Sunday, April 05, 2009

WHERE IS GOD?


We need stricter gun control laws, more heath and mental services, and less right-wing hate-radio.

PITTSBURGH, April 5 (UPI) -- The 22-year-old man charged with killing three Pittsburgh police officers was frequent visitor to far-right Web sites, his Internet activities reveal.

Richard Poplawski posted his profile and photographs of his tattoos on the white supremacist Web site Stormfront, which serves as a clearinghouse for neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic groups, using the site to display an eagle tattoo spread across his chest, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported Sunday.

To Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin (who says "America arm yourself against Obama!) Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Laura Ingraham, John Gibson, Bill O'Reilly: Hate-Radio and Hate-Websites Please Stop!

SPREAD JOY AND BE HAPPY EVEN IF YOU ARE UNEMPLOYED

At the risk of sounding like Pollyanna, I believe we attract riches or poverty to ourselves depending on the thoughts we think. This is a "thought universe" a spiritual universe, and I believe all our problems can be boiled down to our state of mind. Eckhart Tolle, author of "The Power of Now" and a New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" says that at the moment he was about to commit suicide, he thought to himself: "Who am I talking to? Maybe only one of me is real." And that started his spiritual journey of losing everything, and being in bliss. I have been at an emotional rock bottom at times in my life -- and every time I pray, things change in the physical universe.

If you are not enoying life, you can't spread joy to others. If we are not living in joy everyday, we are failing. Being happy is the cornerstone of all that you are! Nothing is more important than that you feel good! And you have absolute and utter control about that because you can choose the thought that makes you worry or the thought that makes you happy; the things that thrill you, or the things that worry you. You have the choice in every moment. - Jerry & Esther, Abraham-Hicks
WHERE IS GOD DURING TRAGEDY?
In response to the recent shootings in Binghamton, New York: It may never be known how many violent incidents are prevented because of prayer’s embracing love.

I heard a Jewish man say that the reason the Holocaust happened was to show people the way to love, the necessity for love, so this darkness would never happen again.

If someone were to stand at the North Pole on the day of the Winter Solstice, darkness would be all that prevailed, day and night. No evidence would exist that there ever was a sun—or that six months later it would shine on the same spot without ceasing, day and night. Still, the fact of that sun’s existence and power to chase the darkness and warm the earth would remain fixed. Here is perhaps a small illustration of the way that violence and killing project the absence of God, of good—and of the need to maintain the facts of spiritual existence, until the light shines again.

Within one four-day period last month, three separate tragedies made headlines and prompted fresh concerns about the random nature of violence in today’s world. On Sunday morning March 8, Rev. Fred Winters was shot at the pulpit by a gunman who walked into an early morning service at First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois. Two days later, a man went on a shooting rampage in southeast Alabama, killing himself and ten others. Then Wednesday of that same week, a German teenager took 15 lives as well as his own, in a similar incident in the Stuttgart suburb Winnenden.
At such times, so many questions begin with, “Why did this happen”? And from there, “What can be done to prevent future incidents?” Some ask—as did another pastor at First Baptist Church—the wrenching question of how God could allow such a tragedy. Indeed, “Where was God at that moment?” is an honest and understandable question that people have asked through the ages.
It’s among the toughest of life’s questions.

And while some may count a satisfying answer as a forever mystery, we maintain that the effort to find it is not in vain; to say otherwise would be to argue for a fatalistic view that the Creator either allows evil and death, or else is not in complete control of His creation. Nothing of benefit to humanity throughout time has resulted from heeding the impulse to give up and cease in the struggle for something better than this discouraging view of existence.

It may never be known how many violent incidents are prevented because of prayer’s embracing love.

Pat answers don’t speak to the heart, and often breed cynicism. And it would be misguided for us to attempt to completely address such soul-searching within the confines of this page. But as a means to moving forward, consider that the teaching of Jesus Christ offers truth—often simple, always profound—that one can begin to understand. Moreover, that the sum total of Jesus’ life and teaching conveys the unmistakable message that good is more powerful than evil, and life than death.

This we feel points to a solid basis of spiritual reasoning, on which to provide comfort and strength to the grieving, as well as hope to those feeling astounded at the scope of tragedy in the world today. It offers countless possibilities for the prayer that is most certainly needed to address violence and fear across the globe. It may never be known how many violent incidents are prevented because of prayer’s embracing love. Through the noise of anger and derangement, the voice of the Christ reaches consciousness and calms mental storms.

This echoes the Bible account of the prophet Elijah’s confrontation with calamity, in the form of earthquake, wind, and fire. At the time Elijah was utterly discouraged and about to give up in his efforts to follow God’s guiding. In his own way he was very much asking, “Where is God in this moment of violence and danger?” And what he learned was that he would not find God by looking into the earthquake, or the wind, or the fire—but rather in that “still small voice” (see I Kings, chap. 19).

Each one of us can offer the deepest, most healing response to tragedies such as the ones that occurred last month by turning in the direction of the light. We can hear that same saving voice Elijah heard on the mountain, and begin to feel a measure of the same assurance we know others yearn to feel in the acuteness of their struggle—that good is real and more powerful than senseless violence. ““It is the ‘still, small voice’ of Truth uttering itself. We are either turning away from this utterance, or we are listening to it and going up higher”

If someone were to stand at the North Pole on the day of the Winter Solstice, darkness would be all that prevailed, day and night. No evidence would exist that there ever was a sun—or that six months later it would shine on the same spot without ceasing, day and night. Still, the fact of that sun’s existence and power to chase the darkness and warm the earth would remain fixed. Here is perhaps a small illustration of the way that violence and killing project the absence of God, of good—and of the need to maintain the facts of spiritual existence, until the light shines again.
www.spirituality.com


"Seven Blunders of the World"

1. Wealth without work

2. Pleasure without conscience

3. Knowledge without character

4. Commerce without morality

5. Science without humanity

6. Worship without sacrifice

7. Politics without principle


—Mahatma Gandhi

* Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, India. He led India's movement for independence from British rule and is one of the most respected spiritual and political leaders of the 20th century. In 1948 he was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic who opposed his tolerance for all creeds and religions. Gandhi is honoured by his people as the father of the Indian nation and is called 'Mahatma', which means Great Soul.
http://www.doctorhugo.org/gandhi.html

________________________

189 comments:

  1. I'm gonna enjoy AND be cautious this year. I just acquired a heavy-duty tiller suitable for busting the hard ground in one of my side yards. There WILL be planting this year. A lot of it. And not just my usual sunflower plantation.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think comment moderation is off for today.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We are going to see "Adventureland."

