Li: ritual, propriety, etiquette. Hsiao: love within the family (parents for children and children for parents. Yi: righteousness--the noblest way to act in a situation. Xin: honesty and trustworthiness. Jen: benevolence, humaneness towards others. Chung: loyalty to the state and authority. --Confucius (Kong Fuzi)

All articles appear in reverse chronological order [newest first].

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I believe the past is relevant, sometimes more than others of course. In most cases we are seeing history being repeated, so it is most relevant.

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Compassion?

by Glenn Littrell

REPOSTED from January 2015

I remember when criticizing the right wing or republicans as lacking compassion for the poor who were on welfare or getting government aid would result in being rebuffed as promoting 'classism' or even socialism. But now it is apparent that the criticism was understated. The right wing republicans lack compassion for anyone!  The working poor, unemployed WORKERS, senior and 'almost' senior citizens, teachers, 9/11 first responders, non-stock holders, and those of their own 'kind' who fit into these categories. Even their co-opting of the fundamentalist leaders and televangelist has not softened their hearts for those less fortunate. And now it appears as if the fears of Rev. Graham are being realized everyday as religious leaders seem to be turning the keys to the temple over to the moneychangers (corporate America) via their far right-wing friends.    

bgoldwater

The quote below from Rev. Billy Graham and the one above from Barry Goldwater demonstrates the historical mistrust and disdain for each other that the conservative right and the religious leaders held for each other. So what happened?

Several things:

  1. The ‘Southern Strategy’ of appealing to the fears of white middle class southern males increased the Republican appeal in the south. Pulling Democrat voters as well as Democrat politicians into the party through defections. The Republicans took advantage of the split between the northern liberal Democrats and the traditional southern Democrat who was more loyal to their region than their party. Today’s average conservative republican does not resemble the republican of 40 years ago as much as some would suggest. But the agenda and tactics of the leadership in the republican party greatly resembles the southern democrats of the civil rights era and the reconstruction democrat, harsh. The current republican leadership has no problem with pushing up against those long held fears of the southern white male to attract the extreme elements on the other side of those boundaries. Which gives them an energized and forceful constituency.
  2. Roe v. Wade gave Religious leaders  a rallying cry for reinventing the ‘fire and brimstone’ rhetoric that had energized religious revivals for centuries. Where in the past it was cries to go to war to fight the ‘godless invaders’, or the the temperance movement, communism, etc. Even now, as abortions and unwanted teen pregnancies are at their lowest since Roe v. Wade, we see the anti- abortion fervor taking a back see to the “Muslim Jihadist” rhetoric.

“I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalist and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.”  --Rev. Billy Graham, Parade, 1981

BGraham

 

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are...a few...Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid," wrote Republican President Dwight Eisenhower to his brother in 1954. Unfortunately, this splinter group is now in charge of this once-respectable political party.

The Surprisingly Progressive Republican Party Platform...Of 1956

                              GlennDL

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Friday, October 14, 2016

There is A Difference: Trump/Hillary

We've heard his schtick and we've heard her policy issues.

We've heard the conspiracy theories about her and we've heard WHAT HE's SAID on video.

We know what she's done for children in this country we know what he's advocated against protestors at his rallies (again on tape).

We seen her try to discuss issues at debates and we've seen him try to reduce EVERY debate to a playground game of 'playing the dozens".

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She has struggled to, and kept, her family together through good and bad times, he has recycled marriages of infidelity 3 times.

We've seen her fight for issues against powerful political parties and politicians and we have seen where he has fought and belittled the little man the contractor, the journalist, the protestor, the home owner.

We've seen her condemned for obtaining some wealth and success and we've seen him lauded for legally filing bankruptcies, avoiding taxes, eminent domain, billion dollar business loses and stiffing small businesses, exporting his manufacturing overseas... and firing people.

We have seen her explain and debate what she stands for and we have seen him ridicule and bully everyone who questions him.

imageWe have seen her endure ridiculous conspiracy theories and cross examinations on her own and we have seen him employ experts and yes men to validate and ensure the success of everything he did.

We've seen someone who has risen from a middle class family through 30 years of public service and someone who was born to wealth and started as a multimillionaire and NO public service.

To say neither is perfect is not saying they are the same, to say one is flawed is not saying they are evil. To advocate doing nothing because you can't decide is shameful and dangerous.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

20 Degrees of Hillary Clinton.

In response to the accusations of murder, none of which have been proven, I decided to address the validity of the statement that those accusations are facts.

