Post #220,234
8/20/05 1:21:26 PM
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Salt of the earth
San Francisco journalist Rose Aguilar has gone out to the heartland—the real America—to take the measure of its big red beating heart. Here's one [link|http://storiesinamerica.blogspot.com/2005/08/conversations-at-gas-pump.html|lengthy sample]: Mary Fowler, 54, Housekeeper
Why do you think gas prices are so high?
From what I've read, they say it's because of the Iraq war. I've also read about alternatives to gas and even automobiles that use alternatives, but for some reason, the big oil companies bought up the patents for that, so it's not just the Iraq war and it's not President Bush's fault. He gets blamed for everything, but it's not his fault. It's just greed from other people. I feel like the president is doing everything he can to help.
Like what?
For one thing, he is protecting our country by being in Iraq. We can't pull out too soon because they'll think we're chicken and they'll try to attack us again. We can't pull out until they're able to fend for themselves. Those who are strong are supposed to help those who are weak. We are strong and we're that way for a reason. We've always been peacemakers. As long as we keep the peace, we'll be blessed.
So you believe we're acting as peacemakers in Iraq?
Yes and we're protecting the innocent. Muslims want to rule the world. They want to take over the whole world. That's their evil purpose.
Do you know any Muslims?
I've ministered to them. A few lived in my apartment building and they invited us over for dinner. I went with a Christian guy. They were nice. The food was nice. At the end, we said, 'Can we pray for you?' And they said yes, if we can pray for you. We prayed for the peace of god. Most of them are very harsh. There's no tenderness or love.
Do a lot of Muslims live in this area? Have you met any others besides the ones who invited you over for dinner?
Most of them live in Tulsa.
Why do you think we're in Iraq? People say we're freeing the Iraqis one minute and then change their opinion and say they're horrible people.
Soldiers over there say we don't get half the news. There's so much good going on. The majority of the people appreciate the help. The majority, not the weirdos who are deceived.
Where do you get your information about the war?
The Bible and the 700 Club. I also listen to preachers who know what's going on. Pat Robertson.
What do you like about Bush?
He's a praying man of god. He's a family man and he does care. He gets blamed for everything. If this country would turn back to god, things would get better. You can't go on killing babies and allowing homosexual stuff to stay. We do love the people, but we don't love their actions.
Do you think talking about homosexuality does anything to improve healthcare or poverty?
I guess for me I've always had to trust the lord for the next job, which is usually housecleaning. If you have your eyes on him, he'll take care of you. The government can't help us.
Do you always vote?
Yes, I volunteered for the Republican Party and I enjoyed it very much.
Have you always been Republican?
When I first registered, I was a Democrat. Just from studying in school, I thought that's what I wanted to be because I believed in government for the people, by the people and of the people. But after I was saved, I realized the Republican beliefs are me so I switched and I'm glad I did.
What does it mean to be a Republican?
Republicans pick the people who believe like we do.
You mean believe in the Bible?
Yes and godly principles. If we kick god out, we'll be like other countries that have AIDS, sickness and poverty. God created the earth, he created the rules and he knows what's best for everybody.
Unfortunately, we have AIDS, sickness and poverty in this country.
Yes, because we allow homosexuality.
You blame homosexuality for AIDS, sickness and poverty?
Well, sometimes people are innocent. This nation is in trouble. The ACLU are run by communists and funded by communists. What does that tell you? They want to take god away from us.
The ACLU once helped Pat Robertson's son set up churches. They also helped Jerry Falwell fight church restrictions three years ago. If they wanted to take god way from you, why would they help Pat Robertson's son and Jerry Falwell?
I haven't heard about that. I'm sure there are a few good people in the ACLU.
I've interviewed a lot of people on this trip and while they want freedom of religion, none have said they want to take god away.
When they first started the country, those that didn't believe in Jesus were put in jail. Once a country is dedicated to god and founded on its principles, it has to stay that way.
What issues are most important to you?
Getting the right Supreme Court Justice in you. I want god back in the schools. They kick god out of schools and they wonder why we have drugs and sex in the schools.
[Interview terminated at this point by gas station attendant ordering journalist off the premises] I was actually somewhat disposed to feel an atom or two of pained compassion for "Mary Fowler, 54, Housekeeper" when I read these remarks, but after watching her mix it up with her critics in the blog comments section (apparently someone clued her in, or perhaps the journalist gave her the URL) the sheer obduracy of her witlessness blew that initial response away, and now I am merely discouraged. cordially, Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.
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Post #220,236
8/20/05 1:58:33 PM
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ICLRPD (new thread)
Created as new thread #220235 titled [link|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=220235|ICLRPD]
I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
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Post #220,237
8/20/05 2:20:46 PM
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Depressing!
If that is a representative sample, this country is fscked.