    JR - I want to grow a big veggie garden!
    Is it hard?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lydia I grow a little under a half acre garden, the hardest part is breaking the ground, which I use a 24 HP tractor and 5 foot tiller to do.

    After that it's planting, fertilizing, weeding more weeding, even more weeding, (yes it gets tedious at times) and then hopefully harvesting fresh fruits and vegies.

    It is work but satisfying

    ReplyDelete
  5. I grow strawberries, tomatoes, peas beans, carrots, beets, onions, lettuce, radishes, swiss chard, muskmelons, watermelons, corn, pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, gourds and of course sunflowers for the birds.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That's a good question. I really don't know the answer; I'm from a rural background and it's just what we did, which means I've essentially done it since before I can remember. In my opinion, there's a lot of joy in raising things. Creative gardening beautifies and feeds at the same time.

    I use no pesticides and no chemicals, and I only fertilize with the off product of my rabbit, and ashes from woodburning; Ike stripped the bark off a couple of trees, and I have a lot of ash to spread.

    I think it's a wonderful talent to have and to hone. Check out what grows well where you are and enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. First, I would suggest getting a comprehensive book about gardening in general and one about what southern California gardening entails.

    Then the hard part getting the others to pitch in, it is much easier to have help.

    Believe it or not Lowes or home depot are one of the best places to start asking for help if you haven't gardened before.

    Somebody in their garden center will have most of the answers you need at this point.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I had to do it, considering the post title..... here's a family that doesn't have much to be happy about these days :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Asking somebody for gardening help-what a quaint old-fashioned notion :-)

    Given the water situation in California these days, if I were there I'd do my first research on vegetables that don't requre a whole lot of watering, and go from there.

    ReplyDelete
  10. JR - Unbelievable about Levi. I also can’t believe the Gov doesn’t lend a hand or some money to Todd’s half-sister. Unless she’s stealing to support a drug habit, you’d think they’d help her.

    Do you have a cage for your rabbit or does it roam free?
    __________

    Clif - I'd love to have a garden like yours Although we don't have land like that. I can still plant a nice patch - maybe tomatoes, peas and radishes.

    We have Rosemary growing in the back and I love it for aromatherapy to wake up. It's really good for making Lemon- chicken with garlic and Rosemary

    Just ran into Lorenzo Lamas at a burrito stand. He was with his two youngest daughters.

    He waits outside our house everyday to pick up his kids from school. He sent my husband and me matching sets of Dr. Laura Schlesinger books on "The Care and Feeding of Husbands" and one on marriage.

    I'm staring out the window at a Bird of Paradise. Spring is so beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The bunny is caged in the cold weather months, much less so in the warmer times. This, of course, means that I collect his contributions to my garden all winter :)

    I finally broke down and acquired suitable heavy equipment (mainly because I'm getting tired of the shoveling,) and we have snow coming tomorrow. I haven't even had a chance to start the tiller yet. Bah.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Here's a quick update for you, Cliffy. UConn 83 Stanford 64 Don't EVER fall asleep on the UConn women, brother. Not in this lifetime anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yeah, I'm going to plant a small garden this year also.......I want to grow Jalapenos!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Jalapenos are always at our house!

    ReplyDelete
  15. So the shooter was a fan of right-wing hate sites.

    The killer in the Unitarian church was a Rush Limpbotomy Dittohead and had Glen Beck's and Sean Hasn't-any's books all over his apartment.

    I wonder about the Binghamton killer?

    This is not a Republican issue, it's a "hate and fear issue"

    ReplyDelete
  16. Lydia says,

    This is not a Republican issue, it's a "hate and fear issue"


    With all due respect, I have to disagree with this. From September of 2001 until November of 2009, we had a President who continuously tried to make us all pee ourselves with fear, and he was aided by a brigade of Rushpublican pundits. We were told that we'd DIE if we didn't go along with whatever the moronic monkey wanted us to go along with, and the right wing echo chamber was more shrill than even the monkey himself was.

    The murders of 3 Philadelphia policemen, as well as the Unitarian worshipers in Knoxville, is on their hands. They stirred a pot of fear and loathing to win elections in 2004, and to try to win in 2006 and 2008. Now we are suffering the consequences; membership in racist hate groups has soared, and countless attacks on minorities and pacifists have become the order of the day.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Actually I agree JR, I was trying to be diplomatic, but after reading several new reports about all the killings, I posted a plea to Rush, Glen Beck, Mark Levin -- and all the rest.

    Mark Levin actually calls people to "arm themselves" everyday on his hateful radio show. "Arm yourselves against Obama!" I actually heard him say this more than twice -- every time I accidentally turn on his show. I have to switch the station before my blood starts boiling.

    These people are inciting these crimes.

    ReplyDelete
  18. What worries me is these right-wing blowhards are going to incite somebody to try to assassinate Obama or members of his family.

    ReplyDelete
  19. MCH if they do the riots after the right wing murder of martin Luther king will look peaceful by comparison.

