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Although Rep. Alan Grayson is a bit disingenuous in ascribing the antagonism towards ACORN to their voter registration efforts, this discussion is a preliminary round in the battle over corporate regulation (including banks) that's next on the national agenda under the "consumer protection" heading.
Also, you will recall that Grayson relied on this argument to amend the bill to affect all corporations who have been convicted of fraud, which covers a host of military constractors.
Hello:
My name is Dr. Julien Arbor and I have an Acquired Brain Injury that was the result of such over-the-top medical malpractice and human rights violations that it is inconceivable to me that such a thing would occur in the United States!
A bit about my background:
I am a Licensed Clinical Psychologist specializing in Health Psychology, experience in evaluating and working with patients with TBI, a Wellness Counselor, a Natural Healing Consultant, a Researcher, an Author, and a 7 year Volunteer Health Educator & Moderator for one of the largest natural health websites on the internet.
Hello Barack,
I have a list of issues and actions that I believe are ethical and must be implemented if we are to be unified and successful as a nation under your Administration.
1. Health Care: At the US government level, a health care system cannot disrupt the free market. If a public option is included, it must be made clear to the American public that such a public option will NEVER be compulsory, will NEVER be used to make free market health care obsolete, and that people will still be able to choose the doctor of their choice. While many people distrust private health insurance companies, just as many people, if not more, distrust the government and do not want the government in control of their lives. You must also be very clear that there are no so-called "death panels". There are many people who have legitimate concerns about this.
2. Your Citizenship: There are groups out there right now, called "birthers" by the media, that do not believe that you are a United States citizen. While I personally believe that these claims are very unfounded, some have legitimate Constitutional concerns with this. To make it crystal clear for people, I believe you should personally address this. Whenever conspiracy theories arose about the last Administration, Bush/Cheney never addressed theories brought against them, and this fueled their theories even more. I believe you could show that you are the bigger man in this one by addressing the concerns and putting these false rumors to rest. It doesn't matter where you were born, your mother was a US citizen, therefore you are a US citizen. In my opinion, one is "natural born" regardless of where they were physically born. People forget that John McCain was born in Panama. I have a friend who was born in Canada to an unwed couple- his mom was a US citizen and his dad was a Canadian college student in New York. They happened to be visiting his family in Toronto when she went into labor, and he was born there. My friend is a US citizen, natural born or otherwise.
3. The Stimulus (ARRA): I believe you should condense the details about ARRA and explain in layman's terms about how your Administration will balance this deficit created by the plan. 9 trillion dollars is a lot of money over 10 years, and people are concerned that we won't be able to pay it back without it negatively affecting our nation and national sovereignty in the long-term. I'll be honest, I'm worried about it also. I haven't seen any job growth in my area yet, and my unemployment is about to run out. I believe you should extend unemployment benefits another few months for people like me who can't find a decent job.
4. Socialism/Communism/Fascism: I believe you should use your position to educate people about the true nature of these economic ideologies. If more people understood your position and your plans to rebuild the national infrastructure, they would stop saying that you subscribe to any of these terms. Socialism advocates the abolition of private property, which you do not advocate. Communism advocates violent overthrow of the upper class, and you are completely nonviolent. Fascism is completely unrelated to Socialism and Communism, and you are not fascist, because you do not advocate complete control of private industry by the central government. You need to explain this to the people because there is a concerted effort to label you right now. Throughout our national history, many Presidents, even the most "conservative" of Presidents such as Reagan, have implemented temporary measures that seemed "Socialist", but once recovery efforts were finished, we returned to a normal free-market environment. Please explain this to the people.
5. Swine Flu: You must explain to people that H1N1 is no different than many other communicable illnesses and end a lot of the panic and conspiracies out there. You should also make sure that vaccines are not mandatory and also ease some of the panic in the medical community about this virus- there are some clinics and doctors who are in a panic wanting to vaccinate people immediately, and we can't do this. The vaccine has only been in the works for a few months, which means it is highly untested on humans, and could present a higher threat than the virus itself. Please read about the mistakes that the US government made during the first Swine Flu scare in 1976. If this is found to have been a weaponized strain, be honest with the people and let's go after the perpetrators. If this was a natural occurrence, explain this as well. But, do not force this upon the people. I personally have issues with vaccines of many different kinds due to the additives in the vaccines that have been proven in some cases to cause neurological damage in some people.