Alex
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell
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Post #220,238
8/20/05 2:25:38 PM
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Agree, depressing
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Post #220,239
8/20/05 2:59:45 PM
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I thought I was pessimistic
That journal shows one religious nutter out of 4 locals. The woman shows that Oklahoma desperately needs better education but that journal doesn't suggest she holds the majority opinion.
Matthew Greet
Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?
- Mark Renton, Trainspotting.
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Post #220,240
8/20/05 3:31:42 PM
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But note that..
the religious nutters vote because the preachers tell them to. Since only about half of Americans vote, that makes religious nutters half the voters in that sample.
With that kind of lead before he even starts campaigning, you can see why Bush carries a lot of the Red states so easily.
Cheers,
Ben
I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
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Post #220,244
8/20/05 5:22:05 PM
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Good point
Matthew Greet
Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?
- Mark Renton, Trainspotting.
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Post #220,253
8/20/05 7:13:53 PM
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One cannot become inured to such ones
Or can one?
The fact that such an interview is no longer surprising, let alone Shocking! says..
~~ a 20 century-old myth, edited, polished all along the way - Can indeed recreate the Dark Ages; rather quickly? bulldoze the cel-fones and automatic popcorn-poppers, despite Shakespeare or Occam or even Tom Lehrer.
My current fervent hope: that not too-many mothers are seen to be drowning their whelps - earnestly protecting them from an extrapolated worse, just over the horizon.
Optimistically,
moi.
A couple Piet Hein Grooks (drawings with aphorisms) come to mind:
(while just-now hearing of the plans of the New Pope for a 'return to ___')
These from mid-'60s \ufffd; One volume dedicated to Charles Chaplin
THE UNTENABLE ARGUMENT
My adversary's argument
is not alone malevolent
__ but ignorant to boot.
He hasn't even got the sense
to state his so-called evidence
___ in terms I can refute
THAT'S WHY
Why do bad writers
___ win the fight?
Why do good writers
___ die in need?
Because the writers
__ who can't write
are read by readers
__ who can't read.
-and-
CIRCUMSCRIPTURE
As Pastor X steps out of bed
__ he slips a neat disguise on;
that halo round his priestly head
is really his horizon.
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Post #220,255
8/20/05 8:03:25 PM
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Excellent. A few more.
[link|http://chat.carleton.ca/~tcstewar/grooks/grooks.html|Here]: MAJORITY RULE
His party was the Brotherhood of Brothers,
and there were more of them than of the others.
That is, they constituted that minority
which formed the greater part of the majority.
Within the party, he was of the faction
that was supported by the greater fraction.
And in each group, within each group, he sought
the group that could command the most support.
The final group had finally elected
a triumvirate whom they all respected.
Now, of these three, two had final word,
because the two could overrule the third.
One of these two was relatively weak,
so one alone stood at the final peak.
He was: THE GREATER NUMBER of the pair
which formed the most part of the three that were
elected by the most of those whose boast
it was to represent the most of the most
of most of most of the entire state --
or of the most of it at any rate.
He never gave himself a moment's slumber
but sought the welfare of the greater number.
And all people, everywhere they went,
knew to their cost exactly what it meant
to be dictated to by the majority.
But that meant nothing, -- they were the minority. THE CASE FOR OBSCURITY
On Thoughts and Words I.
If no thought
your mind does visit,
make your speech
not too explicit. :-) Thanks for the pointer. He's lots of fun- and wise. Cheers, Scott.
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Post #220,265
8/20/05 9:10:37 PM
8/20/05 10:11:50 PM
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He's a Danish National Treasure; d. 1996 at age 91.
He wrote many small (paperback size, thin) books of Grooks
I have 7; dunno how many are OP / still available (or in how many countries).
Not bad English for a Dane, eh?
(They are't translations or transliterations, BTW)
Danmark.. they managed to get all but a handful of their Jews to Sweden, ahead of the Nazis. No other country came even close. (Not even U.S., when one considers the blind-eye paid at several key decision-points)
I do hope that no significant %pop there has become Muricanized.
Last I saw of it, driving around with native guide, it was a verdant gorgeous countryside and decent towns. Tivoli, the ADULT amusement park in K\ufffdbenhavn was the model which Disney Bowdlerized / de-classed and homogenized for local consumption and max-$generation.
(I need to retain Some illusions.. so DON'T GOOGLE the '00s *$&*#% %idiocy STATS, OK?)
PS - but THIS Google be \ufffdine :-)
Hadn't looked on web for Piet in a while - imagine: Thousands!
Edited by Ashton
Aug. 20, 2005, 09:26:48 PM EDT
Edited by Ashton
Aug. 20, 2005, 10:11:50 PM EDT
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Post #220,281
8/21/05 10:29:27 AM
8/21/05 10:22:03 PM
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Uhhh, Mary...you left out a syllable...
What do you like about Bush?