    ReplyDelete
  20. MCH, they clearly intend to do exactly that. The hate speech coming from these people sounds like it could have come straight out of old Dixie.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I'm on the radio right now, please tune in or listen in the archives -- Mike Lux, author of The Progressive Revolution --

    He gives the history of how Republicans have stopped progress throughout history -- on every major good change. They didn't want the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, and on and on...

    ReplyDelete
  22. Lux was a senior staffer in the Clinton White House and was on Obama's transition team. He is a founder of Center for American Progress, and much more.

    ReplyDelete
  23. This is the best book ever written on this, and fascinating. We are on live right now.

    ReplyDelete
  24. The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be.

    I also saw him speak at Heather Thomas' house at her monthly Progressive breakfast.

    Heather is so cool. We did "Battle of the Network Stars" together in the 80's.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Philadelphia, Mississippi - Reagan's speech there in 1980

    Shameful

    ReplyDelete
  26. "Heather is so cool. We did "Battle of the Network Stars" together in the 80's."


    I remember that!

    ReplyDelete
  27. "Philadelphia, Mississippi - Reagan's speech there in 1980"


    Isnt that the speech where he mentioned "states rights?"

    ReplyDelete
  28. Mike Lux is a Christian
    A member of a group called "Matthew 25"

    He said The Great Peacemaker said in Matthew 25 - we are not doing God's work unless we are taking care of the poor.

    Throughout all of Jesus' teachings, he espouses "liberal" or left-wing values. The Pharisees, the conservative religious leaders of the day, were against everything Christ taught. They were into strict laws, ritual and dogma - the "letter not the spirit" of the law.

    But Jesus taught only one law: the law of love.

    And Will, this is where I get the idea that the Truth has a liberal bias -- from the New Testament.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Yes, Reagan went down there to give a wink to Jesse Helms and the racists, that he was on their side.

    He did not go down there to condemn the three murders.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Philadelphia, county seat of Mississippi's Neshoba County, is famous for a couple of things. That is where three civil rights workers -- Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman -- were murdered in 1964. And that is where, in 1980, Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan chose to launch his election campaign, with a ringing endorsement of "states' rights."

    It was bitter symbolism for black Americans (though surely not just for black Americans). Countless observers have noted that Reagan took the Republican Party from virtual irrelevance to the ascendancy it now enjoys. The essence of that transformation, we shouldn't forget, is the party's successful wooing of the race-exploiting Southern Democrats formerly known as Dixiecrats. And Reagan's Philadelphia appearance was an important bouquet in that courtship.

    I don't accuse Reagan of racism, though while he served, I did note what seemed to be his indifference to the concerns of black Americans -- issues ranging from civil rights enforcement and attacks on "welfare queens" to his refusal to act seriously against the apartheid regime in South Africa. He gets full credit from me for the good things he did -- including presiding over the end of international communism. But he also legitimized, by his broad wink at it, racial indifference -- and worse.

    Washington Post, June 14, 2004
    William Raspberry

    ReplyDelete
  31. Philadelphia, Mississippi - Reagan's speech there in 1980

    Shameful


    Don't forget Saint Ronnie's crying about "strapping young bucks" and welfare.

    I call them Klanservatives for a reason.

    ReplyDelete
  32. "And Will, this is where I get the idea that the Truth has a liberal bias -- from the New Testament."

    I've always said, read the Sermon on the Mount and see which party's platform it sounds the most like.

    Here is the problem -- Republicans stand up and said "We're the party for Christians" and people believe them despite the un-Christian ways they govern. Democrats stand up and say "We're the party for everybody" which includes Christians, Jews, Atheists, agnostics, Hindus, Buddhists ... you get the point.

    Jesus didnt just preach that we need to treat other Christians with respect, he said we need to treat everybody with respect. Redumblicans just dont get that.

    ReplyDelete
  33. My favorite South Park episode was the one in which the entire town, gripped in hysteria, started blaming everything that went wrong on either terrorists or George W. Bush. It took the children to tell them that there were in fact some different causes out there for certain things. I mean, I know that if you end up connecting enough of those dots out there, Limbaugh could eventually be fingered for basically anything but, come on. P.S. Please, don't accuse me of defending Limbaugh. I'm not! I'm just trying for some perspective here.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Lydia,

    Could we add Representative Michelle Bachman (R-Minnesota). She's a disgrace to the Republican Party if such a thing is possible.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Still concern trollin' I see.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

    My favorite South Park episode was the one in which the entire town, gripped in hysteria, started blaming everything that went wrong on either terrorists or George W. Bush. It took the children to tell them that there were in fact some different causes out there for certain things. I mean, I know that if you end up connecting enough of those dots out there, Limbaugh could eventually be fingered for basically anything but, come on. P.S. Please, don't accuse me of defending Limbaugh. I'm not! I'm just trying for some perspective here."


    Still pulling the concern troll routine and trying to justify and defend the the racism, bigotry and rabid hatred and partisanship clowns like Rush, Hannity, Larsen and O"Liely try to stoke, manipulate and use I see..........even through you screech and whine when similar tactics are used against you.

    Sorry Will nut you CANT justify lies, rascism, hatred or bigotry.........its undefensible.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Blogger Frank Frey said...

    Lydia,

    Could we add Representative Michelle Bachman (R-Minnesota). She's a disgrace to the Republican Party if such a thing is possible."



    She's not only a disgrace to our country Frank............she's a disgrace to the entire human race........I dont know how that Eva Braun wanna be could have EVER gotten elected.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Michelle Bachmann is exactly what the republican't party needs

    A wack-job elected spokesperson to counter Glenn Beck on fake noise,

    the lunatic fringe propaganda boy of the far right.

