Monday, September 14, 2009

The Wrinkled Rebellion

Hey kids! Remember when your parents told you that wisdom comes with age? Mom and Pop told you a lie. Since you're the Online Generation, you know the acronym, "gigo," stands for "garbage in, garbage out." Wisdom is a long-term distillation of knowledge and experience; but when your experiences are limited and your knowledge comes from AM radio, paid shills for Rupert Murdoch and other right-wing groups, and chain emails, the only wisdom to be found there has to do with impacted teeth. Before the Bush re-election of 2004, an email went around from the GOP to conservatives that stated, "They think you're stupid," and liberals went crazy attempting to discuss issues of war and the economy instead of creationism and gay marriage. Well, the time has come to admit it. We really do think the far right-wingers are stupid, but more than that, we now think they're dangerous as well. And as George Bush proved over eight years, there's nothing more dangerous than an idiot convinced that he's right.

The discussion of health care reform has morphed into a carnival geek show with every pro-militia, automatic weapon-toting, Tim McVeigh wannabe out in public to show that nobody pushes them around. And since I live among them in the south, let's own up to the undercurrent of racial resentment that flows beneath these demonstrations of public anger. It's too simple to say, "Scratch a conservative and find a racist," because there are principled fiscal and social conservatives with much to add to the public debate. So although all conservatives are not racists, all racists are conservatives. Or else they use the "conservative" label to help dilute their 19th century worldview, and those who hold genuine conservative principles have allowed their movement to be distorted and corrupted by a group that could well be called the "New Dixiecrats." These propagandized "patriots" allow themselves to be used by corporate interests and show up at demonstrations howling "Facism, Communism, and Socialism," as if this was the new axis of evil threatening their lives. Where were these protesters when Dick Cheney came as close to establishing a totalitarian state since George Washington decided to be president instead of king?

I have a theory that's going to piss you off. I believe we're seeing the unintended consequences of private Christian education. First, let me say that I am a product of Christian education myself and I am all the better for it, because it helped me to understand religious faiths and viewpoints other than my own. So it is not the Christian part of the equation in which I find fault. In 1971, when the Supreme Court upheld busing to achieve integration in public schools, it threw the national educational system into chaos. It may have been a noble ideal, but many considered it "social engineering," and in retrospect, it was impractical policy. It was also the first conservative uprising since Nixon's "Silent Majority," and led to the complete desertion of public schools by white people, so that schools like East High went from being all-white to all-black in the course of a single year. This, in turn, led to the establishment of the private Christian academies and high schools and to the mammoth growth of churches in the following decades. Congregants found all their needs, from day care and exercise rooms to concert halls, met by the new church community. The unforeseen result was a new type of segregation, where like-minded people associated only with each other and suburban Christianity became a sort of exclusive club. These people have held sway for so long, that they now feel threatened by "socialistic" ideas, even when they are in their best interests.

And those that are screaming the loudest are the members of the so-called "Greatest Generation," who have been on the government teat since 1945. Returning soldiers from the big war were given the biggest slice of socialism this side of Sweden and they called it the GI Bill. Not only was a college education granted to every serviceman, but low-cost government loans were made available to purchase homes and start businesses, which fueled the economic boom of the fifties. Veterans from other wars did not receive such generosity. Now, old soldiers with white hair are hollering "Keep the government away from my Medicare" at town hall riots, or arguing over phantom rationing and forced euthanasia, while demagogic prophets tell them Obama is attempting to overturn the Judaeo-Christian ethic upon which this nation was founded. Which ethic was that; love thy neighbor, or an eye for an eye?

No social progress has ever been made with the help of the obstructionist conservatives. The only things the right-wingers have contributed is free-market Darwinism, prohibition, and term-limits after Roosevelt drove them crazy. I used to ask my Dad what it was like when FDR was president, and he said the GOP, the bankers, and industrialists hated his guts so thoroughly, they refused to refer to him by his name, only as "that man in the White House." Or they called him Rosenfeld and inferred that he was a secret Jew. Sound familiar? He was also known as the "poor man's friend," and called a Socialist and a Communist. Even Eisenhower was called a Communist by the right. When Ike expressed his approval for fluoride, a proven dental aid, to be added to public drinking water, the reactionaries claimed it was a Communist plot to rot the teeth of our children. But now, the factually challenged believe this president is a Kenyan Muslim, sent here by sinister forces to be a bi-racial Robin Hood ready to rob the white rich and distribute their earnings to crackheads and crooked ACORN employees. How did we get so damned dumb?

Any societal advances, from Social Security, the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, women's economic and reproductive rights, Medicare or Medicaid, were advanced despite the resistance of the naysayers and defenders of the status quo. Some sort of major health care reform is going to pass this Congress, and in a year or so, it will look so seamless, we'll wonder how we ever allowed our rapacious current system to exist for so long. The Republican party, under the thumb of the Palin/Limbaugh wing, can't even bring themselves to admit there are no "death panels," in the bill, so why even consider them any further? They lost, so steamroll them and leave them in the wake of progress once again to sulk and lick their wounds. Better still, add the public, government-run option to compete against the carnivorous health insurance agencies, name the bill "Ted," and ram it through. Then, when our health care changes for the better, the repugnant, Hitler-referencing, functioning morons among us will have to focus their hatred elsewhere. It may well be true that the United States is the greatest country in the world; it's just the people that suck.

58 comments:

davethedog said...

Hey "Spul" How about that Kanke West?

davethedog said...

Misspelling "Kanye West"

Randy Haspel said...

D the D,
To paraphrase Richard Pryor:
"That Negro's crazy."

Anonymous said...

