Yes, there are two Americas’ Virginia, they exist as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. One tolerant and broadminded, the other intolerant and narrow-minded!
Sincerely, thinkingblue, from the TOLERANT AND BROADMINDED USA
PS: Joe (You Lie) Wilson, et al reside in the other America!
Messages of intolerance and discrimination are polluting our public discourse as we approach the anniversary of 9/11. The debate about the "Ground Zero Mosque" trivializes the real tragedy of 9/11 and uses it as an excuse for bigotry. A small group in Florida is supporting a
"Burn a Koran" event on September 11th—sponsored by a church, of all places. The Florida church has posted on their website "10 Reasons to Burn a Koran."
Human Rights First is working with an interfaith movement to affirm religious solidarity and tolerance.
Unfortunately, the "Burn a Koran" day is still dominating the media coverage both at home and abroad.
Help us push back. Send us your top reason NOT to burn a Koran—we'll select the top 10 answers, post them on our website and online to make sure the other side is heard in this debate.
Religion is a product of Homo sapiens (or the humans) who inhabit this Earth. They were created to promote security in an insecure world, to lessen the fear of death and to give human beings a feeling of social togetherness. Today’s religions should encourage love and teach tolerance. If a religion supports intolerance such as the one in Gainesville Florida called Dove World Outreach Center, it ceases to be a promoter of peace and instead becomes a facilitator of hate and intolerance. The ordered burning of another people’s religious bible (or sometimes called Good Book) can only spread hatred especially when the head of this so called religion advertises this notorious action as something good. Burning another group’s Good Book will not accomplish what he wishes and that is to spread scorn or prejudice towards the Islamic belief system. In the end, the only thing Pastor Terry Jones will accomplish, is that he and his religion will be thought of as belonging to agroup of sociopathic lunatics, and that is one good reason not to burn a Koran.
I am so glad I’m not religious, in fact I’m overjoyed to be able to brand myself agnostic…
Agnosticism - Thomas Henry Huxley (1825– 1895) came up with the word ‘agnostic’ while searching for a term to describe his own beliefs. He did not consider himself “an atheist, a theist, a pantheist; a materialist or an idealist; [nor] a Christian…” and while he had much in common with freethinkers, he wanted a term to describe himself more accurately. His difference with the people who gave themselves the above labels was that he did not feel certain of his knowledge- or ‘gnosis’- that he “had successfully solved the problem of existence.” The essential problem was that Huxley believed the problem was unsolvable. And thus far, despite the existence of famous thinkers like Emmanuel Kant and David Hume who philosophically agreed with him on the matter, there wasn’t a name for someone who believed you could never know the source of, nor reason for existence.
Especially during religious debate (or should I say the lack thereof) that is going on about The Park 51 Islamic Cultural Center in New York. I would not call this a debate because debates are about deliberation; consideration. This is not about any of that; this is about hatred and bigotry.
In the controversy surrounding the Park 51 Islamic Cultural Center in lower Manhattan, we hear these same concerns. The First Amendment is clear: Constitutional guarantees trump emotions. Now opponents of the project are making the security argument and the funding argument. New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Rich Lazio, a former Congress member appeared on the August 16 edition of "PBS Newshour" along with Teaneck, New Jersey Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin to discuss the mosque and community center. Lazio called for New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to look into the sources of funding for the mosque. Lazio also questioned the leader of the Cordoba Initiative because of some remarks he made after September 11. Lazio said this was a matter of security. These are the same concerns we heard in Boston.
The feelings of the families of people who died during the September 11 attacks are not at the heart of the issue any longer. We are back to anti-Muslim bias and fear. I say again. Islam did not attack the United States on September 11, 2001. Criminals attacked this nation. To ask every Muslim from this moment forward to prove their loyalty to the Untied States, to prove they have never been associated with someone who has said or done something offensive, and or to prove that every dollar that goes into a building project did not come from some source that the wider society does not approve is unfair. We do not ask this of any other group of citizens. FROM THIS SITE http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/valerie_elverton_dixon/2010/08/the_park_51_islamic_cultural_center_and_american_values.html
During the Cheney/Bush reign of hate the neocons wanted to wage a preemptive war with Iraq. They were planning this war for some time. But they were unable to realize their dream because public sentiment would have nothing to do with it (simply put). They needed a new Pearl Harbor to satisfy their lust for America’s World Dominance:
In 1997 Wolfowitz and colleagues including Cheney, vice-president, and Richard Perle, dubbed “the Prince of Darkness” when he was Ronald Reagan’s assistant secretary of defense, founded a think tank called Project for a New American Century. In a 2000 document, the group speculated that “some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor” was needed to assure US global power.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, Wolfowitz urged the targeting of Saddam’s regime as the first stage of a new conflict. He was overruled when Bush decided to focus on Afghanistan. Iraq had been in Wolfowitz’s sights since Jimmy Carter’s presidency, when he wrote a paper warning of the country’s pernicious influence. He also urged Bill Clinton to get rid of Saddam.
He owes much of his political creed to his childhood. His father Jacob, an eminent Polish mathematician, emigrated from Warsaw to New York in 1920. The loss of relatives in the Holocaust taught Wolfowitz, born in December 1943, that appeasement was not an option. MORE HERE http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article432446.ece
I can’t help but believe that all the hate and bigotry that has taken hold of our country stems from all the years the so called “neoconservative ideologues” have been in power. Unfortunately, their power did not end with the election of Barack Obama. They are as strong as ever within the Libertarian movement with an offshoot dubbed "Tea Party". This time they are able to use ignorance as a power source, something that dictators have used for as long as time has been recorded.