I checked several fact checking websites, all of which concluded that all the accusations were either false, misleading, inconclusive, distorted, or based on shaky connections. Of course, having been down this road before and I know that too many will reject these fact checking websites as part of the vast left-wing conspiracy.

I am open to looking at any non-liberal fact checking website in support of the claim, if one can be found. I ask that the website fits some simple criteria for the sake of this conversation:

  • They explain their methodology for evaluating a fact.
  • They offer links to supporting resources independent of their website.
  • I don't have to read through a 50,000 word manifesto to realize there point) (Yes, I realize that this one of mine comes close.)

I then googled the deaths related to the Clintons. Having become a cottage industry among conspiracy theorist there is no shortage of sites advocating the guilt of the Clintons. Oddly though there is not one that can provide a death that has ever provided enough proof that it has led to a charge of murder, manslaughter, negligence, etc., against the Clintons. (Or a successful Civil Suite??)

All these websites have common threads that raise suspicion about their conclusions. Getting keys facts wrong, such as cause of deaths, proper identification of the victim, lack of a specific motive (other than they are the Clintons). They ignore both convictions in the cases and the conclusions of the victims' families (there is no hesitation in accepting the families opinion when it concurs with their theory)

The most disturbing aspect of these websites and their so called proof is two things:

  1. Tenuous connections: Most of these murders are connected to the Clintons by a laughable stretch of the imagination that’s used to get a conclusion of 'guilt by association'. It's as if these guys got tired of playing 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' and created a more challenging version called: '20 Degrees of Clinton and the Most Absurd Motive Possible’ game.
  2. An inconsistent body count:  The problem though is not high count alone. The problem is that depending on which source you accept the body count runs from less than ten to more than 90. This point alone defines the whole Clinton body count as a conspiracy and a theory, and oh yes… a conspiracy theory.

Why so many inconsistent counts? Because none are concrete or conclusive, some don't even get the rumored or the factual cause of death right, one is traced to Russian propaganda, most are traced to unnamed sources or chain email, some are drug dealers (people prone to being killed by any number of other people) only connected by the '20 Degrees of Clinton…' rule.

A search, just for the phrase 'Clinton body count' alone produces 9,480,000 results. It mystifies me why anyone would attempt to list over 90 supposed murders by the Clintons (which would make them two of the most successful murders of all time) without at least proving ONE murder first.

A preponderance of unrelated coincident does not change one of those incidents from fiction to fact, or validate the collection itself. Connect-the-dot talking points do not validate each other if those talking points are unrelated or unproven.

All of this is so sad because there is much to criticize Clinton on without resorting to conspiracy theories and outlandish accusations, but we can't get to the legitimate criticism because of all the BS.

The deaths of Foster, Stevens and Rich have formed the basis of some of the most avidly discussed theories about the Clintons being cold-blooded killers. But there are many others.

These conspiracy theories don’t just affect the Clintons. They’ve also increased and prolonged the pain of the families who have lost loved ones.clip_image001

“Now we have two problems we’re trying to deal with,” Joel Rich, Seth’s father, told The Huffington Post on Monday. “One is getting over the death of Seth and the hole that will be there forever... The other problem is this distraction of people trying to... mess up his reputation and his legacy with absolutely no facts.”
["Conspiracy Theorists Won’t Stop Accusing The Clintons Of Murder: The families who have lost their loved ones want the speculation to stop."]


NOTE: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a parlor game based on the "six degrees of separation" concept, which posits that any two people on Earth are six or fewer acquaintance links apart. Movie buffs challenge each other to find the shortest path between an arbitrary actor and prolific character actor Kevin Bacon.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

The Internet Troll:

internet troll2

 

I welcome relevant civil discussion and debate on any Facebook post that I create or share.
Agree or disagree, criticize or phrase, take or question a position.
Inquire.
Do all of the above.

It's your choice and I will not block or remove your entry no matter how much I disagree.

Or do none of the above, but I reserve the right to remove any entry or comment that attempts to

  • be obscene,
  • engage in name calling, derogatory or personal attacks,
  • promote bigotry, hate, anger or violence,
  • or attempts to interrupt or suppress free discussion with appeals towards non-positions.

Apathy and ambiguity are the tools of the uninformed, the indecisive, and the Troll.


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