Great points, your writing gets better and better. Thanks for the insight.If everyone went without insurance for say six months then maybe all the idiots yelling the loudest could see how scary it is to be without. Good luck all.

Cousin Arthur said...

You can't argue against integration, but we always have thought that integration spelled the end of many small southern Jewish communities. When integration occurred, you didn't want your kids to be the only white kids in a substandard school (whether you were a racist or not), and you didn't want them to attend a Christian fundamentalist school, so it was time to move to Atlanta (or its equivalent).

We had the "pleasure" of seeing the 60,000 to 70,000 T Party participants on Saturday in Washington. A frightening group, to say the least. The red, white and blue was everywhere (Edie thought that the liberals shouldn't leave the national colors to the right wing), and the signs showed not only ignorance but downright hate (much of it, to be sure, conscious or subconscious racisim). Obamism = Marxism. Obama = Hitler. Etc. I thought the best sign was "We don't need the government to fix our healthcare. We put a man on the moon, didn't we?"

Anonymous said...

Me thinks "The ignorance is DEAFENING!" Like I mentioned earlier Sputnik, that old adage I heard as I prepared to ship off to VN, "America, love it or leave it", is starting to make more sense to me. I already own the property in the land of our friends up North. Maybe it's time to park Van Gogh up there for a while till these dumb MF's start coming around to a sensible idealogy, and forget their heros (Palin, Cheney, Limbaugh, Beck, et al.) Don't think I can stand much more.. Maybe I'll just turn my TV off.......

rek/zephyrman

Jackie Fargo said...

Why you left wing weenie! You ought to apologize to Rep.Joe Wilson for your liberal lunacy! Hell our country was founded by right wing extremist and we are not about to let you pull a Kanye West and rob the torch of freedom from the rightful winner----Miss Lady Liberty! To paraphrase Sereena Williiams, "Take this bleeping bleep and bleep it up your bleeping bleep! SUCKAH! Jackie Fargo

Anonymous said...

You people without insurance act like those of us with insurance get it for free. We pay for it. I have been paying for it since 1968. Why did you not buy it yourself. Can't afford it. Give up something else.

Anonymous said...

There is a misunderstanding about the 'death panel' issue. If Obamacare is passed there WILL be health care rationing and it will mostly affect the elderly. You cannot add 47 million people to the medical rolls with the same amount of doctors, nurse, medical facilities, etc. This is Economics 101 (supply and demand). In addition, it has been said that many middle-aged and older doctors will leave the profession and many young peole will choose other professions. What intelligent, ambitious person wants to be a government medical worker? Back to the rationing issue. Whoever decides that the 80 year old person cannot have another heart by-pass costing $200,000 will constitute a de facto death panel. It's not a matter of 'pulling the plug on granny'. The very act of deciding who gets what will consign many, mostly elderly people, to hospice care. Most of the available medical resources will be funneled to the young, productive people. 'Death panel' may be a hyperbole and a poor choice of words, but those who apportion health care dollars will have the same effect. Wouldn't it be a delicious paradox if the aging Randy were told that he can't have some expensive life-saving surgery because it would not be economically feasible to spend limited resources on such an old useless man. Consigned to the grave by the health care bill that he champoined.

The Watcher said...

Randy, you are painting with a very broad brush when you put nearly everyone who opposes the direction that Obama and the far left are taking this country into the same boat. There are some rabid, uneducated bigots, but there are a lot of other folks who have philosophically divergent views from your own and are not uneducated bigots. And you demonize and call a large segment of the population names like a petulant child. It is true that there have been many socialistic measures taken since FDR. Many think that if we keep this up, the government will wind up running the whole show. This is called by some statism and it is the road to totalitarianism. There is a fundamental divide between the collectivist/statist and those who want more freedom for the individual. Individualism and statism are mutually exclusive philosophies. For one thing, statists tend to believe that we derive our rights from the state and that these rights are not unalienable. The others believe that we derive our rights from God and that they are unalienable. Another thing is that individual freedom is a hindrance to the fulfillment of statist goals, so statists tend to use judicial and legislative measures to diminish individual freedoms. Folks who love freedom take exception to this. This presents an insurmountable divide. Like I said before, the divide is so basic and it runs so deep that it is almost like the psychological division between right-brained people and left-brained people. Even though you and your gang are socialists/statists I don't think that it is wise or constructive to go on a rant and call you names. Isn't that a childish and irrational approach? Aren't there better ways to deal with this fundamental divide than fomenting hatred? How about education? If a person disagrees with you on an issue, why not educate them and point out the flaws in their thinking? If this can't be done then some sort of revolution is assured based upon irreconcilable differences. One more thing. You are incredibly one-sided. Most balanced conservatives can at least admit the the left has some good ideas amd have done some good things. Your hatred of the conservatives won't allow you to give them any credit for anything. This rabid bias really detracts from your credibility amongst thinking people. No one in your choir says anything but,' Yup, yup you are right again Randy...you are always right'. This type of behavior is typical of unthinking lemmings. Why don't you encourage them to think as individuals? Would that be bad for the collectivist movement?

Divers and Sundry said...

"Some sort of major health care reform is going to pass this Congress, and in a year or so, it will look so seamless, we'll wonder how we ever allowed our rapacious current system to exist for so long."

You have more hope left than I do. I've lost hope that the Democrats will use their majority to get anything meaningful passed, and I've decided that there should have been an asterisk on my Obama "Yes We Can" campaign button saying "but we won't".

ghg said...

The "anonymous" who believes that supply and demand will preforce make it impossible to find any self respecting young person who would want to be a "government" medical worker obviously isnt' a doctor himself. We, and I say "we" because I and my sons are physicians who are some of the idiots who are out there making diagnoses and providing treatments. We enjoy using the large brains with which we were dealt to try to understand the science behind and the natural history of disease so that we can prevent pain, illness, and despair in our patients. We don't want any part of that pain ourselves so why would we want that for somebody else? Of course, we're just a bunch of Jewish boys who practice the Golden Rule. "What would Jesus Do?"..you know THAT Golden Rule.