He's a praying man of god. He's a family man and he does care. He gets blamed for everything. If this country would turn back to god, things would get better. You can't go on killing babies and allowing homosexual stuff to stay. We do love the people, but we don't love their actions. Mary, you left out the syllable "tis". (It is left as an exercise to the reader to insert this syllable in the proper position.) jb4
shrub●bish (Am., from shrub + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf. BULLSHIT
Edited by jb4
Aug. 21, 2005, 10:29:51 AM EDT
Edited by jb4
Aug. 21, 2005, 10:22:03 PM EDT
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Post #220,304
8/21/05 1:25:31 PM
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I got it!
Praying man-tis.
Good one!
Peace,
Amy
"The notion of limited government and frugal government has been shattered by this administration, which cares far less about limited government than it does in building conservative government - a government with huge payoffs to corporate America," Allan Lichtman, a presidential historian at American University in Washington.
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Post #220,309
8/21/05 1:30:34 PM
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Another frog gets it in the shorts.
Peter
[link|http://www.ubuntulinux.org|Ubuntu Linux]
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
[link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home]
Use P2P for legitimate purposes!
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Post #220,355
8/21/05 10:24:38 PM
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You're blonde, aren't you?
I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
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Post #220,362
8/21/05 10:42:00 PM
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There are some who are glad I pointed it out. :-P
"The notion of limited government and frugal government has been shattered by this administration, which cares far less about limited government than it does in building conservative government - a government with huge payoffs to corporate America," Allan Lichtman, a presidential historian at American University in Washington.
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Post #220,368
8/22/05 12:26:29 AM
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I thought basic education was compulsory in the US
"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" --Mark Twain
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." --Albert Einstein
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." --George W. Bush
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Post #220,369
8/22/05 12:32:27 AM
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You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink
I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
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Post #220,412
8/22/05 11:17:48 AM
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You can make him drown if he doesn't though
not that I'm advocating that or anything...
"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" --Mark Twain
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." --Albert Einstein
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." --George W. Bush
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Post #220,375
8/22/05 2:23:43 AM
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Religious education at home starts before state education
Children believe anything and the more sincere the teller, the more the child believes it. Religious lunatics, if nothing else, sincerely believe. As a result, we have inherited lunacy.
Matthew Greet
Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?
- Mark Renton, Trainspotting.
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Post #220,538
8/22/05 10:55:27 PM
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Reminds me of a short book....
"James Clavell's the Children's Story but Not Just for Children "
A scary book, especially for these times. (Originally published in 1981)
[link|http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385281358/qid=1124765390/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/002-7023439-0618421?v=glance&s=books|http://www.amazon.co...?v=glance&s=books]
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Post #220,552
8/22/05 11:49:25 PM
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Actually, personal circumstances have me hoping to win the
lottery. I would love to use a few passports I have to take a particular youngster thru the Khyber region, letting him learn first hand that maddogging people doesnt work and retribution tempered by US law and parental love can be replaced by beheading if you live in the right political assemblies.
thanx,
bill
"the reason people don't buy conspiracy theories is that they think conspiracy means everyone is on the same program. Thats not how it works. Everybody has a different program. They just all want the same guy dead. Socrates was a gadfly, but I bet he took time out to screw somebodies wife" Gus Vitelli
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 49 years. meep
questions, help? [link|mailto:pappas@catholic.org|email pappas at catholic.org]
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Post #220,553
8/22/05 11:51:21 PM
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The little monster hasn't settled down yet, eh? :-(
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Post #220,555
8/22/05 11:58:30 PM
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no trip to movies at apres 7pm got a
violent suggetive sexual comment to the 7yo girl to pracice incestual relations with her 11 yo brother, when I protested such a fuck you with a finger in my face ended up with him crawling on the ground trying to suck air with my wife screaming you will go to jail brfore I recovered and let him breathe again :-( serious suckage, Its hitting everybody hard... :-( nicest kid you ever want to meet, hates his family with a passion. The liitle fscker actually counted how many tater tots everyone got to ensure he got evens, I didnt even have any cause It didnt come out even. In a perfect world I could email him to owl,
thanx,
bill
"the reason people don't buy conspiracy theories is that they think conspiracy means everyone is on the same program. Thats not how it works. Everybody has a different program. They just all want the same guy dead. Socrates was a gadfly, but I bet he took time out to screw somebodies wife" Gus Vitelli
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 49 years. meep
questions, help? [link|mailto:pappas@catholic.org|email pappas at catholic.org]
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Post #220,561
8/23/05 12:06:48 AM
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That would be an interesting world!
Family troubles are the pits.
:-(
Hang in there.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #220,577
8/23/05 7:38:50 AM
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Mary could be just about anyone in Indiana.
bcnu,
Mikem
It would seem, therefore, that the three human impulses embodied in religion are fear, conceit, and hatred. The purpose of religion, one might say, is to give an air of respectibility to these passions. -- Bertrand Russell
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