TERROR, POWER AND NEOCONSERVATIVE IDEOLOGY
Neoconservatives desperately needed more power, and that power was delivered on a silver platter in the form of 9/11.
Neoconservative documents have long professed a desire to rule the world. Their own documents show they knew a truly "American" society would never support their plans. ...their own documents show they understood the BENEFIT of a "New Pearl Harbor."
It has never been easy to take over the world. It has always required a certain kind of person; a person capable of things most others are not capable of. -That they must be willing to lie, cheat, murder, maim, and manipulate goes without saying. That they must accept millions of innocent civilians will suffer and die as a result of their conquest goes without saying. That they can't be bothered with such things as "moral consistency" goes without saying.
Knowing this, it is time for some intellectual honesty. It is time we finally accept that criminal means are no way to secure so called "moral ends." -And those who profess goals that can only be had using criminal means reveal exactly what kind of people they are. MORE HERE http://stopthelie.com/terror_power_and_neoconservative_ideology.html
This brings me back to how elated I am not to be religious. I don’t carry the burden of MY RELIGION IS BETTER THAN YOUR RELIGION. Since I don’t have a religion, I am free to see them all equally. Yes, they really are all equal when their purpose is to help people live a better life. But if they indoctrinate people to HATE one another, they are destructive and a blight towards the achievement of peace. So far, I believe the former is the intention of religion but if it is used to further political goals through the use of HATE than it doesn’t have a chance for good and will become an instrument of destruction, destroying the very lives that it was created to help. Why can't we all be tolerant of each others' belief system, why must there always be loathing when something is not explained and quite understood. We are all more "the same" than we are different. Clothing, beliefs and cultural habits do not define the core of what we are. Why is this so difficult for some to learn? thinkingblue aka thethinkingblue
ISLAM IN AMERICA By Bobby Ghosh / Dearborn, Mich.
You don't have to be prejudiced against Islam to believe, as many Americans do, that the area around Ground Zero is a sacred place. But sadly, in an election season, such sentiments have been stoked into a political issue. As the debate has grown more heated, Park51, as the proposed Muslim cultural center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero is called, has become a litmus test for everything from private-property rights to religious tolerance. But it is plain that many of Park51's opponents are motivated by deep-seated Islamophobia.
The proposed site is close not just to Ground Zero; it's also a stone's throw from strip clubs, liquor stores and other establishments typical of lower Manhattan. Muslims have been praying in the building for nearly a year, a fact that has got lost in the noise of the protests. But since early August, it has been the scene of frequent demonstrations, with signs saying things such as "All I Need to Know About Islam, I Learned on 9/11." The husband-and-wife team behind Park51, Imam Feisal Rauf and Daisy Khan, seem stunned into paralysis: while opponents cast them as extremists sympathetic to al-Qaeda, they have given very few interviews themselves. Pressure is mounting on the couple to move their center to a less polarizing location. (See TIME's photo-essay "Muslim in America.")
The controversy has also brought new scrutiny to other examples of anti-Islam and anti-Muslim protests, raising much larger questions: Does America have a problem with Islam? Have the terrorist attacks of 9/11 — and other attempts since — permanently excluded Muslims from full assimilation into American life?
Although the American strain of Islamophobia lacks some of the traditional elements of religious persecution — there's no sign that violence against Muslims is on the rise, for instance — there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that hate speech against Muslims and Islam is growing both more widespread and more heated. Meanwhile, a new TIME–Abt SRBI poll found that 46% of Americans believe Islam is more likely than other faiths to encourage violence against nonbelievers. Only 37% know a Muslim American. Overall, 61% oppose the Park51 project, while just 26% are in favor of it. Just 23% say it would be a symbol of religious tolerance, while 44% say it would be an insult to those who died on 9/11. (See "Why the GOP Should Avoid the Mosque Issue.")
Islamophobia in the U.S. doesn't approach levels seen in other countries where Muslims are in a minority. But to be a Muslim in America now is to endure slings and arrows against your faith — not just in the schoolyard and the office but also outside your place of worship and in the public square, where some of the country's most powerful mainstream religious and political leaders unthinkingly (or worse, deliberately) conflate Islam with terrorism and savagery. In France and Britain, politicians from fringe parties say appalling things about Muslims, but there's no one in Europe of the stature of a former House Speaker who would, as Newt Gingrich did, equate Islam with Nazism.
NEW YORK — There's no shortage of opinions — or theatrics — at the site of a proposed Islamic center and mosque two blocks from where the World Trade Center stood before two hijacked jetliners crashed into its twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
It's a deliberate Muslim thumb in the eye to survivors of the terrorist attacks to build the facility on such hallowed ground, declared Andrew Sullivan, a star-spangled, red, white and blue hard-hat-wearing union worker as he stood outside the site one day this week.
"The whole connotation of putting a mosque on conquered lands has overtones here," said Sullivan, who runs a blog called Blue Collar Corner and is seeking signed pledges from union members that they won't work on center/mosque project.
An agitated and animated Anthony Hernandez expressed a different view as he took time from his lunch hour to visit the proposed site of the Cordoba House — or Park51 — Islamic center and mosque.
"What hallowed ground?" said Hernandez, a New York City government employee as he pointed to the Dakota Roadhouse bar next to the proposed project site.
Also nearby: a strip club called the New York Dolls gentleman's club,
an off-track betting parlor and smaller mosque that's been there for four decades. The New York Daily News recently tallied the businesses within a three-block area of the World Trade Center site — 17 pizza shops, 18 bank branches, 11 bars, 10 shoe stores and "17 salons where a girl can get her lady parts groomed."