And please understand....those 47 million people are being seen right now. Do you think people just sit at home and die unless they have been fortunate enough to have the money to pay 5 bucks for a two dollar bill which is what the private insurers have sold you and everyone else who pays premiums? No, they don't sit at home. They come into my Emergency Room and I do everything I can for them. I even treat some of the misbegotten who tell me......as I'm using my intellect, experience, and desire to pass on to them a chance at health because I can make a diagnosis before they become so ill that nobody will be able to keep them out of the nursing home.....I even treat them when they tell me that if I don't repent and take Jesus into my life then I'm going to go to Hell. Please!! Give me a break.

As for as health care is involved, no one in any of those marches was marching because they had any idea about health care at all. They were just marching because that's what Brown Shirts do when demagogues tell them what to do.

Do you really believe that the guy who's been taking your money all these years at Aetna, Cigna, the Blues, United, Oxford give a rat's ass about you or your children or your despair or your dreams or whether they can help you out somehow that will allow your life to be better. No, poor fool, they only care about making sure that the 3rd quarter of 2009 throws more to the bottom line than the 3rd quarter of 2008 so that the market makers on the floor of the NYSE will be able to push their stock up another buck or two. This is who you "believe" in? Are you stupid?

Do you know what doctors hate? We hate having to hire 20 extra people to sit in an office to make sure that the private insurance companies don't defraud us. Everyone one of them do. But Medicare doesn't. Only the privates who need to make a bottom line do. It's how they stay in business. Are you paying for that? Do doctors want to leave practice because of that? Yes and yes. Your premise regarding why doctors want to leave practice is ignorant. We love practicing medicine. We hate insurance companies who rip us and our patients off.

It's only doctors and nurses who give a damn whether you live or die and we have nothing to do with who it is who you pay premiums to. We're not "Insurance" workers and we won't be "Government" workers. The insurance companies and the government are only bill payers. You send your money to them. They then take out money for themselves and send money to me. They are ONLY BILL PAYERS.

So, you can pay a premium to someone who pays your bills and takes a 35% cut off the top...or you can pay your money to a bill payer who only takes 2% off the top. It's your choice in this sweet old democracy. It's that simple.

Let's make it easy. Two cars. Clones of each other. One dealer is asking for $13,500. He's taking a $3,500 profit. Other guy is asking for $10,200. He's taking $200 for his expenses. Same car. Understand now? You get me either way. Same doctor. Pay $13.5k or pay $10.2k.


My patients can't wait for you to become sane. Maybe don't think of it as "Government". Think about it as "Us". "We" own it. Feel better? "We" are less likely to rip "ourselvles" off. Right?

Anonymous said...

Well spoken GHG! It's so nice to hear the truth sometimes.
I get fantastic care from the V.A., which incidentally uses REAL doctors and nurses, just like the private care hospitals use. It's great care, and my Uncle Sam provides it for me since I did my share for my country once. He's repaid me manyfold, and I am thankful, and grateful. I don't feel like I'm being a Socialist, a Communist, or any other nasty euphemism that some stupid people are so inclined to use these days. By the way, although the doctors at the VA don't make as much as those in private practice... (they start at just over $110K as posted on their hiring boards at the hospital), they don't seem to mind too much the fact that they have much more time to spend with their families, and enjoy life, and are also able to spend at least 30 minutes with each patient. Not too damn bad if you ask me.

So throw your tea parties; draw your scary pictures, and rant and rave all you want, cause unfortunately, you're just gonna get what's good for you! ha ha.

zephyrman

Anonymous said...

Randy, this is easily your best column ever (despite what Watcher said). Keep up the good work. And grg's response was excellent. I may print all of this to show to my mother-in-law who thinks the world is about to end.

BTW, I did not know you had a gang. If membership includes a nice jacket with Haspel's Gang on the back, count me in.

Joel

The Watcher said...

The statist/collectivist crowd is not the only group who endangers our freedom. The situation is complicated by the fact that there is another enemy of our freedom and that is the super-capitalist...those who are only concerned about the bottom line and making fabulous fortunes and don't care a thing for the greater good. Unbridled capitalism is as bad as statism when it comes to threatening freedom. So, there is a line that we have to walk to keep either element from threatening our freedom. And Gregg, I have heard a doctor say in a public forum that there would be a migration of many older physicians out of medical practice if there is a government takeover of health care and that many of the young will choose other professions. I didn't just make that up. Apparently some doctors don't feel as you do. It is true that it boils down to who pays the bills, but there is a valid concern in regard to government run health care. Namely, the government can't run anything well. Look at the Cash for Clunkers joke, for instance. For that matter look at just about anything that the government runs. Another issue is that some are loathe to allow the government to take over another 1/6th of the economy. Where do you draw the line? If you are a statist then you will want the government to run the whole economy. What I am trying to say is that there are larger issues than health care alone. The issue of health care is part of a much larger issue...the socailization of the entire country. And this has been done incrementally at least since FDR. Is there no room for honest differences on this issue. Or are you pro-statists beginning to practice the soft tyranny of attempting to stifle opposing view points before we actually become a full-blown totalitarian society?

The Watcher said...