6. City Year and Citizen Corps: Explain to people that you are doing exactly what President Eisenhower and others did, by helping to encourage community organization so that we are better prepared as a nation for local and national emergencies, and to help clean up ran-down communities. The Civil Defense programs of the 40's, 50's, and 60's were VERY beneficial to our national security. I believe we should be doing more of these things, such as building local shelters and providing equipment to protect against nuclear blast and fallout, biological and chemical agents, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, electromagnetic pulse attacks, and more.
7. General Motors: Explain to people that if the government did not step in and help to save GM, we would have slipped into a complete economic depression. Since the government owns the majority share of the company, begin to distribute company ownership certificates to United States citizens since we own the majority of the company with our tax dollars. Roll out cars that people can buy with their tax returns- cars that are quality made, fuel-efficient, AND financially cheap.
8. Bring Us the Head of Osama Bin Laden on a Platter: I want you and the United States Department of Defense to bust heads at the FBI and CIA, get the classified details on him, and capture and kill Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri once and for all. Thousands of our men and women, and many thousands more innocent people in Iraq (though it had nothing to do with 9/11) and Afghanistan are dead due to the initial 9/11 attack. If they are able to release tapes to Al-Jazeera, then we know they're able to be captured. We have the technology to find them. Do it. And nail anyone else involved, no matter if they were rich, poor, powerful, international, or American.
9. Holding Criminals Accountable: You must hold anyone accountable from any previous Administration or from your Administration who has violated any law or committed any act of treason against the United States. We need to reopen the 9/11 investigation, we need to reopen the Katrina investigation, and we need a full investigation of the build-up to the Iraq War. We need to get into classified details surrounding these cases and prosecute anyone who may have been negligent or intended and/or committed an act of criminal harm.
10. Last but not least- Reevaluate Financial Policy in the US: It's time for a full financial investigation into corporate and banking fraud, and a full investigation and audit of the Federal Reserve. Ron Paul, a libertarian Republican from Texas, has authored a bill that states his desire to audit the Fed. This is very important. We need to find out who the puppeteers are that created this economic mess we now find ourselves in. In past decades, we've went through the recovery but we never fully investigated who was responsible and sent them to prison. In a new era of accountability, we must do this.
Thank you for your time.
Godlessness is Good
I am an atheist. I do no claim to have answers and, conversely, I do not believe that anyone else does either. And, if there truly IS a god, I am thoroughly off the hook for not believing in it/him/her--the only god that I would ever believe in would be a kind and loving and understanding god, and that god would really like the fact that I question such god's existence. I believe that actions are everything in life. We all control each and every moment that we live, totally and completely vis-a-vis our own actions, inactions, words, thought, etc. I do not put the onus on some other thing out there; I take full responsibility for everything that involves my own self. Furthermore I do not believe in repentance for sins or forgiveness for repeating mistakes. Instead, I choose knowingly and intentionally to always do the right thing with respect to living my life. I always do my very best each and every moment of each and every day. I have no hang ups; I am free. Free, that is, from the many and varying twisted and pathological idees fixe that almost every religion seems to impose on it's followers. I always do the right thing, having complete control of myself. I don't make mistakes, except maybe in math. I like to rant, I like to rave, I like to tell people what to do, but I really don't care if they listen...I AM the Jehovah of my own universe. I don't need to wear hair shirts to repent and I don't need to confess to anyone for sins because I don't "sin" in the first place. I am kind, loving, generous, understanding and intelligent. There is nothing in this world that I need or want for myself. I am perfect, PERFECT FLAWS AND ALL.
The question of just which of the many religion has it "right" and has the answers is asinine and useless. My contention is that I and I alone have it all right...get my point? I kind of like the simplicity of what the 14th Dalai Lama has said. He said: "My religion is simple. My religion is kindness." End of story.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2009
Instead...
