Billmon returns
In his own way. And I’m glad. We I need him.
Continue reading →Category Archives: Philosophy
Another quote
“Find out just what people will quietly submit to, and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
Continue reading →More Jefferson
“I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” – Thomas Jefferson
Continue reading →I’ve always loved Jefferson
“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.” -Thomas Jefferson
Continue reading →After all these years
Dr. King still says it best. You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound … Continue reading →
Reverend Ted Haggard
If you like to understand the mind of your opponents, you might want to listen to this interview with Rev. Ted Haggard, who is a pastor in Colorado Springs and head of the National Association of Evangelicals. Personally I disagree with his point of view on pretty much everything, but he’s well spoken and I think he lays out very clearly the Christian conservative view of the world and of U.S. politics. The interview was broadcast on Colorado Matters, a local public radio show. Scroll down to the link “Colorado Evangelicals”, or you can hear the show directly.
Continue reading →Fallwell’s big decision
So I saw Jerry Falwell on Hardball this week, and watched an incredulous Chris Matthews grill him on exactly when he’d made the momentous decision to be straight rather than gay. Falwell’s argument was that gay people all choose their evil behavior, and therefore it was correct to deny gay people the right to come to church. This was a back-handed way to denounce the United Church of Christ for practicing inclusivity, but Matthews clearly wasn’t buying it. It was a pretty funny moment, raising the spectre of Falwell as a young teenager stuggling with evil homosexual impulses but valiantly … Continue reading →
In remembrance
JOHN F. KENNEDY’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS (1961) We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom
Continue reading →The self-made man
I’ve read this story a few times in the past, and wanted to post it here. Today I saw a pointer to it on another blog: Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised…. So go over there to read the whole thing.
Continue reading →The moral values that drive us
Zogby has a new study out, examining moral values that Americans say are important to them when it comes to voting. The results show that we’re more interested in war, greed, and poverty than with abortion or gay marriage, even when you narrow the polling to Catholic voters only. The Zogby poll shows that when voters were asked to list the moral issue that most affected their vote, the Iraq war topped the list (42%)
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