Gregg, no one is saying that we don't need health care reform. However,there are differences in regard to the best way to reform health care. One side believes that government can do the best job at this. Another point of view is that the situation can be reformed through the free market. I would like to know why the Democrats don't want to suspend state laws that prevent the 1300 insurance from competing with one another on a nation-wide basis. In Obama's speech he brought up the fact that Alabama has only one health insurance company. Why not allow Alabamans and all others choose between 1300 companies? The competition could bring about astounding reforms. A sceptic might think that if this was allowed, the free market would correct the problem and that there wouldn't be a need for a government option. Another thing is the fear that a government option would eventually run the private insurers out of business as employers dump their employees into the cheaper government option. Why not put legal strictures on who can take the government option. If an individual chooses it for himself then that would be fine. But if a company or corporation plans on dumping their employees wholesale into it then set up income limits on the dumpees. The bottom line is that the situation CAN be addressed through the free market as opposed to the government. Many don't trust the government at all and they have plenty of reasons not to.

Anonymous said...

The fact that you demonized the entire Tea Party Express movement by implying in your picture at the top of your essay that their dream is to form a racist government which flys the Confederate flag above the Capitol puts you in league with the worst yellow journalists and completely de-legitimaizes anything that you say. That is a shame because I was going to turn some other people on to your blog. Now I will never even admit that I now about this biased and worthless piece of excrement. Do you have no pride in yourself as a fledgling journalist? Do you realize that you discredit yourself when you print such biased tripe? Your readership will never rise above the dozen or so of your equally ignorant and biased cronies. Where did you learn your journalistic chops, from Karl Marx or Saul Alinsky?

ghg said...

Watcher---Problem with allowing 1300 insurance companies to compete is that very few of them actually have any doctors or hospitals that are part of their panel. You sign up with a private insurance company from Virginia and get great rates, but you live in Colorado and there are no providers there that accept it. Tastes great, no doctors.

There will be NO GOVERNMENT takeover of healthcare. Doctors work for themselves. We make our own decisions except when a private insurer refuses to pay for a procedure that we believe is necessary. So, that means that the private insurers have taken over health care.

In fact the only real death panels belong to the boys who need money more than they need to be human. My former partner was the Medical Director for Aetna for NY and New England. He was in charge of 2.5 million covered lives and had to quit because he is a man of morals and ethics. One of the finest physicians anywhere. Respected by the entire medical community. Takes care of his patients as if their lives depended on it. Over and over again he was asked to deny a claim that he knew was appropriate and needed for a patient's life or limb. He refused to deny so they let him go.

You truly don't understand. You can't read about this in a newspaper or on a blog. It's impossible to know what's really going on unless you live it. Sad (for my patients) but very true.

And to address the last post by anonymous.....yes, it is appropriate to demonize the entire tea party collective. They haven't a clue as to what they are yelling about and are composed of poor unfortunate ignorant people used by the underdeveloped ego clad crazies who come only armed with big ole guns but with little atrophied brains. "Muslims are taking over our country!" "No government takeover of my Medicare!" Idiots.
Total idiots.

No, wait. It's not right to demonize the slobbering throng. They don't have a clue. It's the leaders who belong in the town greens with their arms and heads in the stocks for all to see. Joe McCarthy is calling out...."I'm so proud!"

Makes me sick.

Urk said...

right the fuck on sputnik dude, right the fuck on.

The Watcher said...

Like someone recently said on a news talk show, America is dying because of a lack of truth and a lack of moral leadership. He might have added a lack of integrity in the media that the public depends on to be apprised of what is really going on. The man in the street doesn't know what to believe anymore. Competing special interests lie their asses off to get their agendas done. We live in a house of smoke, mirrors, and spin. Satan himself couldn't do a better job of obfuscating and confusing the public. My beef with this blog is that all of this is coming from both the Democrats AND the Republicans. The problem is the government itself, stupid. I am cynical enough to believe that if we ran the current lying, self-serving assholes out of the government the new bunch would quickly become corrupted by power and money...same play different act. The only thing that stands betwen us and tyranny is the Constitution and it has been trampled upon since at least the 1930's. Barring a miracle, you socialists will win the day. I wonder if you will really like what follows afterward, though. Throughout history dictators have been unimaginably cruel to the populace. I guess you think that it will be different this time. Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over while expecting different results. Maybe we are so crazy that we deserve totalitarianism and slaughter. Hell, the environmentalists would see that as an effective means of population control. I will be dead before the hellish socialist vision materializes, but I pity the young. If you believe the Bible, which no self-respecting liberal does, Revelations says that there will be a world dictatorship headed up by a person referred to as the Anti-Christ and that billions will die. I can almost hear you scoff. How surprised will you be when you discover too late that it is all true? Of course I realize that I am just wasting my breath. But, to use an old hippie expression, you are either on the bus or off. I wish you guys well, but my good wishes won't save you from a fate worse than death.

Divers and Sundry said...

"Revelations says that there will be a world dictatorship headed up by a person referred to as the Anti-Christ and that billions will die."

1st: At least get the name of the book right if you're gonna preach from it.

2nd: You _interpret_ The Book of Revelation to predict future events related to our country. Not all Christians buy this interpretation.

Anonymous said...

1st: My bad...I should have said 'Revelation'. It is a bad habit to say, 'Revelations'.
2nd: Revelation refers to a global holocaust. I wasn't referring to America alone.
3rd: The essence of what I said was correct. Do I get any points for that? I erred by a single letter. Does that give you the right to a victory dance?

Anonymous said...

Gregg you are living proof that intelligence and wisdom are two different things. You may be highly intelligent, but I can't give you a high score for wisdom. That is not surprising since the Bible says that true wisdom comes only from God. You seem to be trapped in the spiritual darkness of your own mind. I do not mean to be insulting. I'm just making a biblical point. I hope that this passes muster with 'Divers and Sundry'. Did I misspell any words?

Divers and Sundry said...

"The essence of what I said was correct."