    Bill O' needs to be worried they will out wack job him on fake noise and put him outa a job.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Mike,

    We've got our own version of Bachmann down here in the Florida State Senate. Her name is Rhonda Storms. She was a Hillsborough County Commissioner for more years than I'd care to remember. Storms has a tremendous base with the Christian Right. I suspect Bachmann has the same thing.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Never heard of her Frank, i'll have to google her and see what I come up with...........just to be clear are you saying she is as wacked out as Bachman?

    ReplyDelete
  41. I wasnt specifically referring to Limbaugh when I was talking about building up the hysteria -- at least when it comes to guns. No, I'm talking about all the limbaugh wanna-be's who are building up the hysteria.


    However, that guy who shot up the church in Alabama (or whereever it was) did say he was doing as Limbaugh instructed.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Mike,

    She's getting there She's a trailer park Sarah Palin. Most of her crap was when she was County Commissioner. She's come up with some real doozies in the State Senate. She has a real problem with keeping church and state seperate.
    I think that once she gets a national platform such a House or God help us, a Senate seat then watch out.

    ReplyDelete
  43. May I make a suggestion?


    Can we please allow people to play the 'devil's advocate' without attacks or labeling them as a concern troll?

    To some extent, I agree with what Will said -- many people are wayyyy to quick to blame the other side whenever something goes wrong. I do think it's legit in these cases but not always.

    Besides, if .. if ... IF Will is a concern troll then let him do it. If nothing else, it'll help us sharpen our arguments so we can properly debate with people in the real world.

    If he's not a concern troll, then there's no point in insulting him or falsely accusing him of something. Havent we had enough of that around here the past week or so?

    Im just saying.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Mike there a quite a few WACKED OUT right wing politicos;

    Virginia had the idiot Virgil Goode,

    and North Carolina has a mouth breather named Virginia Foxx, a older version of Bachman who never tried a suction tonsillectomy on Bush during a SOTU

    Who can forget widdle Patrick T. McHenry who created a scandal in Iraq

    Add real winners like;

    Joe Barton, Marsha Blackburn, Brian Bilbray, Dana Rohrabacher, Jerry Lewis, Don Young and of course the orginal congressional wack-job Mean Jean Schmitt

    ReplyDelete
  45. Well, ok. It was worth a shot.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Good cause I don't take orders well from the likes of people like you or will.

    So tell him in the next email to fight his own battles.

    ReplyDelete
  47. MCH the issue was him defending the indefensible.......namely defending rascism bigotry, hatred and partisanship............which "coincidently" happen to be Right wing as does the wack jobs running around killing people..........bottom line defending the indefensible looks concern trollish to me so I call em like I see em.


    Notice I didnt attack him personally or call him names with babytalk insults..........I merely addressed his words which seem to both lack consistency and lack a valid argument.

    ReplyDelete
  48. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  49. I wasn't defending anybody or justitying anything. Lunatics act for a myriad of reasons and their development is complex. Is it possible that one final impetus pushes them over the edge? Sure, it's possible. But if it isn't THAT, then it would ultimately be something else. The guy who pulls the trigger is the villian. The dudes who fly the planes into buildings are the villains. Limbaugh? He's just a bozo.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Ok, I made a post I should have and apologize. Never mind.

    I just hate to see another flame war start up again, thats all.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Thanks for the perspective and support, MCH. You're a good and reasonable man.

    ReplyDelete
  52. oops -- "shouldn't have" is what that was intended to say.

    ReplyDelete
  53. what coinky dink, the tweedle dee tweedle dum duo is still at it.

    ReplyDelete
  54. One says something STUPID and when he gets called on it the other is right there defending the foole.

    ReplyDelete
  55. The didnt like the priest that married my wife and I very much but he did give us one piece of advice that always stuck with me ...

    In an argument, the first person to throw an insult loses.

    ReplyDelete
  56. It means YOU lost long ago with bart doesn't it

    ReplyDelete
  57. Just like the comment you HAD to delete like the verbal attack you pulled on bart then deleted

    ReplyDelete
  58. I guess your ashamed of the words you use, or don't want lydia to actually see what a slimeball you really are eh?

    ReplyDelete
  59. Blogger MCH said...

    Ok, I made a post I should have and apologize. Never mind.

    I just hate to see another flame war start up again, thats all."


    Well it wont be started by me........I dont start flame wars..........i'm her to debate issues and peoples words relating to those issues.

    Not delve into peoples personal lives or attack people on a personal level..........you put a comment out there its fair game for me to comment on.

    ReplyDelete
  60. No, Clif, I just refuse to let you pull me into it the way he did.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Not pull you in, it was a email orchestrated ATTACK you LIAR

    Volt let the cat out of the bag

    ReplyDelete
  62. Speaking of DISGRACES did anyone catch that Neo Con jack ass Frank Gaffney on Hardball………..why they have this pathetic Neo Con hack that doesnt have a shred of credibility on a Mainstream show is beyond me……….Gafney and Bachman are total disgraces and the repugs should be embarassed to their very core that these imbeciles are representing them to the world.

    ReplyDelete
  63. You clowns didn't just accidentally show up at the same time,

    you all used emails to coordinate the attack you LIAR

    ReplyDelete
  64. Clif mentioned "Another hypocritical reich-winger;

    Police: Focus on the Family narrator tried to lure teen for sex"

    Why am I not surprised?

    Isnt that the same area where that preacher got busted for having the male prostitute?

    ReplyDelete
  65. Wanna tell the truth about the coordinated way you three liars staged the attack son?

    ReplyDelete
  66. Or is LYING the way you operate?

    like will and volt do.

    ReplyDelete
  67. bart was right about that also

    ReplyDelete
  68. "You clowns didn't just accidentally show up at the same time, you all used emails to coordinate the attack you LIAR"

    Well, I dont know about Will but I signed on after getting home from work and eating dinner ... and to be honest, I dont know his email address.


    Good God -- is Clif actually a sockpuppet for Bart?