Instead of basic human kindness, the world is filled with unspeakable atrocities, mind boggling hypocrisy and countless criminal injustices. Many of these wretched and abhorrent behaviors are personified in organized religions and in the name of "god." So-called Christians are among the worst of offenders. I am a lifelong agnostic, bordering on atheist and, by my witnessing the absolutely reprehensible behavior and deranged beliefs by and of the most dogmatic right-wing fundamentalist religious types, I come to believe more than ever that religion is the root of all evil. I sincerely believe that religion, particularly the various and horrible forms of Christianity, is far more damaging than helpful. I do not believe that one can do one horrible deed after another and then simply repent and ask forgiveness; rather, you, um, to quote the bible "reap what you sow." In Buddhism it's called "Karma." And I am certain that every religion and belief system around the world has a word or phrase for it. What ever it is that you give out, you shall get it all back in spades; I don't believe in repentance or forgiveness; live your life with the best of intentions ALWAYS, and always do your best. That's really all there is to it. Be kind, generous and open-handed. Do not bean asshole or greedy, stingy tight-fisted and judgmental. It's all so very simple, why do so many religious people get it all so, well, so wrong?!?! If more so-called "good Christians" would actually follow the words and teachings of their hero Jesus Christ ( a great prophet, in my estimation) then they wouldn't be the hypocritical, right-wing, bigoted, judgmental cretins that so many of them are in reality. There is absolutely no excuse for such behavior from anyone in this world of ours. Look at yourselves, as you ruin the world!!!! And in the name of god, to boot!!!!! The current rise of Christian crusades, preaching creationism and strict fundamentalism, are more than just ignorant, stupid and vile; they are dangerous. These incomprehensible busybodies want the rest of the world to see things just as they do. Why can't these people just keep their mouths shut and be content in their own lives without trying to force their asinine and evil notions on others?
CHRIST(INA) MARLOWE
It is my contention that each religion has a basic and good foundation, and each has a measure of good words and good teachings. That being said, I think that once human beings, particularly those who don't practice looking closely at themselves and their own behaviors, that instead latch onto a certain book and then these people go on to ruin their own lives in such puzzling and crazy ways. Particularly if you're saddled with the belief that the almighty god is a jealous, nasty, ill-tempered and hateful god, um, that that bastard in the Old Testament. And if you spend your time believing in that, you're, well, you're just fucked.
Cheers,
Christ Marlowe
The blasphemy of Politics in Religion--
(Don't these morons know that the Constitution is purposely an utterly GODLESS document??)
As I cringe again and again at the fact that every single politician, Democrat and Republican alike, tries to pander to the organized religious institutions in our country, I become more resentful that religion of any kind should be an issue at all in the political arena. The presidential contenders in both parties are playing a game of one-upmanship as to whom has more faith in god whilst the word "god" should never, ever, enter the political arena at all. The most omnipresent danger in politics is religion--and time after time, particularly with the fanatical right-wing conservatives, it, religion, seems to be at the forefront; and this is indeed dangerous.
The so-called and much-more-often-than-not-so-good 'Christian' soldiers have been, still are and will continue to be devils incarnate: President Bush, Dick Cheney, Condaleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Carl Rove ( just to name a few ) have participated in the most impeachable offenses from the very beginning of their dictatorship; in fact, they are war criminals and repeatedly override the Constitution--there are no checks and balances left and they are ruling the world into irreparable oblivion and a quagmire so deep and dense that it's utterly mind boggling. Yet it's fascinating to watch, you must admit.
The next three weeks, beginning August 10, are critical. Both houses of Congress are on summer recess, but you can reach members through their DC offices and their home district offices. Since they claim they will use the recess period to listen to constituents back home, let’s take them up on that offer.
You can bet the opponents of change are doing the same. On August 2, at Senator Specter’s Health Care Town Meeting at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, I got a first-hand view of how a small group of loud, booing opponents of health care change can really affect a meeting. That same dynamic can happen over time in the office of a member of Congress.
We have the numbers of organized people; now we need to put those numbers to work. Do not allow a member to think that most of his/her constituents don’t care about health care change.
You can phone, email, write an old-fashioned letter, fax, or—possibly most effective—go to visit.
No matter what medium you use, be sure your representatives know that you strongly support the Presidents three principles of health care reform:
Reduce costs
Guarantee choice of doctor and plan
Ensure quality care for all
So many Americans feel we are already free and we have personal liberty. When you compare us with some other nations that would be a reasonable assumption however it is not the level of freedom we had in mind when the Declaration of Independence was crafted, nor our Constitution.
Having to retain a permit to exercise one’s First Amendment right to free speech is opposite of our founding father’s intent. A permit is asking permission from the government to do something. Applying to the government to speak can be denied or unreasonably restricted. This is not freedom.
