ThinkingBlue

A good way to live without becoming an old jackass.

Monday, November 26, 2012

A good way to live without becoming an old jackass.

Found this (recycled) wonderful message on facebook. It's especially poignant for the upcoming (mostly commercial and capitalistic) holidays. Please share and pass it around. Thanks! thinkingblue

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.

2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happens.

3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less from people but more from yourself.

You have two choices... smile and close this page,
or LIKE this and pass it along to someone else to SHARE the lesson.

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CAPITALISM: A Word Story
It is easy to forget that capitalism was coined not so long ago, in the mid-19th century, when the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, and individual entrepreneurs were creating new industries and amassing wealth. Terms for the other two major competing economic systems of the past two centuries— socialism and communism—were also coined around the same time. Also, about the same time it became common to designate all such coinages as “isms”: terms formed by adding the suffix -ism to a root word in order to expand its meaning to encompass a related system, theory, or practice. Thus from a fairly old word, capital, the relatively newer word, capitalism, was formed to describe the then emerging economies of the West. (Another towering ism coined later in the 19th century was, of course, Darwinism. )
On the surface, the meaning of capitalism seems straightforward; referring to an economic system in which private individuals, rather than governments, own property and businesses. But beneath the surface, strong currents of opinion and theory swirl about the term. Many people fiercely espouse capitalism as an economic freedom inseparable from democracy, as reflected in several books considered classics and still avidly read today: for example, Capitalism and Freedom by Nobel laureate Milton Friedman (first published in 1962), and Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy by Joseph A. Schumpeter (first published in 1943). So it may be a challenge to use the term without triggering a discussion of its broader political context.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/capitalism

Planning on reading Agenda 21, Glenn Beck's new dystopic novel?

Why Does Democratic Socialism Scare Ignorant People So?

WE DID IT!

Lest We Forget, the Accomplishments of President Obama

Bain Capital Owns Clear Channel (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, Etc.)

Tagg You're It!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Planning on reading Agenda 21, Glenn Beck's new dystopic novel?

Glenn Beck -THE SCUM OF THE EARTH!

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The scum of the earth (very informal)

If a group of people are the scum of the earth, they are the worst type of people

Usage notes: Scum is a layer of unpleasant or dirty substance that has formed on top of a liquid.

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Yes he is THE SCUM OF THE EARTH but he would not be able to do any harm, if it weren't for the ignorant who seem to flock to the Republican Party. Thank goodness, the Non-thinking, who only watch Fox News and only listen to the assholes on Clear Channel, like Limbaugh were outnumbered on Election Day! I hope the Thinking amongst us stay energized; people like Beck will not stop EVER if they see there might be a buck or two made from their fear-mongering. thinkingblue

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/tag/conservative-talk-radio

IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS! READ ON:
Glenn Beck Has the Paranoid Conspiracy World Cowering with “Agenda 21?
Dystopic novel is a sleight-of-hand technique to keep the public focused on bogeymen, while the pillaging of the middle class continues unabated. November 23, 2012 |
When the Corporate Elite tells us we need to be afraid of something, they almost always expect to make some money off our fear.
From the same people who brought us the “Ground Zero Victory Mosque,” FEMA concentration camps, and every single George Soros conspiracy theory, comes a brand new hyper-paranoid threat-to-America’s-sovereignty that, they say, should scare the hell out of all of us.
It goes by the name of Agenda 21, which just so happens to be the title of Glenn Beck’s new dystopic novel.
Billed as, “more frightening than anything Orwell could have envisioned,” Beck’s Agenda 21 paints a disturbing picture of America following the implementation of the United Nation’s Agenda 21, which is actually a real life UN initiative, though not nearly as nefarious as Beck would have us all believe.
The book’s tagline reads: “This used to be called America. Now it is just ‘the Republic.’ There is no president. No congress. No freedom.”
Over at GlennBeck.com you can watch a movie trailer made specifically for the book featuring grizzled Americans lined up on the streets in a post-Soviet winter landscape reeking of desperation, waiting for tiny morsels of food to be parceled out by “the authorities.” Reminiscent of both Nazi concentration camps and the Book of Revelation, everyone’s foreheads are tattooed with identification numbers – and in homage to Sarah Palin’s “death panels,” one scene in the trailer depicts an emaciated, scraggly-haired old man loaded on to a conveyor belt and sent into a burning furnace.
Of course, this is all fiction. Whether you like him or not, Beck has made a fortune off sensationalism – and more recently televangelism – and this book will tap into a wellspring of paranoia on the fringe Right that will undoubtedly make a lot more money for multimillionaire Mr. Beck himself.
But whether Beck really believes in his depicted Agenda 21 future for America isn’t all that important. What’s important is that a lot of other powerful people do believe in it. To them, there’s nothing fictional at all when it comes to Agenda 21.
On October 11th this year, the Georgia state Capitol building hosted a four-hour briefing for Republican state senators on the issue of…Agenda 21. It was emceed by a man named Field Searcy who, according to MotherJones, is a local Conservative activist, whose Tea Party leadership was revoked after endorsing birther and truther conspiracy theories. But on that day, Searcy had the attention of his state’s most powerful lawmakers – including the Republican Party’s Senate Majority Leader, Chip Rogers – to warn them of President Obama’s wicked plot to use Agenda 21 to hand the United States off to the United Nations.
Searcy told the Georgia Republicans, and later spoke of it on the Thom Hartmann Radio Program, that President Obama is using a mind control procedure known as the “Delphi Technique” to slowly condition Americans to submit to the control of the United Nations’ Agenda 21, which will, according to Searcy, force mass migrations of Americans out of the countryside and into the cities, while handing over control of our rural lands to an international, one-world government.
The goal of the presentation was to influence Georgia lawmakers to follow in the footsteps of Tennessee and Kentucky Republican lawmakers who’ve already passed legislation to block Agenda 21 from being implemented in their states. In fact, earlier this year Republican Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers introduced legislation in Georgia to do just that.
Also on the “Fear Agenda 21? bandwagon is newly-elected Tea Party Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz. He devoted an entire section of his website , TedCruz.org, to Agenda 21 fearmongering. Under the title, “Stop Agenda 21: The Constitution should be our only ‘Agenda,” Cruz writes:
MORE HERE: http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/glenn-beck-has-paranoid-conspiracy-world-cowering-agenda-21

Beck's Main Purpose Is To Frighten All The Little Children (Oh and make money while doing so)
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Salon: Two weeks ago I discovered, to my surprise, that I had line-edited an early draft of Glenn Beck’s new novel, “Agenda 21.” Glenn Beck! At the time I was working on it, the manuscript belonged to its actual author, a woman named Harriet Parke, who lives a few minutes from my aunt. But a year and a few lawyers later, Glenn Beck purchased the right to call himself its creator, and Ms. Parke agreed to be presented as a ghostwriter. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/glenn-beck-agenda-21_n_2166465.html
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Planning on reading Agenda 21, Glenn Beck's new dystopic novel?

Why Does Democratic Socialism Scare Ignorant People So?

WE DID IT!

Lest We Forget, the Accomplishments of President Obama

Why Does Democratic Socialism Scare Ignorant People So?

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Why Does Democratic Socialism Scare Ignorant People So?

This is a brief clip from the Thom Hartmann show, which explains why Democratic Socialism is actually a good and necessary instrument for a free society; its true meaning has been demonized by the right in order to allow the corporate rich to get even richer. The misguided have been told that any form of socialism is evil and can be compared to Nazism. Non-thinking people get very frightened to hear this analysis and will vote against anything they believe appears to resemble this disastrous form of government even if it means rejecting benefits that will improve their own well being. The Pied Piper Syndrome needs to be exposed so these people will start to think for themselves and make it possible for ALL the people in a commonwealth to reap the benefits not just the few.