    ReplyDelete
  69. I defend racism, bigotry, hatred, and partisanship? Well, that's an interesting interpretation. Still accepting measured criticism very well, I see. The likes of you and me, huh, MCH? Damned if the circle isn't expanding. From now on, if I do comment here, all of my points will be made directly toward Lydia and/or MCH. They're the only two apparently capable (emtionally and intellectually) a nuanced dialogue. And, Clif, you're the one that they really need to keep an eye on/the guns away from. You be flaming nuts, bro. And mean.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Well, it seems that somebody (Clif) forgot to put him bigboy pants on tonight and feels like throwing a temper tantrum. There, there, Cliffy, have a good cry.

    Let us know when you're ready to join the adults' table.

    ReplyDelete
  71. I am NOT a sock puppet you clown

    Bart is a friend and I watched you clowns coordinate an attack like will crusty and volt used to do here.

    the same way freedom fan, crusty, volt and tallltexan used to do in 2006

    Now your truying an old troll trick of deflection to NT answer the qeuestion

    did you will, and volt email each other;

    VOLT says so.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Funny your deflecting again instead of answering the question

    did you will and volt email each other LIKE volt admitted

    ReplyDelete
  73. Gaffney is as big a DISGRACE as Bachman and Coulter……..why this pathetic imbecilic hack is even allowed on Mainstream TV like he has a shred of credibility is beyond me…………..he represents the dishonest fear mongering BS America got sick and tired of when it shifted decisively to the left and handed the Right Wing its ass in the last 2 elections.

    ReplyDelete
  74. BTW trying to use that deflection blows your comment that you do that when you can't defend yourself son.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Why not just ADMIT the truth?

    Volt already did

    ReplyDelete
  76. get paranoid much?

    Ok, to answer your questions ... no, I have not emailed with Will.

    No, I did not coordinate attacks with anybody

    In fact, I didnt think I attacked anybody to begin with. I just asked if we could be adults.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Voltron said;

    ......I've exchanged an email or two with FF, Johnny, TT, Will and even MCH. .....


    See

    ReplyDelete
  78. "he represents the dishonest fear mongering BS America got sick and tired of when it shifted decisively to the left and handed the Right Wing its ass in the last 2 elections."

    As far as I'm concerned, Mike, he can keep it up. It'll help to insure 4 more years for Obama and hopefully more Senate seats in 2 years.

    ReplyDelete
  79. wanna admit it NOW?

    ReplyDelete
  80. Or is VOLT lying?

    ReplyDelete
  81. Ok, Clif, I will reveal the extent of the emails between Volt and myself .. get your decoder ring out because it's written in secret code.

    MCH MCH wrote:> Hey Volt, it's MCH> > > I would have sent this to Will too but I dont have his email. Did you > catch what Bart said? He's leading his way up to this No Fear Jim guy > being a "sockpuppet" of Lydia's!> > > MCH

    Hey MCH!, Hope you were watching tonight...LOL I tried my best with him, but he seems incapableof seeing any wrong in himself. -Eric



    The secret code it's written in is called ... English.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Funny, MCH, I thought that Bart and Volt had reached an understanding....and that Bart admitted that Volt and I had nothing to do with this sordid tale. It seemed like he was blaming Lydia and/or Larry instead. I already said that I'd be willing to take a lie detector test to answer any of this garbage. Nobody took me up on the offer, though.

    ReplyDelete
  83. that's it ... all of the email between Volt and myself. I havent had any emails with Will so I have nothing to reveal there.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Will,

    I'm going to have to disagree with you over you dismissing Limbaugh as a bozo. He's an incredibly powerful man. Have you ever of William Randolph Hearst? He was a newspaper magnate. He helped instigate the Spanish-American War in 1898 to help sell his newspapers. Hearst told the great American artist, Frederick Remington, "You supply the pictures and I'll supply the war." Now while Hearst didn't come up with the idea, in fact it dates back to the beginnings of the Manifest Destiny movement, he certainly capitalized on it.
    The same can be said for Limbaugh. He hasn't come up with anything original but he does have a talent picking up on popular fears and exaggerating them all out of proportion. He does it for the same reason that Hearst did it for. The money.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Bart and Volt came to an understanding ... apparently Clif is still delusional.

    Oh well.

    Man, I hope this doesnt mean Lydia has to turn the moderation back on.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Blogger MCH said...

    "he represents the dishonest fear mongering BS America got sick and tired of when it shifted decisively to the left and handed the Right Wing its ass in the last 2 elections."

    As far as I'm concerned, Mike, he can keep it up. It'll help to insure 4 more years for Obama and hopefully more Senate seats in 2 years."


    Sure he can keep it up as long as he gets discredited, and bitchslapped into next week and made to look like the pathetic dishonest fool he REALLY is for TRYING to defend the INDEFENSIBLE.


    People died because of the lies of the Neo Cons........people are losing their jobs and EVERYTHING they have worked for all their lives as well as the means to support their families all because of the greed and failed ideologies of these treasnous imbeciles........and here this pompous idiot sits TRYING to sdtart MORE wars and cause MORE deaths and economic disasters to enrich the wealthy elite in the Right Wing.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Frank said "(Limbaugh's) an incredibly powerful man."


    You have that right, Frank. He can play his audience like an instrument. Remember how many of them he got to vote for Hillary during the primaries?

    ReplyDelete
  88. I saw where some right wing zealots are trying to convince the world that Bin Laden is hiding in Iran ... just to give us the excuse to attack them.

    ReplyDelete
  89. Clif,

    Two points:

    1. Yes I have exchanged an email or two with everyone you read about.

    2. Bart and I have made our peace.
    Leave me out of it.

    If you have any questions, email Bart and ask him his opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Sorry for not ALLOWING someone to defend and whitewash the actions of agents of hate and intolerance Like Rush, Hannitty, Coulter, Gafney etc..........but as long as they have the bully pulpit to spread their destructive hatred and lies then i'll be here to criticize and expose them.