"This is a false argument. There's nothing wrong with having a mosque here," Hernandez said. "This is religious freedom. This is the United States."
Please sign this very important petition "demand question time" (of our political leaders) HERE.. We really need more dialog from those at the top... The Republicans have got to be made to realize they can't hide behind "NO" any longer! thinkingblue
To: US Department of Defense; US Department of Justice
We, the Undersigned, call for justice for US Army PFC Bradley Manning, incarcerated without charge (as of 18 June 2010) at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.
Media accounts state that Mr. Manning was arrested in late May for leaking the video of US Apache helicopter pilots killing innocent people and seriously wounding two children in Baghdad, including those who arrived to help the wounded, as well as potentially other material. The video was released by WikiLeaks under the name "Collateral Murder".
If these allegations are untrue, we call upon the US Department of Defense to release Mr. Manning immediately.
If these allegations ARE true, we ALSO call upon the US Department of Defense to release Mr. Manning immediately.
Simultaneously, we express our support for Mr. Manning in any case, and our admiration for his courage if he is, in fact, the person who disclosed the video. Like in the cases of Daniel Ellsberg, W. Mark Felt, Frank Serpico and countless other whistleblowers before, government demands for secrecy must yield to public knowledge and justice when government crime and corruption are being kept hidden.
We live in a country that is gripped by fear. The politicians have been using it for years so they can have more time to gain more power. It’s pathetic how easy it is to make a free country UNFREE just by implying there is something to fear. Whistleblowers (people who make a public disclosure of wrongdoing or corruption) are protectors of freedom that is why the Powers condemn them; less public disclosure of wrongdoing, more infringement on the Rights of the People. Arresting and retaining Bradley Manning has exposed what you’ve been up to. It’s time to end using Bradley Manning as a scapegoat in order to stop anyone else that is brave enough to unveil the wrongdoings in government. Give him back his freedom; he is a hero not a sacrificial lamb. thinkingblue aka thethinkingblue.
PS: Why do we as a species still engage in legalized murder?
To say the below video is disturbing is a great understatement. The horror of war is an understatement. Please be aware, there isn’t anything that warrants the mayhem that you will see if you click the “Play” button.
But this is not the time to give-up. Sure we can't match the flow of money and sure the "R's" will be able to use the dirtiest, meanest and limitless intolerable slander attacks against their "D" opponents but We The People have our tools, they can't shut us up completely! We can speak out, write letters to our congress, go on-line and add our names to petitions, write blogs, tweet, and facebook our objections. We can also turn off the TV when one of their attack ads makes its way into our homes, and throw the propagandized fliers in the trash also hang-up on robo-calls. Then when it’s time to VOTE, we can vote against all those who use negative campaigning and mendacity to cloud our minds.
It's not going to be easy but we the American people have the power to fight CORPORATE PERSONHOOD and not allow them an easy win! YES WE DO! thinkingblue aka thethinkingblue
It isn't like this is a complete surprise, but still, there is something incestuous about News Corp. donating $1 million to the Republican Governors' Association in order for the Republican Governors' Association to mount high-profile attack campaigns on Democratic candidates. I think it's safe for everyone to eliminate the terms "fair" and "balanced" from any discussion of Fox News.
More disturbing to me than even the editorial compromise that comes from such a contribution is the fact that the largest shareholder (besides Murdoch) in News Corp is Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who is launching an Arabic News Network in partnership with News Corp. That raises all sorts of ethical and political issues for me. Does the corporate veil shield News Corp from the ban on contributions from foreign countries? It likely does, but it certainly should disqualify Fox News from being considered a "news outlet."
News Corp. isn't the only member of the RGA Million Dollar Roundtable, either, though they hold the record for the most compromised by it. David Koch has also donated $1 million to the cause, and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce has given $2,547,500 in 2010.
There are many other corporate members of the Six-Figure club. Keep in mind these are cumulative totals through June 30, 2010. Expect them to at least double by November:
AT&T: $280,000
Chevron: $150,000
Coca-Cola Bottling Company: $100,000
Coca-Cola Company: $135,000
Consolidated Energy: $100,000
Contran Corp: $100,000 (also $25,000 from Harold Simmons, CEO Total: $125,000)
Devon Energy: $250,000
Eli Lilly: $210,000
Emerson: $100,000
FirstEnergy Corp: $250,000
Philip Geier: $100,000
General Electric Co: $105,000
Hewlett-Packard: $100,900
Hunt Consolidated: $100,000
IQ Innovations: $200,000
Jacobs Entertainment: $125,000
Liberty Mutual Group: $100,000
Metropolitan Milwaukee Assoc. of Commerce: $115,000
Larry Mizel/MDC Holdings: $100,000
MTR Gaming: $125,000
Mugar Enterprises/David Mugar: $100,000
Murray Energy Corporation: $100,000
Natixis Global Asset Management, LP: $100,000
New Balance: $100,000
Nextera Energy Resources, Inc.: $100,000
Oracle: $100,000
Peabody Investments Corp: $120,000
Bruce Rauner/GTCR Golder Rauner, LLC: $100,000
Ryan Innovative Solutions: $100,000
SAS Institute: $130,000
SEIU: $100,000
Paul Singer/Elliott Management: $500,000
Jack Taylor/Enterprise Holdings: $190,000 (Also $50,000 from Andrew Taylor, CEO and Phyllis Taylor $25,000 Total $265,000)
Travelers Indemnity Company: $200,000
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc: $140,000
Richard DeVos/Alticor: $150,000
Keep in mind, this is only the list from the June, 2010 quarterly report. I'm certain there are many more on the March 2010 report who poured their money in at the first of the year.