A nation will not survive without Democratic Socialism. It's socialism that provides a fire department and police protection and schools to educate all children not just those born to the well off. How about FDA, we buy food that we know is safe because of Democratic Socialism. We take medicine and feel reassured that we are not committing hara kiri with each swallowed dose. If we have an emergency health episode we know a 911 call will send an ambulance to help save our life and when we hop on a bus, hail a cab or buy an airline ticket we feel convinced that we will be transported from point A to point B without devastating consequences because a Democratic Socialist Government will make sure there is an oversight upon the transportation corporations that will not allow them to cut corners in order to create more profits, at our peril.

IN OTHER WORDS:

Democratic Socialists believe that both the economy and society should be run democratically—to meet public needs, not to make profits for a few. To achieve a more just society, many structures of our government and economy must be radically transformed through greater economic and social democracy so that ordinary Americans can participate in the many decisions that affect our lives. http://www.dsausa.org/dsa.html

AMEN TO THAT! thinkinglbue

Why Does Democratic Socialism Scare Ignorant People So ? from thinkingblue on Vimeo.

WE DID IT!

Lest We Forget, the Accomplishments of President Obama

The Two Serious Reasons To Vote For Obama

Tagg You're It!

Bruce Springsteen to Join Obama

Mitt's New Bouncing Baby Meme

$$ Mitt Romney Style $$

Hey Mitt, Can You Handle More Truth?

Public Enemy # One

Hey Mitt, Here's A Dose Of Truth, Can You Handle It?

Save America From What? Are We Really Free?

Sunday, November 11, 2012

An American War Veteran

This was a thinkingblue post for Veterans' Day 2011, I am using it for 2012 because veterans are still suffering and it appears very few seem to care.

Every time I see this picture, I cry because it should not be. If there was only one veteran who fought in some godforsaken war, only to come home to a country that doesn’t care if he is homeless or jobless, THAT WOULD BE TOO MANY! thinkingblue

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This is a picture from a facebook member on Veterans' Day 11/11/11
It says a lot about our country, don't you think? thinkingblue

Veterans Day 2012

Dan Kenney - Facebook

Based on various estimates, 500,000 to 840,000 veterans are homeless at some time during the year. It is also estimated by the VA that a veteran dies by suicide every 80 minutes. And nearly 20% of the returning forces from Afghanistan and Iraq suffer from either PTSD or major depression. This Veterans' Day four or five veterans will commit suicide. The price of war continues throughout the life of a veteran. Today reach out a hand to a vet.

Tommy
By Rudyard Kipling

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!
~~~

Friday, November 09, 2012

We Did It!

Rachael Maddow outdoes herself once again with her November 7th 2012 show. She talks and itemizes all the fears that we (those who can critically THINK, to the GOP Tea Party's dismay) had before the election. The FEARS of a Romney win were astronomical and numerous; A conservative pick of Supreme Court Judges that would render SCOTUS, picayune because every judgment would be predictable; A fear that Roe vs. Wade would be overturned along with the annihilation of Planned Parenthood. Romney promised to do away with Medicare as we know it, thus, handing the elderly a $6000 voucher and telling them, GO FEND FOR YOURSELF and find a Health Insurance Company that's willing to insure your sick old body. A genuine fear for women who envisioned themselves back in the 1950's imprisoned by their own bodies, looking for a clothes-hanger or a back alley, to solve their insurmountable dilemma (and in many cases alone, no help from the one who was instrumental in delivering her into this state of extreme distress, just like during the ‘50's, feeling a cultural shame that was, without a doubt, not hers alone).

There was so much apprehension on election night but in some strange way, it wasn’t all bad because it drove people to stand in voting lines for hours, braving bad weather to cast their vote, at the same time hoping beyond hope that they would not be turned away due to Republicans trying to disenfranchise the electorate who vote Democratic. Thank all that is good, it's over and President Obama won reelection and a special Thank You to Rachael for enlightenment, telling it like it is. thinkingblue’s

No More Fear, Obama Has Won Election 2012! from thinkingblue on Vimeo.

WE DID IT!

Lest We Forget, the Accomplishments of President Obama