    Despite people like Will who try to oppose free speech and stifle honest relevant dialogue and discussion because it doesnt sit well with his concealed "AGENDA"

    ReplyDelete
  91. Blogger Frank Frey said...

    Will,

    I'm going to have to disagree with you over you dismissing Limbaugh as a bozo. He's an incredibly powerful man. Have you ever of William Randolph Hearst? He was a newspaper magnate. He helped instigate the Spanish-American War in 1898 to help sell his newspapers. Hearst told the great American artist, Frederick Remington, "You supply the pictures and I'll supply the war."


    EXACTLY........thank you frank this was a GREAT post!

    ReplyDelete
  92. Ok, Im done for a while ... I'll talk to you all tomorrow.


    Will -- tomorrow, operation Warm Puppies is in effect at 1700 hours. Hack!

    ReplyDelete
  93. Mike,

    You're quite welcome and thank you for your good words.
    I used to watch Rush Limbaugh in the late '80s. He was a lot more "libertarian" back then. I remember him giving hell to both sides of the aisle. It all changed about the time of Bill Clinton's election. Limbaugh focused in specifically on Clinton and the Democrats. I remember on one of the talks shows (Letterman I believe) saying that it was personal between him and the Clintons. His ratings went up and he started making serious money. By 1996, he was the anointed voice of the Neo-Con movement. His prestige and paychecks soared. During the Bush adminstration, he became their chief character assasin. Coulter, Hannity, Malkin, and the rest rode his coat tails to profitable celebrity . Each it seemed trying to be more strident than the others.
    I think we're seeing the beginning of the end for him and the others but boy do we have a long way to go.

    ReplyDelete
  94. I think your right Frank the Right Wing is crashing and burning just like it did under Herbert Hoover in 1932.

    ReplyDelete
  95. Maybe the change in limbaugh was due to Roger Ailes trying to get him a TV gig, everyone Ailes works with thurns out to end up drinking the kool-aid they serve daily at fake noise.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Clif,

    You've got a point with the Roger Ailes connection. When hate-mongering stops being profitable then I think you'll see a lot of them either dry up or re-invent themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Blogger Frank Frey said...

    Clif,

    You've got a point with the Roger Ailes connection. When hate-mongering stops being profitable then I think you'll see a lot of them either dry up or re-invent themselves."


    That day cant come SOON ENOUGH for me!

    ReplyDelete
  98. Later folks, I have a long day tomorrow and it's starting early. Take care everyone. See you all tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  99. If corporations like Olin, Koch, Exxon, Halliburton, Disney, Mellon, GE, Et Al have their way it will never be not profitable

    ReplyDelete
  100. Thats why I have little tolerance for people who try to stifle MY RIGHT to criticize these agents of hatred and intolerance..........People have died over their wars based on lies..........people ARE STILL DYING over their wars of choice based on lies............our economy has been destroyed and people are losing their jobs and the ability to support themselves and their families because of the failed ideologies and reckless greed or the greedy deregulation obsessed repugs............and WORST of all people like Gafney, Coulter, Hannity, Rush etc..........are STILL TRYING to start MORE WARS so more can die and our economy can implode and People like Will try to stifle MY RIGHT to exercise my free speech to criticize these treasonous hacks.


    Now If Will doesnt want to criticize them or wants to come right out and defend them thats fine we'll debate the merit of his arguments but he has No right to try to tell me or anyone else NOT to criticize these people unless he wants to defend his [position on the merits.


    I DONT HAVE to agree with Will and I dont have to obey Wills wishes i'll criticize anyone I damn well please..............THATS why Bart called Will a concern troll and thats why I think his positions are inconsistent and indefensible just like a concern trolls would.


    Bottom line Will dont to limit my free speech or my ability to state my opinion or paint me as mean like you did Bart for addressing your posts.

    ReplyDelete
  101. will is still the lying attention seeker he has always been

    he has tried to get attention so long it is all he really does,

    ReplyDelete
  102. Obama called it;

    Michigan State 65 at North Carolina 80

    ReplyDelete
  103. Will doesn't oppose free speech (what an absolute ruse). He just likes to exercise his own from time to time without being called a defender of bigotry, etc.. And I, too have been critical of EVERY FRIGGING SINGLE PERSON on that little list of yours, boy. In fact, I eviscerated Mr. Gaffney a few months back. So, again, you're wrong. Just like you were wrong about me being Bartlebee's imposter (what an asinine construct, huh?). I told you, boy, I'd take the lie-detector test. If I'm lying, I'll pay for it. I, however, I'm not lying and that moronic little accusation of yours is just that, a moronic accusation, then you pay for it. Care to wager, buddy?

    ReplyDelete
  104. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

    Will doesn't oppose free speech (what an absolute ruse). He just likes to exercise his own from time to time without being called a defender of bigotry, etc.. And I, too have been critical of EVERY FRIGGING SINGLE PERSON on that little list of yours, boy. In fact, I eviscerated Mr. Gaffney a few months back. So, again, you're wrong. Just like you were wrong about me being Bartlebee's imposter (what an asinine construct, huh?). I told you, boy, I'd take the lie-detector test. If I'm lying, I'll pay for it. I, however, I'm not lying and that moronic little accusation of yours is just that, a moronic accusation, then you pay for it. Care to wager, buddy?"


    Sorry pal but i'm not WRONG about anything if your NOT opposed to free speech then stop coming in dictating WHO people should criticize and who they shouldnt........if YOU dont want to criticize these agents of intolerance thats fine if you want to voice your opinion you dont think theyre worth criticizing thats fine too.........but DONT come in here over and over again telling people you KNOW damn well dont agree with your dont criticize these people then try and play the wounded martyr pretendeding to be attacked when someone VOICES their opinion stating they dont agree with you and goes ahead and criticizes Coulter or Rush.