Here in Florida in order to carry a gun one must obtain permission from the state government even though our Constitution contains the Second Amendment which states, “…the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Perhaps an argument could be made for those that have proven themselves unable to keep and bear arms responsibly, however shouldn’t the “people” have to prove such irresponsibility first? Lawabidng citizens must run through hoops and pay a fee to protect themselves, their families, and their properties from criminals who are unaffected by unreasonable firearms legislaton. This is not freedom.
When I was young and naive I used to think my personal property was as safe and secure as I made it, however this was and is not accurate. The fact is the government can still find out what, in my opinion, is far too much about you even if you have not been charged with a crime. It used to be innocent until proven guilty but now it has completely fliipped to the point of Americans feeling they are simply subjects of the government. Our Fourth Amendment was to protect us from such a change, however through circumstances that I fail to understand, our Fourth Amendment has been usurped by power-hungry legislators and a court system that is more interested in case law & foreign laws than simply referring back to our own Constitution. Our Constitution is suppose to be the Supreme Law of the Land, but it is not so. Unfortunately, the average American seems more concerned with who wins the next Dancing With the Stars or American Idol competitions than with their government [temporary] success in overriding their inalienable rights. Today a police officer can write his or her own warrent (not presenting it before a judge) to enter your home without any probable cause. This is not freedom.
I could go on and on however it is clear we are not living the free life promised by our founding fathers via the Constitution. Time is long overdue to return true freedom to the American people.
It is time to truly care about who you vote to put in public office. Rather than listen to quick sound bites on the local or national television, take a few extra minutes and review the websites of the candidates to be on your ballot to find the candidate most in line with your values and who will most likely vote in favor of freedom when in office.
How do you deter an enemy who is willing to kill himself in order to kill you? You strike at something more important to him than his own life. Defining that will be easy for me. The next question is can America be as ruthless as our enemies?
The time has come to end the fruitless and unsustainable effort to search and destroy every cave in Afghanistan and bomb every campground in bordering Pakistan. It’s counterproductive anyway.
What will put the fear of America into terrorist masterminds and those who would follow their orders is simple and radical revenge. Masterminds have families: Cousins, brothers and fathers. Eliminate them. All at once, or one at a time, it works just as well. The ones who survive an initial “hunt” will go into hiding. Having some adult male relatives killed and the rest hiding out in caves will demoralize masterminds and their loved ones. You cannot work and support your women like that. You can’t make more baby masterminds that way. You cannot continue the blood line. The women and children will pressure them to stop their plotting and bombing.
People want to leave a familial legacy, and they can’t do that under those circumstances over the long term.
Should America do that? Yes. Do we have the “intestinal fortitude” and sustainable motivation? I don’t think so. But we should, and it shouldn’t take another terrorist attack to get us there.
For the last seven years the CIA has been kidnapping people from other nations and torturing them. Why not just go in there and quietly shoot them to death?
Frankly, by not killing women or children the way those terrorists routinely do, we can even claim the moral high ground.
Frustration boiled over recently when Americans discovered that emaciated insurance company aig paid out $165 million in bonuses to its executives. The uproar from the American public was understandable. The bonus money, which came via a $180 billion federal government bailout, came from their wallets.
Many in Washington saw the outrage as an opportunity...more
Watch the new obama movie by clicking here and PLEASE DON'T COMMENT UNTILL YOU'VE WATCHED THE WHOLE MOVIE. Be mature and open minded. Thank you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw
We need to give credit where credit is deserved: NAME this economic crisis after the man most responsible for it's creation.
$10 trillion deficit is what we had at the end of the Bush administration. In eight years, Bush more than DOUBLED all the indebtedness America had accrued in more than 200 years.
This is more than a talking point, this is a necessary reminder that should be made every day, so that the notoriously SHORT memories of Americans shall be stimulated on a regular basis.
I watched an HBO special last night called "Right America" it was quite an insight on the beliefs and reasons as to why certain people especially from the south didn't vote correctly on Nov. 4th (namley voted republican) here are some of the reasons given.
1) He's not a man of God he believes in murder. And will ellect all new supreme court judges to support him.
(obviosly the "God Squad" that don't believe in "free will" and dosen't know how the judical system works)
2) I don't like the fact that our taxes are going to go up.
(this was a school teacher, she must be REALLY rich or just watches fox news)
3) He's not an American, he's going to be sworn in using the Qur'an and since those were Muslims that attacked us on 9/11 I think he's in bed with terrorists.
(I think everyone in the south should be sent a version of the Constitution, then when they get past 3rd grade be made to read it, especially the part about only a natural born citizen can become president!)
