David : You are right on the money. The way it looks, the division between Left and Right, isn't so much between L & R as it is between insane and sane. Part of the Right is el-wacko, too, but in a different way, and is relatively benign. Part of the Left is merely the labor movement in contemporary guise, and we can live with that, but you know what I mean. There is a form of consciousness that is positively sick, bizarre, poisoned, and dangerous. And it is in the White House and Congress, with two new additions to the Supreme Court. I'd say there is a looming crisis. Only question is how much time before this gets really serious in terms of political unrest of major proportions. This year ? Next year ? 2012 ? Who can say ? But not only do we have "leadership" that has made a bad economic mess worse, but on top of that, these sonsofbitches want to Islamize the United States. Sure, not as heavy handed as various times in history, but nonetheless in that direction, one thing after another, and another, and another, ceaselessly. Are we at critical mass yet ? No. But it now is possible to ask the question and wonder just when we might get there. What I must add is that nothing is so simple as this simple model of US politics. Among other things there now is a really large Independent population. And no-one, or almost no-one, is 100% just one thing. Life is like a Shakespearean drama, with a lot going on in every scene of every act. The problem of the two forms of consciousness is on many radar screens, also. We are seeking solutions, but we aren't the only ones. There's a new Right as well, which, like Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, actually has some Left-wing elements. And which mixes Christian values with very non-Christian "modernist" values. So, whatever form a now kind of politics emerges, don't expect the old paradigms to make it though the Crisis intact. Hell, we may not make it though the Crisis as we may expect as of today. Billy In a message dated 8/26/2010 9:31:28 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Not only that, it's the false statements. The Arizona law bans profiling. The officer has to be stopping them for something else-speeding, illegal turn, running a stop light or sign, etc. Believing that Odumbo is a Muslim is easy. He ignores the Christian prayer day and holds a Ramadan dinner. Hello??? We are almost the only country that has an "anchor baby" citizenship rule. But no, it is all irrational FEAR. Look up "out of touch" in the dictionary and Robert Reich's picture is next to the definition. Right next to Oblunder's. David If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.--Mark Twain On 8/26/2010 3:49 PM, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) wrote: not just Reich, not by any stretch, also EJ Dione, Katie Couric, and many others.......... Talking Points Memo / TPM The Anatomy of Intolerance By _Robert Reich_ (http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/profile/robert_reich) - August 25, 2010, 6:00PM Connect the dots: Many Americans (and politicians who the polls) don't want a mosque at Manhattan's Ground Zero. An increasing percent believe the President is a Muslim. Most Americans approve of Arizona's new law allowing police to stop anyone who looks Hispanic and demand proof of citizenship. Most would deny citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are here illegally. Where is all this coming from? It's called fear. When people are deeply anxious about holding on to their homes, their jobs, and their savings, they look for someone to blame. And all too often they find it in "the other" - in people who look or act differently, who come from foreign lands, who have what seem to be strange religions, who cross our borders illegally. Americans who feel economically insecure may even become paranoid, believing, say, that the President of the United States is secretly one of "them." Economic fear is the handmaiden of intolerance. It's used by demagogues who redirect the fear and anger toward people and groups who aren't really to blame but are easy scapegoats. It has happened before. Economic crises animated the pre-Civil War Know-Nothings and Anti-Masonic movements, the Chinese exclusion acts, the Ku Klux Klan in the economically-ravaged South, and the anti-immigrant movements of the early decades of the 20th century. In different places around the world, mass economic stress has had far worse results. At its most extreme it has spawned genocide. We are far from that. But it's important to understand the roots of America's growing intolerance. And to fight the hate-mongers and cynical opportunists who are using the fears unleashed by this awful economy to advance their own sordid agendas. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community _<[email protected]>_ (mailto:[email protected]) Google Group: _http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism_ (http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism) Radical Centrism website and blog: _http://RadicalCentrism.org_ (http://radicalcentrism.org/) -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: _http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism_ (http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism) Radical Centrism website and blog: _http://RadicalCentrism.org_ (http://radicalcentrism.org/) -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
