September 16, 2010 archive

Liberte, Egalite, and the Unity of Humanity, Back to the Beginning

In an effort to discuss the intersection of morality, spirituality and politics I am going to reprint a few essays and when I can write a few new ones. Here is a (slightly edited) reprint as a jumping off point.

(Please don’t cut off my head for changing from “fraternite/brotherhood” to the Unity of Humanity! )

When it comes right down to it those are the principles or the ideology of “The Left.” Freedom for all, Equality for all, and a spirit of “brotherhood”…or, cooperation.

It cannot be said much better, and in a way, anything else is commentary, lol.

So let’s get to the commentary! As some have said, perhaps the term ‘The Left” should not enter the discussion at all, and I agree in principle. But we are stuck with the fact that there are a large group of people who believe that these principles should be the blueprint for the human race and a large group of people who don’t. We could just as easily call them Humanists and Corporatists but those don’t really cover it either…mainly because each is a somewhat archaic term with it’s own baggage.

So perhaps one of the things we need to do for the purposes of the discussion we are having herehere…and here is to define our terms. But everyone knows how boring that is, lol.

For me the message in my sig line has always served as shorthand for the state of the world…”Reality is the result of war between two rival groups of programmers.” These two forces that shape the world we live in have had many, many names in the history of the world. But there have always been basically two opposing forces.

What are they? How old are they? How basic, or intrinsic are they, to the Human condition? Here is my answer….

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Billy Jack:

           Billy Jack 1971 Pictures, Images and Photos

Hey folks:

Can you all stand another movie review?  This is not my alltime favorite film, West Side Story, but another movie that I one day decided to rent the DVD from our local Public Library and watch it on my computer.  Since I enjoy action films generally and enjoy stories that deal with intergroup conflict, fighting, love, etc., all wrapped in one package, I decided, in somewhat dippy inspiration, to borrow the DVD of the film Billy Jack from the Library.  Although I have a DVD player built into my computer, this particular DVD movie is pretty tough to come by.  Although the movie  Billy Jack doesn’t hold nearly the special place in my heart regarding movies as West Side Story, and it’s somewhat campy in some ways, I rather enjoyed it.  That saying, here goes:

HARSH WORDS

HARD TO SWALLOW

PART ONE: THE KITCHEN

All ideology fails at some logical declension. Conservative ideology fails immediately, on every tenet. All ideologies rightly belong being argued in academia. Conservative ideology belongs deep in a little used musty library kept by an obscure nose-picking curator. I would not want to destroy it altogether, after all, it is just a bad idea. The act of trying to destroy such a wicked thought is antithetical because it thrives on nihilism. Thus is explains the power derived by right-wing commentary from left wing derision.

So, I wonder, are Democratic partisans just morons willing to spring at the offering by Republicans of only a hook and no bait?

Eric Alterman, Matthew Yglesis, Matt Taibbi, Kevin Drum, and many others; not to drop names but to separate names from what is pejoratively referred to as the Main Stream Media (MSM). The debt of gratitude that their readers often express is that they are dependable sources of information, separate from the mundane narratives that hold no value or depth. Some readers have quoted them to set their choice of reading material as being apart from the mundane and shallow narrative.

Open Chapel

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The Definition of Robin Hood Depends on Who You Ask

Vince Gray’s election on Tuesday night as mayor of Washington, DC, was met with a curiously nonchalant response among city residents.  No one seemed much inclined to celebrate.  A city that is famously buttoned-up and all business, all the time, was precisely that.  The prior mayor, Adrian Fenty, was widely seen as a temperamental prima donna, but this election was less a vote about specific District issues as it was a referendum on his leadership.  The results, a decided victory for Gray, were a backlash among many towards Fenty’s perceived stance in favor of more affluent parts of town, particularly those in the Northwest quadrant of the District.  This is far from an uncommon phenomenon.    

Docudharma Times Thursday September 16




Thursday’s Headlines:

Ahmadinejad: Iran justified in barring nuclear inspectors

Pope Benedict XVI set to begin controversial state visit to Britain

USA

Poll Suggests Opportunities for Both Parties in Midterms

An American innovation in light bulbs, but will manufacturing stay in the U.S.?

Europe

Wasteland: Europe stalked by spectre of mass unemployment

Sarkozy suggests Roma ‘should be sent to Luxembourg’

Middle East

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani denies torture claims on Iranian TV

Gaza militants launch rocket attacks in effort to derail peace talks

Asia

Zardari offers more intelligence to Afghanistan Tahir Khan

How North Korea was lost – to China

Africa

Guinea postpones presidential election run-off

Copenhagen climate change summit effort fruitless, says Kibaki

Latin America

High security alert for Mexico bicentennial

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXVI

One change always leaves the door open for the establishment of others.

– Niccolò Machiavelli


Bouquet

I grieve for us

One more life

extinguished

this time in

California

on our dime

in our time

in our name.

Who is to blame?

We all pulled

the plug.

This candle

was snuffed out

Now don’t we

feel better?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 13, 2005

The economics of environmentalism

  I met up with a good friend of mine this past weekend at a local dive bar. As the liquor loosened his tongue, he took a moment to complain about the wealthy elites he works for. Or as he put it, “those rich f*cks”.

 My friend works for a non-profit, environmental group. The major contributors, all of the board of directors, and most of his coworkers are all wealthy. His new boss wants to focus on gifts for donations, such as tote bags that you can bring to the grocery store, rather than specific environmental causes.

 This non-profit environmental group is a microcosm of what is wrong with the environmental movement today. Environmentalism is following down the same path to irrelevancy that labor unions traveled when they made the decision that 2% raises mattered and political movements didn’t.

Presidents, and Bad Wars: photos, new and old

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Cross-posted at Dkos http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

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Presidents making a war escalation speech to enthusiastic supporters, now…..

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“This is not a war of choice. This is a war of necessity. ”

President Barack Obama, VFW convention, August 2009.

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Obama VFW

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…..and back then.

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rally