4) America isn't ready for a black president.
(notably these were NAS-CAR enthusiasts that think going in circles really fast is cool and they also wanted to repeel the woman's right to vote, nuff said)
5) He'll turn this country Socialist just like Hitler and Marx did to Europe!
(What the ...... BLEEP!)
At this point my interest then laughter turned into utter shock. First, Hitler was a fascist and Marx was a communist, which by the way wasn't even living at the world war two stage, I think the name they were grasping for was Stalin! That would be about as far left and far right as you could politically get. Second, The "Evil" word of "Socialism", thanks to the republicans most people in the US think it means communism, it dosen't, it just means "ecconomic equality".
We have a socialist police force & fire service because it's considered good for everyone, why not a socialist health care system. Basic human rights should be covered by the government, my favorite quote, "A government FOR the people BY the people" should include taking CARE of the people.
Now i'm not saying that ALL socialist things are good, we don't need ALL electric power handled by the government but an option might lower some electric bills and maybe water and gas as an option. It would sure stop some summer price hikes when your air is running or winter gas hikes when you need to be warm. Just a thought.
Back to healthcare, my sister-in-law is a republican and my wife and I democrat, last year my wife was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, it took the administration more than two hours to get her to her room and most of that time was filling out paperwork and waiting around for return phone calls from our insurance provider. I asked my sister-in-law, "wouldn't you like to see a free health care system?", she said, "Hell no we have much better healthcare than other countries", lets see. My cousin in England is doctor, i asked him how long it takes, he sent me the form needed to enter an NHS (National Heath Service) hospital.
Name: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Address: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date of Birth: xxxxxxxxxxx
NIN: xxxxxxxxxxxxx (stands for National Insurance Number, same as SSN)
Ok, the Dr will be right with you, that's it, done, no phone calls, not more waiting, off to your room.
Everything is on a central database (which no-one has ever hacked by the way, just like a bank, totally secure)
My wife has had her opperation and is now on her chemo and her radiation ($3000 per session, total with insuance $36,000, our insurance paid thank god, total in England $0) She's now taking four perscription drugs everyday one of them costs $105 per pill, thankfully the insuance covers them. I told my cousin what the medication was and he told me, "it doesn't matter what the drug is it's $10.00 per perscription". I asked him what about the $105 pill what if she need 30 of them, he said, "$10.00 per perscription no matter what, 10 pills, 100 pills same price".
"The taxes must be really high to have such a socalist healthcare system?"
5% extra tax and everyone is covered, not even perscription charges for children under 16 and people over 65, they pay nothing at all. I can hear people saying "5%" that's a huge chunk of my money, is it? is it really? think about it, if your employed you pay for a medical plan, A chunk comes out of your pay check each month and your employer pays the difference. Look at your pay stub next time you get paid and calculate how much your paying, it's about on average 2% of your income and your boss foots another 5%, that's 7%, 2% more than what you would pay, 1% on your side plus your employer could pay you more as they save money by not having to insure you!
Just do the math, if you paid a little more your employer could save money and maybe not offshore your job!
Unemployed people pay nothing, small business people get a tax rebate.
I lived and was born in England for more than 30 years, I think the longest i waited was about an hour without an appointment. As for long waiting lists, not true, if you have elective surgery then sure you might need to wait a while but for serious medical needs your seen right away, do Americans really think a heart attack victim has to wait a month before he gets treated?
Don't get me wrong I love this country and England is far from perfect, England is rated 18th best in the world for healthcare but America is listed at 37th?
Most Americans couldn't name 36 countries, Africa isn't a country by the way and neither is Europe:-)
Are we as Americans really sure we wouldn't want to have some free healthcare, sooner or later everyone gets sick, do you want to have to sell your house to pay for it?
Back to the five questions I heard above, one thing sticks out more than anything I heard, dis-information & lies. Any well educated person knows that there are two parties, not people but parties, there was Bush and then McCain, just because McCain is a likable fellow does not mean he thinks different, his "Party", is the same. Most of the people interviewed didn't like Bush alot but thought McCain could be trusted. Now i'm no magical wizz on politics but isn't republican being replaced by republican the same policy? Education, Education, Education. It's not the man/woman it's the policy then the person. If Joe the Plummer was running and won the nomination for the democrates I'd still vote democrat. I must admit though voting for someone that came from nothing make me tingle a little, least he knows how many houses he owns (the words silver & spoon spring to mind for McCain and wife).