No, what you said is a matter of your own interpretation.

"Revelation refers to a global holocaust. I wasn't referring to America alone"

You're interpreting that part of the Bible to be referring to _future_ events. All Christians don't share your interpretation. There are other ways of looking at it.

I don't think threats of "a global holocaust" based on your own personal biblical interpretation aids the current political discourse.

P.S. Calling that book by the wrong name is common but is not a matter of spelling.

Randy said...

Cousin Arthur,
Good to hear from you and your eyewitness account of the Glen Beck revolution.

As you know, I never had children and so had to imagine back in the 70s, whether I would put my own child through that busing chaos for the sake of integration, and concluded that I would not. I would find a private school for the sake of the child.

But since I have become a stepfather to Melody's children, who went to public schools in this decade, I find them to be far more socially integrated and comfortable around people of different races and ethnic origins than older people.

I believe this is what busing intended, but it was done so heavily handed that it began this backlash against "activists" courts. You know better than I that they were only enforcing a law that lay dormant for 17 years, give or take a Little Rock Central here and there.

Down here in Dixie, we're holding down the fort. Just hope it's not Fort Sumter. Love to Edie.

Randy

Divers and Sundry said...

"I hope that this passes muster with 'Divers and Sundry'. Did I misspell any words?"

I don't care what you call the book unless you set yourself up as the one to tell me what the book says and what it means, but I don't like being preached at by Anonymous doom-sayers who reference the book and interpret what it says but who don't even get the name of it right...

This is not about spelling. I am not the spelling police. I like my spell-check.

Anonymous said...

Christianity is a snakepit of conflicting interpretations of scripture. The Bible has resulted in the formation of something like 50,000 denominations world-wide. I should have known better than to bring a point of scripture up on a liberal blog. Some liberal Christians (so-called) don't even believe in the divinity of Jesus. In order to assuage the anal tendencies of 'Divers and Sundry', I will state the full title of the book that is the cause of his nit-picking. How about 'The Revelation of St. John the Divine'. Is that complete enough for you? And, at least statistically, the futurist view of the aforementioned book is held by far more Christains, but I won't belabor the point on a political blog. I don't think that it is humanly possible to change the mind of hard-core liberals one iota. And believe it or not I do hold to some liberal viewpoints and am open to holding more if the arguments are strong enough.

Father Farken said...

What this country needs even more than cooperation is some serious collaboration. Why does it always have to be us against them? We may not be in this all together but we are all in this ...this dream we call America. Randy! You ended this Post with a zinger...The country is great ...its the people that suck. OK! I laughed for 10 minutes but I don't believe for a minute that you believe that! You have one of the kindest, gracious hearts this side of the Wolf River. The Watcher! I appreciate how you wrestle with the Scriptures! The Bible is difficult to understand, apocalyptic passages such as the book of Revelation & Matthew 24-25 are some of the hardest. The temptation is to make up a system to give answers...creating a prophetic clothesline to hang our Biblical passages on. But the Bible gives us neither a clothesline nor a timeline nor a system! What it does give us is a relationship with G*d. Reading scriptures hardest passages is like wrestling with G*d, much like Jacob who wrestled like Sputnik through the night at the River Jabbok. You grapple to make sense of the words, you hold on, you struggle for clarity, you seek to wrest answers for all your questions. What G*d gives you instead of a system of answers is a blessing, a new name- a living relationship. You are forever changed by the encounter. You have seen the face of G*d. In this world there will be trials & tribs but we put our faith in the one who has overcome the world! I am constantly asked if I think President Obama is the Anti-Christ? I think our president is our president! He needs our prayers! The anti-Christ we all need to be concerned about is that selfish mofo that raises its ugly and/or beautiful head in our mirrors! Yeshua will return---once! Until then, we are always with Yeshua & He is with us--Emanuel! Our life is held in G*d's time. And we are called to live in joyful wakefulness doing works of mercy ,to pray as the final verses of Revelation do, "Amen, come Lord Yeshua." The Peace of the Lord!

Divers and Sundry said...

"In order to assuage the anal tendencies of 'Divers and Sundry', I will state the full title..."

LOL

Well, whatever. As long as you're not preaching your own particular biblical interpretation at me, I don't care what you call it.

I still don't understand what your interpretation of a book in the Bible has to do with health care reform. I missed that part somehow.

Anonymous said...

Watcher, Why don't you write your own blog instead of fucking up this one. Geez, go on and get a life dude.

The Watcher said...

Go away! Start your own blog! Leave us alone! How come liberals/socialists/statists can't tolerate opposing points of view. I'm just trying to spice up this one-dimensional blog. With a few notable exceptions like Randy, Gregg and Father Farken, the contributers to this blog all write in monosyllables and come across like semi-literates. But, I guess that you are all the products of government education. You are living examples of why sane people oppose government involvment in most things. Everything that the government touches becomes sub-standard and ineffectual. Maybe I would be more acceptable here if I wrote in monosyllables. I may try that..'Look, Dick. See Spot run'. I'll see what I can do. Anyone know where I can get a thesaurus of one syllable words? One more thing. I have been accused of saying some things that other people have said. Namely some of the Anonymous types. If you are going to berate me at least make it about things that I have said.

Father Farken said...

Our hearts go out to poet & singer of songs The Catholic Boy James Carol who died Monday. The Peace of the Lord! Fr. Ferghus Farken

The Watcher said...

Here is a tip. George Bush was MUCH worse than you people think that he was, only for different reasons. If the full truth about him were known he could be charged with treason. He is responsible for striking some very deadly blows to the welfare and even the very existence of America. And you can thank him for setting America up for Obama's election, and this was intentional. He is a master con artist, even better than Obama. Folks are catching on to Obama. Not that many have caught on to Bush. Like I said you hate him for completely different reasons than the ones that made him so dangerous. After America falls, his figerprints will be all over the corpse.

