Local Posts #19

2009-5-30 11:25:00

[Compiler's Note:  The "Local Posts" series of articles found here in "The Archives" are a collection of exchanges between JJ Dewey and others participating on a local online newspaper blog, and were subsequently posted by JJ Dewey on The Keys Of Knowledge discussion group.]

  

May 10, 2009 -- Post #1

"Walkingmountain" wrote:

"The christian right made a deal with the devil. In order to push their social agenda, they hooked up with the corporate republicans to gain power where they could return Christian values to the nation."

JJ:

I do not see anything but mindless attack from this criticism. Where is the evidence?

When I shop for groceries there is no Christian pushing an agenda.

When I buy gas there is no attendant there telling me to buy Christian blessed gas.

When I go to Walmart I see no cross there.

When I buy a car the salesman does not tell me to go to church.

I have not seen one iota of additional religiosity in business over the past 20 years. If anything, there is less of it.

I would be concerned myself if I saw business pushing religion.

  

May 10, 2009 -- Post #2

JJ:

Mr. Nagle can't find anything about gun rights in the Bible? Duh. There were no guns in the Bible days but they used swords as weapons instead and all of Israel were armed with swords. They were always fully prepared to defend themselves with their swords. There were no proposals for "sword control."

Even angels had swords in their hands when they appeared.

"Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand:" (Numbers 22:31. Also see Joshua 5:13)

"And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword;" (1 Sam 25:13)

You will remember that Peter had a sword with him when he cut off the soldier's ear? Jesus obviously did not require "sword control" but allowed his disciples to carry their swords.

  

May 10, 2009 -- Post #3

"TWall" wrote:

"One thing that truly perplexes me is the fact that many of the right are christian yet do not support a socialist government system. Taking from what I know about Jesus and the way the man worked wouldn't he support socialist programs like health care?"

JJ:

Rome also had social programs. They taxed the people and gave out welfare to those the State deemed as deserving. Jesus had nothing to do with giving the State power to tax and redistribute. In fact he was criticized for not paying taxes (Matt 17:24) and only then reluctantly paid them.

Jesus told the people to give their donations directly to the poor. Not once did he tell his disciples to give to Rome so the State could redistribute the wealth.

Even though this is crystal clear the Left likes to preach that Jesus was a socialist after the order of the Europeans, or perhaps the communists. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  

May 10, 2009 -- Post #4

"TWall" wrote:

"Giving your donations directly to the poor these days is not a good idea. That's like giving a pyromaniac matches and saying have fun!"

JJ:

It's nothing like that at all. Giving directly to the poor today is no different than giving to the poor in the time of Jesus. For one thing, if you give $100 then 100% of it goes to where it is needed rather than a bureaucracy where maybe half goes to the need. I encounter more people in need than I have money to give without Uncle Sam stepping in to force me to give to his pet projects.

"TWall":

"Jesus in your opinion may have not been a socialist, but he was interested in helping everyone, even you can't disagree with that."

JJ:

I agree, but he wasn't into supporting the State which took money by force and redistributed it according to its whims. He was for giving of one's own free will just as I am which is entirely at odds with modern day state sponsored socialism.

"TWall":

"To me that's what socialism is, trying to help everyone."

JJ:

If you want to call giving of your own free will socialism, fine, but that is not what lies before us. Instead we have the forced socialism similar to ancient Rome which was opposed by Jesus -- except ours is a greater monster.

"TWall":

"Oh and Joseph, you know as well as I do, socialism and communism are not the same thing. So quit playing the socialism is communism card. Less educated people really buy into it."

JJ:

You need to argue with what I do say, not with what I do not say. I said some of the Left equate Jesus with being a socialist and others with being a communist. I heard the argument many times. I did not say socialism and communism were both the same. On the other hand, people of the Left do not seem to know their own doctrine well enough to figure out if Jesus was a socialist or communist.

  

May 10, 2009 -- Post #5

JJ:

Oh, that's so scary. Christians have established a credit union! Oh, God, stop the nightmares please!

Wait. I do not have to join? Whew -- I just dodged a bullet!

I have much more right to grumble at organized religion than anyone posting here, but at least I am not scared of my shadow. I am not afraid of religious people of any stripe participating in the political process. That's the way it is supposed to be.

If the Left had their way Christians would be silenced and other religions would be heard within certain boundaries.

I think a lot of people on the Left must have been tortured in the inquisitions in past lives and that has made them paranoid in this one.

  

May 10, 2009 -- Post #6

JJ:

Last I heard this is a free country. A credit union has nothing to do with the state and if you want to call it a Christian, atheist, Allah, or Maharishi's what's the big deal? If you do not like the ideology just stay away. Since most of you are even afraid to tell us what city you live in on your Bios I guess your fear of shadows is understandable.

  

May 10, 2009 -- Post #7

"TWall" wrote:

"How is socialism giving up free will? Please explain? The fact that the government "forces" one to pay taxes and support programs? You know as well as I do no one is forced to pay taxes, look at almost every politician."

JJ:

Some politicians may get away with not paying taxes but for "the unwashed" we face the threat of jail if we do not comply so we are indeed forced to pay taxes. And I am not adverse to paying a fair tax to support essentials but am against an ever expanding government.