    See champ I dont have to agree with you or obey your orders get it.

    And who says i'm Wrong about you not being Barts imposter there was NO CONCLUSIVE Evidence whatsoever to clear you or prove you guilty.

    Lydia thought it "COULD" be Larry, as did I, I also thought it could be You or Voltron for quite a while as well "

    She later said it WASNT Larry, and we were discussing "Jackie" not the phony Bart Imposter Will.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Will as usual protests too much.

    ReplyDelete
  106. Why does the Right Wing ALWAYS CLAIM THEIR Freedom of Speech extends to lying and TRYING to limit the freedom of speech of the opposition.......ALWAYS!

    ReplyDelete
  107. How about this Will you dont tell me who I shouldnt criticize and i'll show YOU the same courtesy.........sound like a plan?

    ReplyDelete
  108. Sorry but your little games dont work on me.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Was it something I said Will??????????


    You disapeared REAL FAST!

    ReplyDelete
  110. BTW will, did ya send Lydia a pic yet?

    She could use a good laugh at your geeky frame son.

    ReplyDelete
  111. BTW Bob gates under Barack obama is ending the private contractor with NO responsibility to answer to the pentagon or congress, think Eric Prince and Blackwater out of control people shooting wildly in Iraq, or KBR electrocuting soldiers with their shoddy work;

    instead this is what we will get;

    Our goal is to hire as many as 13,000 new civil servants in FY '10 to replace contractors and up to 30,000 new civil servants in place of contractors over the next five years.

    Civil servants who get paid LESS and have to answer to the pentagon the president and congress, which means billions won't be wasted on wingnut welfare instead of getting the job done properly.

    As an aside the military will stop losing trained specialists to private contractors who paid NOTHING to train the people they are poaching from the miltary.

    ReplyDelete
  112. I'll answer ANY of your moronic and baseless acccusations, boy - ON A POLYGRAPH! But like I said, moron, if I answer everthing honestly, you pay for the test. Agree?

    ReplyDelete
  113. My my such a bitter angry little man..........i'm NOT calling YOU names Will........YOU need to try to be more civil and respectful.

    ReplyDelete
  114. And I never said you couldn't criticize ANYBODY, boy. I was just showing the lunacy of trying to blame everything under the sun on these great diablo bug-a-boos of yours. That's all. And I said it with humor. So screw you. P.S. Good luck with all these lunatics, Lydia. You deserve a better fate, for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Poor widdle will so angry all the time.

    Is it the fact you got outed as a liar numerous times or all the failed dates son?

    ReplyDelete
  116. Cry baby runs away as usual, probably has done it his whole pathetic life.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Will I wouldnt say it too loud you want to take a Plygraph to see if your lying on a blog.........they might lock you in a rubber room LOL!


    Besides polygraphs arent admissible in court.........any good liar that lies frequently and lies werll can beat a polygraph.........THATS WHY they arent admissible in court.

    D:

    ReplyDelete
  118. BTW Mike here is the whole news release from gates;

    If you are against wingnut welfare and boondoggle reich-wing defense wasteful spending this would be a good start.

    ReplyDelete
  119. Will knows polygraphs aren't worth the paper they are printed on from his time as a turn-key .....

    ReplyDelete
  120. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

    And I never said you couldn't criticize ANYBODY, boy. I was just showing the lunacy of trying to blame everything under the sun on these great diablo bug-a-boos of yours. That's all. And I said it with humor. So screw you. P.S. Good luck with all these lunatics, Lydia. You deserve a better fate, for sure."


    Your the one who seems like the lunatic Will...........i'm talking to you calmly and respectfully and all your doing is ranting and name calling are you ok?


    Hey if YOU dont want to criticize people that lie us into wars where people die, or incite racial, sexual or religious hatred violence, discrimination and bigotry.......thats your perogative just dont attack me for disagreeing with you and exercising my free speech to expose and criticize these treasonous agents of intolerance.

    ReplyDelete
  121. I hope Wills ok...........he sounds so angry and unbalanced.


    They have Meds to help anger and mood swings like that.........theres no shame in seeking help.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Yo will, it weren't us people who keep kissing the lying drug addicts fat ass, when he demands it, it is the reich-wingers you keep defending son.

    ReplyDelete
  123. Like Barney, widdle will fancies himself an expert on firearms, women, who to question, critique, what is approiate for discussion and just about any other topic of conversation brought up while he is around ........

    ReplyDelete
  124. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said... I was just showing the lunacy of trying to blame everything under the sun on these great diablo bug-a-boos of yours. That's all."


    So people that committed treason by lying us into a war of choice based on lies that resulted in possibly a million deaths and ARE STILL TRYING TO START MORE WARS BASED ON BS SO MORE CAN DIE............is LUNACY AND BLAMING EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN ON THESE GREAT DEVIL BUG-A-BOOS.................So I guess we should just let the Neo Cons lie us into more wars and destroy our economy completely and drive us into a second GREAT DEPRESSION by giving More tax cuts to the ultra wealthy and more cronny no bid contracts to war profiteers and crooks.

    ReplyDelete
  125. Why not mike, a gutless chicken hawk punk like will would never volunteer ... so he doesn't have to put his scrawny ass on the line.

    ReplyDelete
  126. Seems Will doesnt have much to say when the FACTS are laid bare for all to see..........those darn facts get you every time.

    ReplyDelete
  127. Why have YOU spent the last 2 years criticizing O'Liely and Olberman, and Obama a man who JUST came to office............yet you seem to have a PROBLEM with anyone criticizing Coulter, Hannity, Rush, Gaffney etc............are you saying YOU wasted your time on YOUR blog for 2 years or were you just seeking attention.