For the publicly held corporations like News Corp, those donations come right off the bottom line. Funny how employees are overhead to cut, lay off, underpay and overwork in order to boost that bottom line, but million-dollar contributions to Haley Barbour's attack machine are just part of the cost of doing business.
Democratic operatives have hit back with statements calling Fox News's RGA donation a final indication that their "Fair and Balanced" brand is less accurate than ever.
From Nathan Daschle, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association:
"By contributing $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, Fox has crossed a bright line. Fox can no longer pretend that it is a 'fair and balanced' news organization when Rupert Murdoch greenlights a million dollar contribution to defeat Democratic governors.
"Time and time again, Fox News has defended itself against accusations that it is nothing more than a tool of the Republican Party. We know now that the reality is so much worse: they're bankrolling the GOP. FOX's news division is ignoring the fact that its own parent company made a direct and unprecedented partisan contribution to defeat Democrats. This is hypocrisy at its worst, and is a sad day for all of us who believe that an independent and impartial media is vital to our democracy.
"Not only does this contribution severely compromise Fox's news reporting, but it even breaks Fox's own promise to its shareholders that it won't give money to benefit officeholders.
"While it might be naive to think this will ever happen, we can only hope that Fox will own up to the activities and that its stable of opinion hosts like Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly will do the right thing and call on their company to return the contribution."
"'Fair and balanced' has been rendered utterly meaningless. Any pretense that may have existed about the ties between Fox News and the Republican Party has been ripped violently away.
"No Republican who appears on Fox can be seen as answering to an independent press and all should appear with a disclaimer for who they truly are -- the favored candidate of the corporate-friendly network. No Fox News's political coverage can be seen as impartial and all of it should have a disclaimer for what it truly is -- partisan propaganda."
Know something we don't? E-mail us at media@huffingtonpost.com
Fox News and Wall Street Journal parent company News Corp donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association in June, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported. The media conglomerate, controlled by Ch... Fox News and Wall Street Journal parent company News Corp donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association in June, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported. The media conglomerate, controlled by Ch...
Back in April, when I confronted Murdoch about Fox News' support of the Tea Parties, he told me, "I don't think we should be supporting the tea party or any other party." Now it is clear Rupert Murdoch lied to me.
Please sign this very important petition "demand question time" (of our political leaders) HERE.. We really need more dialog from those at the top... The Republicans have got to be made to realize they can't hide behind "NO" any longer! thinkingblue
Not if you watch TV... On all my fav political shows (Olbermann, Maddox, Sanchez and other progressive slanting TV) there’s always some story (albeit negative) about Jan Weber, Sharron Angle, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin and the other squirrely cast of R’s, that make me want to HOLLER UNCLE but instead I mute the sound and wonder about the sanity of this country. (And I'm not even going near the likes of FOX NEWS...)
I just came across the smelliest of all the right-wing STINK-BOMBS letting loose his latest VERBAL FART… Rush Limbaugh is now defending the right-wing whack jobs like Sarah, Sharon (Limbaugh calls her Shirley), Michele and Jan... by lambasting the Repubs...
Holy steaming bat sh*t Batman, LimP-augh is grasping at BENDY STRAWS for his hate hyperbole by going after the Grand Old Party… Hmmm, I wonder if the majority of Republicans still consider Ole Rush, The Führer of the GOP? thinkingblue aka thethinkingblue
Please sign this very important petition "demand question time" (of our political leaders) HERE.. We really need more dialog from those at the top... The Republicans have got to be made to realize they can't hide behind "NO" any longer! thinkingblue
The Tea Party Republican Leaders or Tea Party Repugnant Organizers seem to have one eye on brainwashing their sycophants and the other eyeon HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY from their ignorance... But they did admit that...“It might attract some customers. It might drive some away,”... Let's hope for the latter. thinkingblue
PS: They will promote the Tea Party Exchange concept to other chapters of the Tea Party, whose members advocate for reducing taxes and cutting spending and the size of government.(WTF? Where were these assholes when Bush was spending us into the dire straits we're in now? They want it two ways... CUT TAXES FOR THE RICH AND LESS SPENDING ON THE POOR (or less social programs for the middle-class to help them from becoming poor...!) which means MORE MONEY FOR THEM... it makes me sick to my stomach ...! Go get your puke bucket and listen to this F**king jerk here: http://www.teapartyexchange.org/ ) or here.
Here's a tea party member with a business who doesn't want it mixed with politics... OH MY, A "THINKING" TEA PARTIER, will wonders never cease?
PS2: I searched for a list and found the one below. I don't know why the TPX thingy ticked me off so much... I think it was Hutchinson's persona and voice so typical of the know-it-all rethugs of the right who learned how to use propaganda to get the ignorant American to embrace their wealthy agenda while stepping on the faces of those they subjugate. The tea party is so full of ignoramuses that it makes you want to SCREAM...! thinkingblue
Tea Party supporters who obtain a TPX-Great American card — similar to a customer-loyalty card consumers can attach to key rings — and show it at a participating business can get a discount on the company’s services. The local merchant then gives 5 percent of the sale revenue to the local Tea party chapter to help fund rallies.
Participating businesses:
Anderson Mechanical Associates, LLC
B & K Heating, Inc.