If a social program I do not want forces me to pay taxes to support it then that is state enforced socialism. Now if a little group like Jesus had gets together and share their money through their own free will that could be called socialistic, but one can withdraw at any time. People can create any free will social program they want and if I am not forced to pay into it then that is fine with me.

  

May 11, 2009 -- Post #1

JJ:

I have empathy for Mr. Gardoski. People that believe the way he does have been called an extremists for some time now, even though 41% of the country identify themselves as conservative. When I was younger he represented a much larger number.

I'll tell you who the extremists are and that is those who label everyone who disagrees with them as extremists. These finger pointers are usually liberals but the funny thing is only 12% of the population identify themselves as liberal.

Now for the absolutely hilarious part. The extreme 12% of the population are pointing their fingers at the 41% who say they are conservative and saying that they are the extreme ones.

Wait, its worse than that. Probably about half of the liberals are tolerant and not finger pointers. Even I, a Libertarian, am very liberal, so it's probably more like the fringe 6% calling people like Gardoski an extremist.

  

May 11, 2009 -- Post #2

"Boise River":

"Democrats currently enjoy a party identification advantage over Republicans among Americans at every age between 18 to 85, the Democrats' greatest advantages come among those in their 20s and baby boomers in their late 40s."

JJ:

This does not contradict anything I wrote as many Democrats are conservative in many of their views. 25% of those extreme evangelical Christians the Left rails against are Democrats.

The survey showed 41% of Americans identify themselves as conservative; only 12% liberal and 41% moderate. Only 16% of the Democrats say they are liberal on both fiscal and social issues. It seems that most people posting here are in that 16%.

Source:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/general_current_events/ 24_are_both_fiscal_and_socially_conservatives_9_fiscally_and_socially_liberal

  

May 11, 2009 -- Post #3

"i83701" wrote:

"Idahoans watch too much FOX News, going through life isolated and stupid is perfect for idiots, hope that's working out for ya."

"Boiseriver" wrote:

"New name -- 'FOX SPEWS'"

JJ:

More wind up doll spewing from people who get their news from comics. They are not informed enough to be specific so they just parrot name calling toward those much more informed than themselves.

"Badnana" wrote:

"Did you know that 83% of all statistics are made up on the spot? That's a liberal extremist estimate."

JJ:

I suspected that is how the Left get their statistics and facts. Now we know.

  

May 11, 2009 -- Post #4

JJ:

If 41% identify themselves as conservative and only 12% as liberal then why do we have an ultra liberal Congress and the most liberal president of all time?

The answer is simple.

Many of those who vote for a liberal do not know what policies they are voting for. For instance, a Zogby poll revealed that 57.4% of Obama voters could NOT correctly say which party controls congress when they had a 50/50 chance of answering correctly.

Those with this much ignorance are easily controlled by sound bytes and the little data they receive often sounds conservative. For instance, Obama sounded more conservative on tax cuts than [2008 Republican presidential candidate] McCain.

The other factor is the overwhelming majority of the media and Hollywood are in the tank for extreme liberals. One study I read said this gave democrats an 18% advantage. That means if we subtract 18% from Democrat votes we then have a true view of America.

  

May 11, 2009 -- Post #5

JJ:

"Grandjester (GJ)" points out that the Right has talk radio. That is not in dispute, but this only reaches a small portion of America. The rest of the media dominated by the Left reaches everyone and is a much more powerful factor.

GJ:

"Take Sunday's Statesman, more often than not there is no real liberal voice, Wanye Hoffman, Krauthammer, Goldberg, etc."

JJ:

Yes, let's take Sunday's [Idaho] Statesman. There were four political columns and three (Pitts, Broder and Reineck) were left wing. That is no example of right wing domination. In fact the Hoffman article in the Sunday paper was the only recognizable Republican I could find all week. Democrats writing columns in the last 7 days were: Pitts, Broder, Reineck (2 columns), Ronayne, Reineck and Thomas. That's 7 to 1.

GJ:

"The left gets false liberals like Broader."

JJ:

Broder's a true liberal who voted for Obama. I'm not excited about Hoffman and many conservative writers myself but do not deny they are conservative. If the [Idaho] Statesman printed [American social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist] Ann Coulter's weekly column and nothing else -- that would be equal time.

GJ:

"Conservatives and Republicans show up two to one on the political talk shows such as 'Meet the Press'."

JJ:

You've got to be kidding. First the host, [American television journalist, and moderator of NBC News' Sunday morning talk show 'Meet the Press'], David Gregory, is a flaming liberal. The Republicans they do have on are liberal ones and the panel at the end usually has three Democrats and one Republican plus the Democratic host.

GJ:

"And, of course, 'Faux Noize' runs 24/7/365 with dogmatic programming as opposed to a couple of hours of Olbermann and Maddow on the dread MSNBC."

JJ:

The difference is that the Left is invited to participate on Fox [Cable News] but you never see a good right winger on [MSNBC commentators] Olbermann and Maddow.

The problem is not MSNBC [TV Cable News], which has abysmal ratings, but the news you do not get to hear in the rest of the media and the slant they have on what they do report.

Checkmate.

  

"For visions come not to polluted eyes."
  -- Mary Howitt