Anonymous said...

Hey Dr. Gregg! A news bulletin was released today that estimated up to 45% of physicians would retire or quit if a government option health plan were instituted. I guess lots of doctors take exception to your position. Also, this casts doubt on your estimation that a government option would be innocuous. They wouldn't threaten to leave if it would be as wonderful as you say it would be. I wonder what's up? Somebody has to be wrong. And this news bulletin will have an effect upon people who still haven't made up their minds about this issue. They will have to think, 'What's wrong with this picture?' It just doesn't sound very good for the socialists right now. Add to this all of the revelations in regard to Obama' pet criminal enterprise known as ACORN (American Criminals Organized to Ruin the Nation). Also, there is legislation pending that would require Obama's unconstituional army of czars to be confirmed by the Senate. More bad news for the planned socialist takeover of America. There is still time to become sane and switch sides.

FR. FARKEN said...

Sputnoodle! I love you, your blog and all your crazy & brilliant cast of characters that contribute to the BAH! What exciting times we live in! The Peace of the Lord! FFF

Anonymous said...

Well, you learn something new every day. Here I was thinking that every Democrat had a burning lust to murder the unborn when up pops a pro-life Democrat. He must be one of the lonliest people in the world. I can't remmeber his name, but he is a rep. in the U.S. House of Reps. Anyway, he came forth to reveal the nature of one of Obama's lies that he told when he gave his health care speech. He said that when Obama said that there is no provision in the current health care bill to fund abortions that he was telling a blatant lie. Here is Obama's trick. While it is true that there is no provision for funding abortion in the original bill, there is an ammendment which requires that any government health care plan MUST provide taxpayer funded abortion on demand. This should qualify Obama for the'Lying Snake in the Grass' award. So, this poor honest fellow, who must be the only honest Dem there is, is going to try to put forth a new amendment which would deny funding abortion with taxpayer money. Can you imagine being a Dem trying to pass such legislation in the current House of Reps? Pelosi, Reid, and the rest of the rabid Democratic baby-killers may have him whacked for daring to do such a God and life-honoring thing. I know that you say that it is a matter of choice, but what could be more horrificly selfish than to deprive a child of it's life just because it is inconvenient? Of course, if it really is to protect the life of the mother then that would be a different thing. However, as it is now, if a woman has a case of the sniffles that is considered sufficient reason to suck the child's brains out of its head. I wonder if Father Farken has anything to say in regard to this issue.

Anonymous said...

Jimmy 'The Joke' Carter has reared his worthless head once again to reveal what a race-baiting politically expedient clown he is. You would think that they would use someone with a little more credibility, like maybe Fidel Castro. Carter had the gall to play the race card in regard to the current uprising of citizens who are concerned about the direction that the country is taking. He said that they are racists who feel that blacks shouldn't be allowed to run anything. Does that fool have any awareness of how many black mayors, city councilmen, governors, state congressmen, judges, federal congressmen, etc., etc. there are? You know the Dems are in trouble when they have to resort to putting this idiot up to such an underhanded thing. When things are looking bad, liberals throw in the race card in a desperate attempt to get their way. Do they really think that the American people can't see through this ploy? And the really dangerous thing about such a lame ploy is that it could fan the flames of racial division and conflict that could result in increased animosity and possibly even bloodshed. Have these people no sense of shame? I already know the answer to that question. It's going to be interesting to see what else they have in their arsenal...maybe martial law and death squads.

Anonymous said...

Randy, you alluded to the fact that you would have chosen not to allow your kids (if you had had any) to be bussed. I applaud you for saying so, because I know that it is difficult for a liberal to make such a confession. It is the kind of thing that can get you into hot water in liberal circles. The situation in many if not most urban public schools is atrocious. I will not get into any factual specifics, because to do so would set me up for rabid cries of racism, even though I would only be reporting eyewitness factual accounts. Lots of people like to come to conclusions about issues in regard to which they have had no personal experience. It's as though they are saying don't tell me facts that conflict with my idealism. Long story short...you would have made the correct decision in terms of the best interests of the child if you had had kids. They would have had plenty of opportunities to mix with other cultures in college, in the workplace, and in the community at large as adults. The important thing during the formative years is to get a quality education and to protect the young from harmul influences until they old enough to handle the full spectrum of what life has to offer. There is plenty of time after they are grown to venture out and get their socialogical/cultural education by mixing with whomever they chose. By that time they will hopefully have the psychological fortifications to handle potentially unsavory life experiences. But during the formative years they need to be cushioned from certain potentially traumatic experiences, that is unless you want to sacrifice your children on the altar of politically correct experimentation. I actually heard a parent say that that is exactly what they wanted to do and their daughter was subsquently physically assaulted in a classroom and in the end received a very sub-standard education. To me that is criminal. And believe me after 36 years in education I have seen and heard plenty of appalling situations to which no sane person would want to expose their child . I wish that I could illustrate what I am trying to say, but I know enough about the contributors to this blog to know that I would be excoriated merely for relating factual information. Which brings up another issue...why do liberals cringe and freak out in the face of facts that they don't like? Is it the effect of some sort of cognitive dissonance? Are they carefully protecting some web of deceit that they have assiduosly manufactured for themselves in order to avoid an implosion of their self-image? Is this why they see truth as such a threat to their personhood? It's one of the mysteries of liberaldom.

Father Farken said...