A very smart man by the name of "Tony Benn" once said a very profound statment and it's happening right now in America, he said. "There are only two ways to control the people if your in government, fear and lack of education, scare the people and they will let you do anything even if it infringes on there civil liberties. Don't educate the people so they believe what you say"
Think about it, wire taps, getmo, people not knowing the facts, people not asking questions, people looking for WMD, wars started, terror, terror, terror. and the last thing the republicans wanted removed from the stimulus package, less on education. We have become a nation of sheep looking for a leader I hope we have found one, the fat cats in washington have raped this country enough, the private companies have transfered the public funds via a war not needed, American lives have been wasted in the name of corperate greed and the world has become more unstable than ever. Unless we realise that our government is broken we can never fix it. The french did just that several hundred years ago now they are ranked number one in human rights including healthcare. There government is afriad of it's people, Americans seem afriad of it's politicians. I hope we have the right person, I personally think so but like i said the fat cats want to keep there wealth, it's going to be hard to take it from them.
The Power is Yours.
I've been giving a lot of thought to the Republican schism, and have been skimming a few resources looking for posible lessons to be found in the Republicna party schism of the late 1870's (and early 1880') that led to the party being split into three factions: 1) the liberal reformers, 2) the "Stalwarts", and 2) the "half-breeds". I haven't quite decided, because the circumstances of the post-Civil War era were so different from today's corcumstances.
But one thing did chill me - with the thought of Rush Limbaugh now the de facto head of the "real Republicans" (the sector paralleling the old "Stalwarts") in the back of my mind, I came across the fact that, in 1881, it was a disgruntled Stalwart who assissinated President Garfield in 1881.
Now, like most Americans, I'm hoping and praying that the far-less-than-ideal Stimulus Bill, drafted, it unfortunately seems, without the input of such brilliant thinkkers as Paul Krugman and pragmatic thinkers such as Sheila Behr or Jim Cramer, will indeed get the economy moving and get America back on her feet. Given the increasing rancour, however, of those who like to call themselves the "real Republicans" (not the so-called "RINOs"), as represented by de facto head of the Party, Rush Limbaugh (Mr. Steele evidently being chairman in name only), I am increasinly fearful for the safety of President Obama and perhaps even Vice President Biden.
My fear had begun as a vague gel of uneasiness, but began to solidify when I took note of Sen. Pete Sessions citing the Taliban as a model of "political insurgency" to be emulated by the Republican Party, and admonishing the Party to cease thinking of itself as participants in a legislative process and instead become a Taliban-like insurgency.
Perhaps my understanding of these issues is implistic, however, when I swore that oath to "protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic", I never for one moment thought that this oath extended to belonging to a group that had the express intent of promoting the deliberate disruption national affairs and due legislative process. Again, I am not a political or Constitutional scholar, but this seems to tread uncomfortably close, if not to treason, than to at least a blatant breach of that oath. My gut reaction is that it illustrates an utter disdain for Constitutional process, and for us Citizens that this process is supposed to both heed, and help, illustrates a descent from party ideology, to cultist fanaticism - the very sort of self-aggrandizing and self-righteous fanaticism that led to the assination of President Garfield.
I know that I am not alone in my fear - I've heard many people express it, albeit in differnt words. We have always known that there are both leftist-fringe, and rightist-finge, elements in our nation, and they do have the right to freely express their rview. But a dangerous amount of encouragement was given, through nods and winks, through silence and chuckles and half-smiles, in response to the words of hatered and violence, encouragement given by those who erroneously believed they could hold the dragon by the tail and use it to propell them into positions of power. But the voters have denied them that power, and by so doing, have left that roused minority, a small but generally well-armed minority, with nowhere to roar; and so, we see an increasing level of hatred and violence in the rhetoric of those who only love representatvie Democracy, and the Constitution, when they can make both serve their own needs and desires and agendas.
Currently, this remains, for the most part, an issue of freedom of speech. But at wat point does free speech becomes a voiced threat? I wonder whther the extremist Stalwart could have been nipped in the proverbial bud back in 1881, and I hope and pray that similar impulses can be diffused now. Given the world situation, I fear taht a repeat of the 1881 action would not only be a tragedy, but would ignite the nation, and perhaps beyond, achieving what the Taliban, and al-Qaida, could not.
God willing, I am merely being paranoid...at least that's easily remedied with medication.
