age thought and reasoning.  I would hope that humans might grow out of the superstitious past and advance themselves out of ignorance, but as long as there are so very many people out there who only wish to rest at a point just above knuckle draggers this will not be possible.  Religion has been the bane of development in the world, and in fact has killed more people than any other ideas…  Prove to me that there is a “God” and I will believe, until then it is Science and Proof that rule my life.

Just this old Chief’s 2¢

Mr. Scheer’s Sarah Palin, Neocon Messiah combines certain Jewish beliefs with an
individual that best represents a “cut and paste” oddity of a politician.

  In the very essence of their soul Jews believe that: 1) We are always innocent –
and lets be honest now, 2) Jewish lives are more valuable than those of others. Is
that not basically the West’s way of dealing with Africans, Asians and the non
Judeo-Christian world?

  And the proof of the pudding lies in the coming of the Messiah who its
guaranteed will be a male and of the faith. The Podhoretz’s, Kristols and like
minded people must be quite desperate to align themselves with SP. The
suggestion that they are is most welcome to all decent thinking Americans.

Again and again the Democratic Party moves to the right, and every time, instead of responding in a bipartisan spirit the Republicans move even further to the right and attack the Democrats all the more ferociously.  Obama and the Democratic Party leadership have perhaps misunderstood.  The GOP isn’t all that interested in policy, and governance just isn’t what they’re al about. They want power.  If the Democrats were to produce nothing but legislation straight from Republican heaven (they’re already pretty close as it is) the Republicans would revile them for it.

So I think the hatred towards Obama from the GOP would be there no matter what Obama did.  If it’s even more intense than it might otherwise be it isn’t because Obama’s too progressive but just the opposite.  It’s because he’s too right wing and encroaching on GOP territory. 

The Antichrist Obama crowd are the reliable Republican base, the multitude of ninnies who can be manipulated into believing anything.  The recent poll showing that 2/3rds of Republicans think Obama is a socialist when the truth is he’s using the economic downturn as an excuse to make an unprecedented Democratic attack on social programs is ample demonstration of that.  The rank and file Obama haters hate because they’re encouraged to and in many cases because they’re racists. 

Sarah Palin reveals the mind of the typical Republican voter every time she opens her idiot “Isn’t it great to be free” mouth and spouts dishonest and embarrassingly childish rhetoric to cheering crowds.  She and her fellow tawdry panderers shore up their base but in so doing also prove that most Republican voters are incapable of responsibly taking part in a democracy.

And to propose an answer Podhoretz’ question about why Jews are “liberal” (though I think he probably understands the answer but just can’t handle it),  couldn’t it be that having been so badly mistreated themselves historically, Jews in general, as opposed to the rabid Zionists, tend to be sympathetic to the downtrodden and hence lean toward the left?

Don’t worry, Robert.  Almost nobody could understand sentences like that last one anyway.  The correlative falsity of their political creed which they so perfectly personify and to which they have for so long been so misguidedly loyal denies them the ability to separate a complex-compound subject worse confounded from an over-modified verb with a convoluted adverbial insertion.  Wheweee!  Ain’t English wonderful?

Christian96, which association are you with and in what
setting do you deliver your services?

Gordy—-If you believe the devil is a metaphor, he
already has a good hold on your mind.  It’s pretty
obvious by the rest of your comments.  I didn’t run
from her literally.  However, if you were familiar
with the Bible you would know the story of Joseph.
Joseph was the youngest of 12 sons who was betrayed
by his brothers but eventually made it to Egypt and
through much trial, tribulation and SELF-CONTROL was
elevated to a high position in Egypt.  His superior’s
wife tried to seduce him.  Joseph literally ran from
her after she ask him for sex.  She held onto his
coat as he fled.  Then, as the devil has done through
people for years, she lied.  She told her husband
Joseph tried to seduce her.  Then, she presented
Joseph’s coat as proof.  Her husband had Joseph put
in prison for an extended period of time.  In conclusion, your feeble attempt at psychoanalysis
leaves much to be desired.  Beside being a Christian
I am also a Counseling Psychologist.  I suggest you
study the Bible to learn more about spiritual matters.  Without that knowledge you are manipulated
by evil spirits like a puppet.

Wife and i own our house 100%; thus, rule it 100%. The 2% of americans who own 98% of it, rule it 100%. The reason the twopercenters rule america 100% instead of 98% [give or take a few pennies]is because they are fiercely interdependent.

The 98%ers, are extreme independent-dependencies; i.e., very disorganized; so, their 2% of the rule disappears completely.
So, all that is left of their rule is like the grin of the cat with its waggingly-taunting tail that strutted by u.

Sara Palin as the leader of the American People? Neocon? This is a woman who reminds me of the old WWI song “Howya Gonna Keep um down on the farm, after they’ve seen Pareee.” As VP candidate for the GOP she came across as one whose insights were as a Parochial a native New Yorker and reveled in her ignorance of issues. But she was wined and dined and dressed by the GOP leadership and what happened? She believes that she is a political phenom, a major player on the national political stage, an independent thinker who can convince the rest of us the righteousness of her cause by just trusting her, no questions asked. Maybe, someday? Nah. For me this is a woman who got a brief taste of political power at the Republican trough and wants more, more, just more. And the GOP leadership wants
to give it to her, despite the fact she took the money from Fox News bailing after two years in office on the Alaskans who elected her governor.
Now a desperate old man, John McCain, wants a Last Hurrah on the national stage, and fearing he won’t get it, brings her back to prop him up, literally and figuratively, in hopes he can be re-elected to the Senate and die in office. I find that…selfish in every sense of the word. Cynical .  Ingenuous.  New Mexico voter deserve better. And the American don’t deserve Sara Palin, no way. Surely the GOP can do better in selecting their leadership for the next decade.