A desert father from the 4th century sez..."Judging others is a great burden!" Imagine your having no need at all to label anybody. Imagine your having no desire to decide whether someone is a good or bad person, right wing extremist or fekn left wing liberal. Imagine your completely free from the feeling that you have to make up your mind about the morality of someones behavior or political view. Imagine for a moment giving up all judgement that we are not qualified to give...such as declaring the leader of our beloved nation the anti- Christ! The very worst we can say about him is that he is a politician. I'll give you that one! Imagine that you could say: "I am not G*d! I am judging no one!" IMAGINE! Wouldn't that be true inner freedom? To be able to step beyond our need to judge others & our inclination to evaluate everybody & everything! Then we can grow toward real inner freedom & real sanctity! The Peace of the Lord! FrFarken

Anonymous said...

Father, if we were that pure there would be no need for political discourse. If you believe in such an extreme position of non-judgment, then you are the first Roman Catholic priest that I know of who wouldn't judge and condemn unbridled abortion as evil, and who wouldn't judge the proponents of unbridled child slaughter as evil. Some elements of judgment and discrinmination are necessay to navigate through the real world. In the classroom, I had to judge some behavior as inappropriate, and some recalcitrants I judged to be unsavory characters. Now, I didn't judge whose fault it was that they were unsavory characters. I just judged that at that juncture of their lives they were unsavory and I would be remiss if I didn't share that information when appropriate...such as flagging them for a guidance couselor. Going by what you said, a father would be unable to judge whether a boy who showed up at his door reeking of drugs and alcohol and carrying a switchblade knife would be appropriate for his daughter to date. You might make the judgment that he is not the type of person that you would want your daughter to get too close to. Or, the school guidance counselor arranges for your daughter to have an abortion unbeknownst to you and you figure that it would be inapporpriate to make any judgments in regard to that counselor. Wouldn't you consider someone who nuked a city and killed millions to be evil? The scenarios go on and on. I know that we are not to make absolute judgments that are reserved only for God, but we have to make real life judgments in regard to folks' values, behaviors, etc. all the time. And, I don't recall referring to Obama as the Anti-Christ. I just think that Obama is one of his useful idiots. If I followed your advise I would quit watching and reading the news and just let the world go to hell in a hand basket. In fact, this was my attitude till the early 90's.

Anonymous said...

Obama and every member of his conspiracy will have millions of eyes probing their backgrounds and scrutinizing every subversive plan that they come up with. The going will be tough, especially after the 2010 election, and then the slam dunk of the 2012 election. His only hope is to come up with a bogus crisis big enough to declare martial law and suspend the Constitution. I don't think that there will be enough fools to put him back in office. However, I figure that everyone on this blog will vote for him even if he (maybe I should say especially if he...)declares himself to be a proponent of totalitarianism.

Father Farken said...

All good points! QUESTION? Why did Jesus say all that stuff? Outrageous! Get this! Jesus taught that the judgement we receive from G*d will match the judgement we make of others. 'Do not judge, so that you may not be judged,' he said. 'For with the judgement you make you will be judged and the measure you give will be the measure you get'(MT7:1).In other words, those who show mercy will receive mercy, those who judge harshly will be harshly judged. It's a warning for all of us to get our royal arse off the judgement seat toward others...in a pissy, haughty, self righteous way. Imagine this! If we could choose a judge in our on case, it would surely be someone who knows us very well, understands not only the facts but the background to them and actually likes us and would actually prefer us to be acquitted. In Yeshua, the saviour of the world G*d has given us such a judge. The Peace of the Lord! Your friend! Father Farken

Anonymous said...

News flash: It has just been revealed that on April 9, 2009, the Treasury Dept. sent the White House an estimate of how much the proposed Cap and Trade legislation would cost the average household. The figure was approximately $1776 per year. This estimate was unknown to the public until it was recently released under the Freedom of Information Act. In the mean time, on June 25, 2009, Obama proclaimed to the public that the Cap and Trade legislation would result in an expense to the average household of about the cost of a postage Stamp...$.44 per day. That figures to around $160 per year. It looks like there was a slight discrepancy. His own Treasury Dept. told him the cost would be around $1776 per year. He chose to tell the public that the cost per household would be around $160 per year. It looks like the Liar-in Chief has been caught prevaricating again.

Shecky Kierkegaard McGirk said...

I guess you ought to know. Father Farken belongs to an ecumenical group called Gentiles for Jewsus! Though they see the Messiah as fully human & fully Divine they surrender to Jewsus in all his joyful Jewfulness. They believe that Jewsus is the Torah personified, They follow his Rabbinic values & attitudes not unlike ghg!

Father Farken said...

Been reading some Henri Nouwen. He reminds me that there is a radical difference between cynicism & joy. Cynics seek darkness wherever they go. They point always to approaching dangers, impure motives, & hidden schemes. They call trust naive, care romantic, & forgiveness sentimental. They sneer @ enthusiasm, ridicule spiritual fervor, & despise charismatic behavior. They consider themselves realist who see reality for what it truly is & are not deceived by "escapist emotions." But in belittling G*d's joy their darkness only calls for more darkness. Nouwen sez people who have come to know the joy of the Lord do not deny the darkness, but they choose not to live in it. The light that shines in the darkness can be trusted more than the darkness itself & that a widdle bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness. They discover that there are people who heal each other's wounds, forgive each other's shit, share their junk, foster the sprit of community, celebrate the gifts they have received, & live in constant anticipation of the full manifistation of G*d's glory! That's not Marx me brother! That's the Kingdomof G*d & it's right out of Jesus' play book! I pray that for you! Peace be with you! Fr. Ferghus Farken

The Watcher said...