Beef O’Brady’s Family Sports Pub
Cool Solutions Heating & Air Conditioning
D.A.R.E. Automotive Specialists,Inc.
Essex & Associates, Inc.
Essex HR & Associates
Evans BMW, Volvo, Volkswagen
Flash Quick Copy, Inc.
G.L. Dart General Contracting/A-1 Roofing
Gamber Family Dental
Graphic Impact
HouseMaster Home Inspections and Radon Testing
Marketing Consultants
McAfee Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc.
O’Learys Pub & Grub
Reiber Cleaners, Inc.
Rich Roofing
Right at Home-Dayton
Ryan B. Walker CPA Inc.
Safeguard Print & Promo
Screen Works, Inc.
Susan Essex Realtor
Tea Party Payroll, LLC
The Accounting & Business Coach
The Bronze Salon Tanning - This one is probably AOK with John A. Boehner (R - OH).
DAYTON — About 30 local businesses are participating in a program to link conservative consumers with businesses owned by conservatives to help support the Tea Party.
Donald Hutchinson, a businessman and Tea Party supporter, calls his initiative the Tea Party Exchange Inc.
Tea Party supporters who obtain a TPX-Great American card — similar to a customer-loyalty card consumers can attach to key rings — and show it at a participating business can get a discount on the company’s services. The local merchant then gives 5 percent of the sale revenue to the local Tea party chapter to help fund rallies.
“It might attract some customers. It might drive some away,” said Herb Asher, an Ohio State University political science professor. “If I were a businessperson, the first thing I’d ask: Is this a winner or a loser for me?”
Hutchinson is co-founder and president of Essex HR and Associates, a Washington Twp. human resources consultant. He said he plans to speak at the national March on DC Tea Party rally Sept. 11 in Washington, D.C., and will promote the Tea Party Exchange concept to other chapters of the Tea Party, whose members advocate for reducing taxes and cutting spending and the size of government.
But businessman Greg McAfee, president and owner of McAfee Heating and Air Conditioning in Kettering, said his company is participating in the Tea Party Exchange, along with about a dozen other businesses.
McAfee said Thursday that since he started speaking at Tea Party rallies in April 2009, he received four negative letters from customers who said they would stop using his company because of his politics. But McAfee said he also has received about 75 positive letters and e-mails from conservative consumers, and that they have helped bring him an increase in new customers since then.
There are a number of businesses getting involved in the Tea Party Exchange. Some are Tea Party leaders and take a position they are going to put their stake into the ground and announce to the public they are Tea Party Exchange Members. They do this through window decals, banners, and posters. These businesses do not worry about whether or not they may offend someone because of their beliefs in the Tea Party’s three core values: (1) limited federal government, (2) fiscal responsibility, and (3) free markets. I applaud these businesses and owners for taking a stand for what they believe in. Without their courage, this movement would be much harder. However, just as important as these leaders, are the future leaders of the tea party, the participators.
These businesses join Tea Party Exchange yet do not want to be as outspoken on the conservative topics. They often have a substantial liberal client base that they do not want to disturb. Many of the businesses have found their rightful place in the Tea Party Exchange. They become members in the exchange yet do not place window decals or other advertising material in their place of business. Therefore, they can be located within our conservative database yet remain neutral on the issues to the general public. Both groups will be very effective at fund raising for our combined conservative cause.
One very important note to understand, whether you are a Tea Party leader or participator does not define you as a person, it simply defines the position you have placed yourself within. In other words, sometimes we are leaders and sometimes participators. It all depends on the situation.
Question: How would you reply to a business owner that says they would like to join the Tea Party Exchange yet they do not want to risk upsetting their not so conservative clients? Should this be a worry and how do you plan on addressing it?
Please sign this very important petition "demand question time" (of our political leaders) HERE.. We really need more dialog from those at the top... The Republicans have got to be made to realize they can't hide behind "NO" any longer! thinkingblue
The below article is quite sad. Sad because war is sad, sad because lives are lost for practically no good reason and sad because even though so many Americans said no to these wars, their demands fell upon deaf ears. The Bush/Cheney administration finally had their anxiously awaited reason for war, the attack of September 11, 2001, a day when a handful of hoodlums attacked America clearing the way for this administration to declare war. Whether the attack could have been prevented is still being debated but the fact that it happened and was milked by the Bush/Cheney Whitehouse so they could realize a dream they had cultivated for years prior to this dreadful event. (a dream they called at the time...The Wolfowitz Doctrine)
In the aftermath of such horror, Bush/Cheney could not wait to send US troops to a country who did not actually commit the crime (there was no, one country at fault just a band of marauders, a gang of thugs). They picked a country and all agreed we must preempt a war there as payback for the assault upon our soil. We had the power, they would say to each other, so why not and once this war is underway we will be able to slip in the war we really want in Iraq. (under the People's nose before the insult of 911 wears too thin.)
Well, they got their way and now these wars continue to kill and maim and have yet to produce the REAL perpetrator of that horrible day, Osama Bin Laden.
Cheney, Bush and the rest of the neocons are now out of office and are safely back living their comfy lives as celebrities but not so for the American troops who are still sacrificing their lives every day in a hapless war. Most who die are soon forgotten, most who are forced to live a life of pain after being mutilated will never be known.