Sabagio Mauraeno, drinking coffee on a bright sunny cloudless day in Decatur, Georgia

I’m still waiting for Palin to show up in that ‘Ex-Governors Gone Wild’ video. Or, maybe one of these days she’ll show up in an ‘Ex-Presidents Gone Wild’ video.

“How’s that Hopey-Changey thing workin’ out for ya?” Palin asked recently. One helluva lot better than your hilariously failed gig as the Governor of Alaska, Sarah. Thanks for asking.

Presidents come and go but presidency-congress-judiciary stays ab the same.
The system of rule may yaw from time to time slightly left or right but lust to obtain more land and denial of some basic rights to own people stays the same.

And all presidents in a classroom are either good while presiding or become good eventually!
Every president must a fortiori be good if the system is good; of which presidency, judiciary, media,congress ar ejust parts.

So if any part of it is bad, it makes also the constitution bad; since it sets up laws under which the branches of governance function.

And which allows or even demands a prez do ‘bad’ things; i.e., in the eyes of some people but never in the eyes of the constitution or laws.

Exception to this rule was nixon who had been deposed by the system but for trivial reasons and not for killing s,e. asians.
Both truman for killing japanese and nixon for killing other asians were actually good boys.tnx

christian96, the Devil is a metaphor - there’s not
really an evil demon who tried to tempt you with sexy
ladies.  Maybe you turned down a good time for no
reason. 

You - perhaps - showed tolerance towards her by
agreeing to accompany her to dinner; she certainly
showed tolerance towards you after you ran from her
like a lunatic. 

What’s the point of running from the woman?  The
desire for the woman is ‘the problem’ and that is
inside you, either latent, waiting for a woman to
appear, or active during fantasy.  If you are into
mastering yourself and actually succeeding at it then
you should be able to be around objects of
‘temptation’ without being perturbed.  Did Jesus run
like a maniac from any sexy woman?  I doubt it. 

You know, maybe that woman just sensed exactly what
you need the most.

Could Sarah Palin be THE ANTICHRIST?  Somebody is sure setting her up with a lot of attention for some
reason.  Seems like she always has an American flag
behind her picture.  That’s a little scary considering the covert activities of our government
for years.  Don’t forget.  The devil started out by
deceiving a woman and down through the ages pulled
down many powerful men through women. King David was
the apple of the eye of God.  Don’t you think the
devil would go after the apple of God’s eye.  He did.
Got him with a woman.  Don’t you think Bathsheba
knew David would be watching when she got naked?
John the Baptist lost his head over the hate and
deception of King Herod’s wife.  A few months ago
a female neighbor informed me she liked to give and
receive oral sex.  I turned and ran as fast as I
could.  Last week she and another female neighbor
ask me to go to dinner.  While we were waiting on our
food they calmly ask, “What astrological sign are you?”  I calmly replied, “I was born under the Christian sign.”  I’m not a woman-hater.  In fact,
I love women.  I’m just very very familiar with the
tactics of the devil.  Jesus told us our enemy is
not flesh and blood but spiritual.  The devil will
not get me with sex, food, power or money.  What’s
he got left?  Nothing!

Seems to me the Jews have a history of sticking together for a common cause. They’re not disuaded from gaining advantage through a collective effort. Why do so many Americans buy into the “socialist” rhetoric when it could be more accurately described as an “American common cause” for better prices? We never even got close to that paradigm with healthcare. (Corporatisms tactics of divide, dumb-down and conquer has succeeded very well.)

I have for some time been predicting that Sarah Palin will be the next president. Despite Obama’s so-called ” success” with healthcare reform, it won’t take long for most Americans to see what a joke it really is- especially Progressives who will see absolutely nothing to cheer about in it. As the economy crumbles even more the reactionary movement on the right will solidify further, and Democrats and BIg Government will take the blame. Christie’s win in NJ and Scott’s in Mass. was only the beginning, the midterms will be a decided Republican slam across the board and Obama will be a virtual lame duck by early 2011.

Don’t forget, Mundt, according to your own scripture your Messiah was a Jew from the House of David, a rabbi, following Jewish Law, and offering a more merciful interpretation of that Law.

Scheer writes one of his better columns here. What’s interesting about Podhoretz and Kristol is that DESPITE the clear evidence that the fall of Saddam Hussein was bad for Israeli security, they cling to the fiction that it was a good thing.

He does, however, to make his point, a couple of key factors:
1) Obama inherited situations in both Iraq and Afghanistan that had no good solutions. Bush & Co had managed to f*** things up in all kinds of creative ways (and these are supposed to be the guys who faked the WTC attacks?) They were clearly The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight (especially Cheney). I’m not sure I agree with Obama’s policies but at least he’s using his brain and trying to find the safest path through the Dead Marshes.
2) Scheer more blatantly ignores the fact that both Sec. Clinton and VP Biden were seriously embarrassed by the Rightest Israeli government and are FURIOUS about that. They and Obama are looking for ways to get Netanyahu to back down.  In this I must agree with those I usually disagree with here: Obama needs to use heavy economic pressure on Israel, even cancel joint military actions and training (if any are planned), and use the might of the USA.

But overall, Scheer is right. I thought Bush the least educated and least intellectually curious President since Harding. He’s not actually dumb, but lazy and unable to deal with opposing views.  But Palin is SO ignorant, irrational and demagogic—and clearly incompetent she reminds me of the warning:
If you think something’s fool-proof, you just haven’t found a big enough fool!

No, the true Messiah was crucified for being outspoken, contrary the lamestream dogma of His day, and a perceived threat to elite establishment types…Oh, wait…