Father Farkus read that to Congress. I can see adopting your position in regard to all but government. There is a creeping movement toward world socialism. Good luck with regard to freedom of worship when we get to that point. It IS NOT living darknes to be cynical about our government or any government for that matter. The Founding Fathers had good reason to view government with a jaundiced eye, because they knew the dangers of unchecked centralized power. And this is not cynicism. That is clear thinking and vigilance toward a real menace to mankind. Of course liberals do not think much of the Founding Fathers and the Constitution that they created, because they represent impediments to world socialism. And all good liberals see world socialism as the redemption of mankind. You should know better than to apply theology to a political blog. Especially an uber-liberal blog. Precious few here even believe that Jesus is Lord and Saviour. I can almost hear them scoffing at the very words. You are shining your light into pure spiritual darkness here. And I hope that you were directing your last commentary to the proponents of this blog as well as the 'cynics'. It would blow my mind to think that what you wasn't directed to them as well. And I hope that you are not in league with the godless Marxists.

Father Farken said...

Brother Watcher! I never preach a word unless I am willing to throw myself in the mix! I am the biggest cynic in the world! I have not arrived. Like you I am on this spiritual journey called life! You know I was blessed to have had two of the greatest football coaches ever....Coach Shug jordon at Auburn and Coach Tom Nix at Christian Brothers High School of Memphis. What made Tom Nix so great was The Little Prince Factor! Antoine De Saintexupery wrote "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast & endless sea. While other coaches were trying to outsmart us Coach Nix had us yearn for that vast and endless championship more than anything. The wild thing is we got there 2 years in a row. In the Sermon on that Mountain Top...Matthew 5,6,&7 Jesus teaches us to yearn fot His Father's vast & endless Kingdom. "Thy Kindgom come....thy will be done...on earth as it is in Heaven!" Have we forgotten the basics! Have the fundamentalist stripped their lives from the funamentals...The Sermon on the Mound! I too know the dangers of a G*dlees Marxism but I would also like to spare the world of a Christless Christianity!What Flanery O' Conner called...The Church of Christ Without Christ! The peace of the Lord! Fr Farken

Unknown said...

Agreed!

Anonymous said...

Huh? Father Farken you need to provide a secret decoder ring along with your comments. Been dipping into the communion wine again? It's not very effective to try to communicate high-minded theology on a political blog. Especially one with a predominance of agnostics and atheists. It's a little like trying to explain calculus to kindergartners.

Anonymous said...

The sex act is a very ancient and a very powerful prayer to God for the incarnation of a human being. We got confused about the issue somwhere along the way and thought that it was just a means of having a mind blowing orgasm and that we could extinguish the living soul that is the by-product of the act should it be inconvenient with a suction tube. What happened to us?

shecky kierkegaard Mcguirk said...

Of course the sex act is a prayer! Why else would the couple be crying "OH GOD! OH GOD!" uncontrollably!

Anonymous said...

New name for Shecky: Blasphemous Mcguirk

Shecky K McG said...

Hey A9! Lighten up little brother! God has a sense of humor! Why not try it out & humor us. It would do us all some good! You seem to be steeped in Scatology with your preoccupation with excretion & excrement. You simply seem to have a very keen interest in shit! And like Scatter (Elvis' pet chimpanzee) you love to smear & sling it all over everything! And you do it so well! And B T W leave Father Farken alone! He's every body's brother! The Best! SKM

same show over & over said...

Watcher - Don't cast pearls before swine.
ghg - you're an idiot
urk - ditto
Randy - you are closed minded, arrogant, stale, bitter and a poor writer,no matter what your readers say.
Father Fartkin - can't you find something constructive to do?

Anonymous said...

Blasphemous Mcguirk are you on drugs or demon possessed? Where do you get this scatology, excrement, shit stuff? You are bringing this blog down to a new low. And that is saying a lot for a far left blog. Maybe Father Farken can sprinkle some holy water on you to exorcize your demons. I here that demons are found of excretia. It would be more interesting if you were to address some political issues and reserve your excrement fetish for your masturbatorium.

shecky said...

SORRY A9! IT JUST SEEMS THAT YOU HAVE BEEN SLINGING A LOT OF MUD AND YOU WERE DOING SO MUCH BETTER! THE CHRISTOPHERS HAD A TV PROGRAM CALLED "LIGHT A CANDLE". FROM THE ANCIENT SAYING..."ITS BETTER TO LIGHT ONE CANDLE THAN CURSE THE DARKNESS"! SPUTNIK'S DADDY USE TO SAY IT! SORRY IF I HURT YOUR FEELINGS BUT WE ALL NEED TO LIGHTEN UP! THATZ ALLZ I WUZ ZAYING! THE BEST! McG

Anonymous said...

Ahem...Mr Mcguirk, why is it that leftist have such a hard time when their views are criticized? Apparently, you are uber-sensitive, because you refer to my innocuous critiques as mud-slinging. I see it as an attempt at a compassionate ministry. I try to bring a little light to the darkened minds of the political left. Is that such a bad thing? Are you afraid that an opposing opinion might convert you? Just kidding. I know better than that. I just read some reviews in regard to a new book authored by a psychiatrist who views the liberal mind as a type of pathology akin to arrested development. He seems to make some very persuasive arguments. And don't be concerned about hurting my feelings. That can only be done by someone whose views I respect. I am not trying to offend. I am just tying to set the record straight.

Shecky Kierkegaard McGuirk said...

This may shock you A9 that I agree with you that the sex act was seen as an ancient prayer to God (The older I get the more ancient the sex act becomes!) and that sanctity of life was a given for the unborn. Some times it is hard to see your grace because you paint with such a mean spirit. You seem to label, condemn, reject, abort everyone on this blog that its impossible to have a conversation with you! A little less vinegar -a little more sugar! Hey! We don't have to be friends but a little civility could help! The Best! SKMc PS: Bite Me!