But on facebook a woman named Pat McDermott Nixon is trying to bring these fallen Americans out of obscurity and put a real human face behind the statistics. Something I tried to do once, after the Iraq war was underway. But I was stopped in my tracks by a Bush devotee who had lost a relative in that war and told me that because my politics were of a Liberal nature she did not want me to use her relative's name to spread a negative view of Bush's wars. (???) The hurt and sorrow of losing a loved one in war made me ask the question to myself: DO I REALLY HAVE A RIGHT TO POST NAMES AND BRIEF BIOS OF THOSE WHO HAVE PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE OF WAR ESPECIALLY IF IT OFFENDS THOSE LEFT BEHIND? So I took the page down.
This Afghanistan war has gone on so long with new casualties being added to the already long list of those lost, everyday. It makes me wonder, are there still people out there who believe that Bush and Cheney were right to, so carelessly and without much emotion wage a war that appeared impossible to win? (with not only one country but two simultaneously). If there are still people who think that casually going to war is just and warranted, I can’t help but believe that these very people are somewhat responsible for the enormous suffering.
Please read the short article below and the poignant comment from a veteran of another war that was also carelessly waged so long ago... called Nam. thinkingblue
DOD announced today the death of a soldier. Sgt. Mario Rodriquez, 24, of Smithville, Texas, died June 11 in Powrak, Afghanistan "of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fires [sic]." He was assigned to the 264th Clearance Company, 27th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Airborne), 20th Engineer
For the last year and a half, I've been posting... Department of Defense casualty alerts to remind me, and my 2,400 or so "friends" on Facebook, of the human beings behind the statistics of American losses in Iraq and Afghanistan. In recent weeks, a woman named Pat McDermott Nixon has added an update of her own after each of my posts about a fallen American. Nixon's Facebook comment on June 15 , 9:56
p.m.:
Sgt. Mario Rodriguez, 24, left behind a... wife and 7-year-old daughter. His was the fourth active duty death from Smithville (a town of fewer than 5,000) in four years
-- three in the last year alone.
She listed the three other residents' names,
and when they died.
After I thanked her, Nixon explained in a second post that she often did "a little search to discover
something more personal" about each American who dies.
"Tonight," she added, "I decided to post what I'd found."
Thus began an online partnership with a woman I've never met. I post the latest DOD announcement, and Nixon almost always follows up with a bio, and a link to the obituary.
Earlier this week, I decided to find out more about this 62-year-old woman in Strongsville. Why was she willing to do this?
"At first, I was reading the posts and saying the names aloud to myself," she said. "Saying their ages, too. I have three boys, ages 29, 25 and 22."
She started researching the names of the fallen online.
"I've always been intrigued by the micro of life, rather than the macro," she said. "I don't know anyone who has died in Iraq and Afghanistan. We can become so insulated by where we live and who we know -- and don't know."
Nixon is a retired children's librarian, so research is a lifelong habit. But there's more to her story. She came of age during the Vietnam War, and as we talked she recalled another list of names -- and faces -- that may have planted the seeds for her current practice of honoring the fallen.
In 1969, she was a young elementary school teacher in Cleveland when the June 27 issue of LIFE magazine devoted 12 pages to 242 young men who had died in Vietnam in a single week, from May 28 to June 3. Nine were from Ohio, which ranked fifth in the number of Vietnam deaths by the time the war was over.
"[W]e must pause to look into the faces," read the introduction to LIFE's photo gallery, which listed each man by name, age, rank and hometown. "More than we must know how many, we must know who. The faces of one week's dead, unknown but to families and friends, are suddenly recognized by all in this gallery of young American eyes."
Forty-one years later, Nixon still remembers looking at those pages of young faces, reading each name and age aloud and feeling "a deeper awareness of the loss." Now, she publishes her own version of a gallery, one bio at a time.
On Tuesday, July 20, I paused in writing this column to post the following DOD alert on Facebook: Sgt. Justin B. Allen, 23, of Coal Grove, Ohio, died July 18 in Zhari, Afghanistan "of wounds suffered when he was shot by insurgents while conducting combat operations . . ."
Another Ohio boy.
A few minutes later, Pat McDermott Nixon posted
an excerpt from his obituary in the Ironton Tribune:
In November, Justin was going to marry his fiancee, Kimberly Schwartz, whom he had met when she moved to Lawrence County from Florida. "She had already bought her dress," [his mother] Bonnie said.
The last time Bonnie saw her son was this spring when he came home between deployments. She wants her son to be remembered for his generosity, honesty and patriotism.
Reply:the thing that, as a veteran of the shitpile... that the rest of the country referred to as 'the war in vietnam' but we G.I.'s simply referred to as the 'nam, puts a glob in my throat and gut is the fact that these guys in the sandbox are doing, often, up to four combat deployments of 15 months each. think about that! about how that can totally leave a person an emotional wreck and a spiritual garbage bag! in 'nam it was a year - 12 months - and we knew that if we were lucky enough to 'make it' we'd be comin' back to the world. '364 and a wake up' we called it. and as our date of exiting drew nearer, we were 'short', and the shorter we got, we became the more frozen in our paranoia of not making it. can you imagine the stress on THESE guys?? goddamn, it pisses me off to no end! may we never forget them and the heartache their families must bear! i hate fucking war! "those who start wars never fight them, and those who fight wars never like them." - michael franti. thanks for this post, maddi. peace, mike
These Bush wars have been horrible beyond anything that resembles reason. Not only for those who were caught in the middle of the tragic chess game, the neocons cooked up but also for humanity. We are becoming desensitized because these wars have continued for so long. When Boy Dubya was able to play out his war game, I thought I was living in the twilight zone. Life was dark for most of us who hate that wars can be so easily pitched forth. Now we hardly hear of the ongoing tragedies that are occurring each and every moment. Thanks so much for posting this. We need more articles and more comments about these disgusting wars. Apathy should not be allowed to flourish.
Please sign Al Franken's Petition to SAVE Net Neutrality... Don't allow the CORPORATE PERSON-HOOD to stamp out the LEAN-OVER-THE-FENCE freedom we enjoy on the Internet today... (FYI - In many neighborhoods in the US, houses are separated by fences, and if you are in your back yard the only way to communicate with your neighbor is to"lean over the fence" and talk to them..."as a small child I would watch my mother do this daily... Today we do it on FACEBOOK and The Internet!" tb)
If BIG CORPORATE BIG DADDY could charge us for the air we breathe THEY WOULD...! But I don't think they've figured out how to do that just yet, but then again, maybe they have, BY DIRTYING IT UP!.
Please sign this very important petition "demand question time" (of our political leaders) HERE.. We really need more dialog from those at the top... The Republicans have got to be made to realize they can't hide behind "NO" any longer! thinkingblue
The Voice Of Reason Bob Shrum - Re:House Being Called Back From Recess To Vote On Bailout To Fund States On Behalf Of Teachers, Police and Firemen.
The last time the House came back from recess was in 2008, as lawmakers’ debated providing aid for the auto industry. Before that, the House came back to Washington to deal with the case of Terri Schiavo, a comatose woman whose husband was seeking to remove her feeding tube.*** ----
”Ah yes, we all remember that 2005 hypocritical move by the Republican Leaders, which had proved beyond a shadow of doubt that all the Congressional Leaders who wear an 'R' as a badge of honor are nothing but a bunch of 24-carat charlatans." thinkingblue aka thethinkingblue
Voice Of Reason Bob Shrum Re:House Being Called Back From Recess To Vote On Bailout
The House will return to Washington next week to act on Medicaid and education funding for states.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the news via Twitter, saying: “I will be calling the House back into session early next week to save teachers’ jobs and help seniors & children.”
The news means lawmakers will be interrupting their August recess to come back into session.
A House leadership aide told The Hill the early return was discussed following the Senate’s vote Wednesday to move forward on the $26 billion package.
Separately, a Democratic aide said if members return to Washington to vote on the package, it would be Monday or Tuesday next week.The House gallery said the chamber will be in session Tuesday but there was a possibility members could return Monday for votes.
A K Street source said $10 billion in aid to teachers, which is part of the package, drove the issue, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was pushing Pelosi to call the House back to Washington.
Pelosi seemed to acknowledge that in her tweet when she wrote the return was “to save teachers’ jobs.”
States would have to lay off thousands of teachers if the money isn’t approved by Congress until September. The House was scheduled to return the second week of next month.
It would be “very difficult for the House to be away from Washington for five weeks” while thousands of state employees face layoffs because of budget shortages, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Wednesday.
The package would set up a $10 billion Education Jobs Funds to spare teachers from layoffs. It would also disperse $16 billion in Medicaid funding to states struggling to balance their budgets.
It isn’t as urgent that Congress approve the Medicaid funding, because that portion of the package approves payments that would be dispersed beginning in January.
The Senate invoked cloture on the package Wednesday, setting up a final vote on passage.
“The House must pass this bill with no changes as soon as possible,” AFSCME legislative affairs specialist Linda Bennett wrote in a memo obtained by The Hill.
“There is talk that Speaker Pelosi could call back the House to vote on this matter before September. An August vote would alleviate teacher job losses before school starts in September,” Bennett wrote in the memo, which was circulating Wednesday on K Street.
“Please call offices of allies and those who had deficit concerns with the tax extender bill. We need support for this (soon-to-be) Senate passed bill to move quickly in the House,” Bennett wrote in the memo.
A senior Democratic aide said Reid’s and Pelosi’s staff were in discussions over whether the House needs to return to Washington to pass the legislation.
Otherwise, the package would have to wait until the week of Sept. 13, when House lawmakers were scheduled to return from the August recess. Both chambers must pass the legislation before President Obama can sign it into law and states can begin accepting the federal assistance.
A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score assumed the bill would not become law until mid-September.
Republicans might object to passing the legislation in August, which could affect its estimated cost.
Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), criticized the Democrats’ talks.
“The American people don’t want more ’stimulus’ spending — particularly spending for labor unions attached to a job-killing tax increase. Democrats would be better off listening to their constituents, who are asking, ‘Where are the jobs?’ rather than returning to Washington, D.C., to vote for more tax hikes and special-interest bailouts,” Steel said.
WTF??? It's the same ole tune and the same ole meaning... Keep the populous down and miserable so they will vote "R" thinking the "R" Swindlers will be good to them. PRICELESS! thinkingblue aka the thinkingblue
NOT MANY COMMENTS JUST A FEW WITH A COUPLE OF KNUCKLEHEAD ONES IN BETWEEN:
Sentinel at the Gate August 4, 2010 at 2:38 pm
This would be a good time for Repubs to just stay on vacation and let the Dhimmis fully own this one. Skip any debate or fillibuster as they will just howl and pass it without you anyway.
But we all know that Repugnants like Snowe, Collins, Graham, Brown and others will show up panting and salivating like Pavlov’s dog to get a “little gravy”
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Chuck O August 4, 2010 at 2:58 pm
I thought bailouts were bad? Oh silly me. I forgot it’s only bad when the president has an R behind his name.
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jasjfarrell August 4, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Snowe and Collins cave once again and agree to use taxpayer money to prop up the wasteful spending of a few states. Will it ever end?
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phil August 6, 2010 at 7:03 pm
jasjfarrell your honestly an asshole
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thinkingblue August 8, 2010 at 7:25 am
Hey Phil, You sure hit the proverbial nail on the head! Thanks
PROP UP THE WASTEFUL SPENDING OF A “FEW” STATES…??? WTF? How horrible to give aid to states so they can maintain their Fire Departments, Police and Teachers… SUCH WASTEFUL SPENDING. IMAO, Repugs sure are easy to brainwash… And the Repub Leaders Know It All Too Well!! CHEERS!
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In any case, I just wished the American people could understand what dire straits we will be in if the "R" leaders take control of our government once again. I love my country but I feel so helpless in watching what is playing out (as in game) before our very eyes. It's demoralizing! thinkingblue
Please sign this very important petition "demand question time" (of our political leaders) HERE.. We really need more dialog from those at the top... The Republicans have got to be made to realize they can't hide behind "NO" any longer! thinkingblue
Goal of The American Educational System - HOW TO PASS TESTS!
An excellent THINKING speech by a High School Student.
It seems that the American Educational Public School system is interested in one goal and that is to teach students how to pass tests. I can assert this to be true since my daughter is an elementary school teacher and I have heard from her how frustrating it is to be a teacher who is unable to inspire because of the pressure of being forced to only teach how to pass tests. http://www.thethinkingblue.com/education.html
I received this in my mailbox this morning. So good it’s worthy of a pass around. The American Educational System leaves a lot to be desired and no one could have said it better than this young man, his words are eloquent and quite thoughtful. thinkingblue
PS: I did a Google Search and found that the Ron Paul Libertarian Movement had included this speech in many of its blogs. I do not and cannot subscribe to the Tea Party Movement but this speech has many of the elements that I believe in. Perhaps if the Tea Party Drive would start weeding out the Lunatic Fringe that have overtaken its notoriety, we might all be able to understand what exactly they are trying to promote. But as it stands today their position appears to be bigotry, selfishness and insanity.
The following speech was delivered by top of the class student Erica Goldson during the graduation ceremony at Coxsackie-Athens High School on June 25, 2010
Here I stand
There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, "If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, "Ten years." The student then said, "But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast – How long then?" Replied the Master, "Well, twenty years." "But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?" asked the student. "Thirty years," replied the Master. "But, I do not understand," said the disappointed student. "At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?" Replied the Master, "When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path."
This is the dilemma I've faced within the American education system. We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test, or graduating as first in the class. However, in this way, we do not really learn. We do whatever it takes to achieve our original objective.
Some of you may be thinking, "Well, if you pass a test, or become valedictorian, didn't you learn something? Well, yes, you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps, you only learned how to memorize names, places, and dates to later on forget in order to clear your mind for the next test. School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.
I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contend that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition – a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared.
John Taylor Gatto, a retired school teacher and activist critical of compulsory schooling, asserts, "We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness – curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids into truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don't do that." Between these cinderblock walls, we are all expected to be the same. We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt.
H. L. Mencken wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not "to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. ... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim ... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States."
To illustrate this idea, doesn't it perturb you to learn about the idea of "critical thinking?" Is there really such a thing as "uncritically thinking?" To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?
This was happening to me, and if it wasn't for the rare occurrence of an avant-garde tenth grade English teacher, Donna Bryan, who allowed me to open my mind and ask questions before accepting textbook doctrine, I would have been doomed. I am now enlightened, but my mind still feels disabled. I must retrain myself and constantly remember how insane this ostensibly sane place really is.
And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us.
We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren't we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still.
The saddest part is that the majority of students don't have the opportunity to reflect as I did. The majority of students are put through the same brainwashing techniques in order to create a complacent labor force working in the interests of large corporations and secretive government, and worst of all, they are completely unaware of it. I will never be able to turn back these 18 years. I can't run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition. This part of my life is over, and I want to make sure that no other child will have his or her potential suppressed by powers meant to exploit and control. We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers. We are anything we want to be – but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation.
For those of you out there that must continue to sit in desks and yield to the authoritarian ideologies of instructors, do not be disheartened. You still have the opportunity to stand up, ask questions, be critical, and create your own perspective. Demand a setting that will provide you with intellectual capabilities that allow you to expand your mind instead of directing it. Demand that you be interested in class. Demand that the excuse, "You have to learn this for the test" is not good enough for you. Education is an excellent tool, if used properly, but focus more on learning rather than getting good grades.
For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetencies of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake.
For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.
So, here I stand. I am not standing here as valedictorian by myself. I was molded by my environment, by all of my peers who are sitting here watching me. I couldn't have accomplished this without all of you. It was all of you who truly made me the person I am today. It was all of you who were my competition, yet my backbone. In that way, we are all valedictorians.
I am now supposed to say farewell to this institution, those who maintain it, and those who stand with me and behind me, but I hope this farewell is more of a "see you later" when we are all working together to rear a pedagogic movement. But first, let's go get those pieces of paper that tell us that we're smart enough to do so!
Please sign this very important petition "demand question time" (of our political leaders) HERE.. We really need more dialog from those at the top... The
Republicans have got to be made to realize they can't hide behind "NO" any longer! thinkingblue
Yes, there are two Americas’ Virginia, they exist as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. One tolerant and
free-thinking, the other intolerant and close-minded!
Sincerely, thinkingblue, from the TOLERANT AND FREE-THINKING USA
PS: Joe (You Lie) Wilson, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh et al reside in the intolerant America!
on brainwashing their sycophants and the other eye
...! Go get your puke bucket and listen to this F**king jerk here: 