    ReplyDelete
  128. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  129. The same can be said for Limbaugh. He hasn't come up with anything original but he does have a talent picking up on popular fears and exaggerating them all out of proportion. He does it for the same reason that Hearst did it for. The money.

    This is exactly right. The pedophile dope addict bears moral culpability for any harm that may arise from the flames he fans.

    ReplyDelete
  130. Yep you KNOW it JR!

    ReplyDelete
  131. I think I'll try and take this back to where it was supposed to be going :)

    What I see as God, I see in the pounding surf of Lake Superior, and the mists of the Upper Peninsula waterfalls. What I feel as God is a breeze from Lake Erie, and the warmth of the sun on my shoulders. When I plant flowers, and see them come to full bloom, I believe I can say that I am doing Divine work.

    ReplyDelete
  132. Bush and Cheney LIED as usual,

    Wanna STILL claim the US didn't torture under Bush?

    ..... and we wonder why those released sometimes go join the enemy?

    jebus would be so proud,

    Jesus of Nazareth not so much.

    ReplyDelete
  133. Read it all …… if you can stomach it.

    ....then remember how bad John McCain told us all the Hanoi Hilton was ....

    What makes our actions different from those who tortured John McCain?

    ReplyDelete
  134. BTW this report was leaked, it is still supposed to be kept secret.

    ReplyDelete
  135. We as a country should be ashamed this was done supposedly in our name to keep us safe.

    ReplyDelete
  136. Remember this is not the only case of torture or the only people US personnel tortured.

    The blowback is yet to be seen.

    ReplyDelete
  137. PITTSBURGH – The mother of a man charged with killing three Pittsburgh police officers told a 911 dispatcher he had weapons, but the dispatcher didn't relay that information to officers, the official in charge of county dispatchers told a newspaper.

    The dispatcher should have asked more questions about the weapons, but didn't, and certainly should have told officers so they could take necessary precautions, Allegheny County Chief of Emergency Services Robert Full told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for a story Tuesday.

    "There is no excuse. It could have been handled better, without a doubt," Full told the newspaper for Tuesday's editions.

    Richard Poplawski's mother, Margaret, had dialed 911 to summon police after threatening to evict him.

    Unknown to her, she told police, her 23-year-old son was armed and waiting for the police when they arrived Saturday morning. He shot officer Paul Sciullo II, 37, in the home and officer Stephen Mayhle, 29, on the front stoop within seconds of their arrival, and then shot officer Eric Kelly, 41, in the street as he arrived to back them up, prompting a four-hour siege and gun battle with police, authorities said.

    Poplawski was wearing a bulletproof vest and was armed with a variety of weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle, authorities said.

    He is also accused of firing into two neighboring homes, injuring nobody, and at nine other police officers, including one who was wounded as he tended to Kelly.

    Poplawski's public defender has declined to discuss the case. He is being held without bond and faces an April 17 preliminary hearing on criminal homicide, attempted homicide and other charges.

    Full said the dispatcher, who has been on the job less than a year, is on paid administrative leave and is receiving counseling.

    In a recording of the call that county officials played for the newspaper, Margaret Poplawski sounded impatient as she called 911 at about 7 a.m. and asked for police to come take her son out of the house.

    "Are you moving or what? Or the police gotta come?" she asks.

    "Does he have any weapons or anything?" the dispatcher asked.

    "Yes," the mother said. After a long pause, she added, "They're all legal."

    "OK, but he's not threatening you with anything?" the dispatcher said.

    Without answering, Margaret Poplawski mother said, "Look, I'm just waking up from a sleep. I want him gone."

    "OK, we'll send 'em over, OK?" the dispatcher said.

    "Sounds good," the mother said, as the call ends.

    Police union president James Malloy said officers would have responded differently had they known Poplawski had weapons.

    "You approach the house with a different attitude. You approach the house from a distance," said Malloy, a retired police sergeant. "You park your car a distance from the house so you can hit the dirt."

    The officers will lie in state at the City-County Building downtown on Wednesday before all three will be honored at a memorial service at the Petersen Events Center on the University of Pittsburgh campus on Thursday. The 12,000-seat basketball arena was chosen because authorities expect police and other dignitaries from around the country to attend.

    As the city mourned, new information emerged about the suspect from his Internet postings.

    Internet rantings found on a white supremacist Web site, Stormfront.org, indicate Poplawski was preoccupied with the idea that President Barack Obama was going to overturn the Second Amendment and that Jews were secretly running the country.

    He posted a shirtless picture of himself showing off a large tattoo of a spread-winged eagle below his collarbone.

    Postings made by others on the extremist Web site after the Pittsburgh shooting encourage people to buy assault rifles because they suspect the arms will be banned after a string of mass shootings in the past month, including one in Oakland, Calif., where four officers were killed and another in Binghamton, N.Y., on Friday when a gunman killed 13 people before killing himself.

    ReplyDelete
  138. That is beautiful JR.

    Also, if you really love someone, that is also evidence of God.

    ReplyDelete
  139. Mike, you lie like nobody I've ever met before. You guys were trying to draw some connection between serial killers and right-wing radio. That's what I was referring to with the South Park analogy. Either you were too moronic to decipher that or you're just a flat-out cynical liar. I've criticized Obama on a spate of issues and defended him on others. I defended him on the Wright flap. I defended him on the Ayers flap. And I defended him on the socialism flap. And over these TWO years, I've probably done over a hundred posts critical of George W. Bush. Why did you leave that fact out, Mike? You say you like facts.

    ReplyDelete
  140. A problem with anybody criticizing Gaffney? Where do you come up with this stuff? Do you literally pull it out of thin air? I've NEVER defended that guy and have actually been critical of him. Damn, are you pathetic.

    ReplyDelete
  141. Bush is gone, Mike. As for Limbaugh, he's little more than a side-show (Randolph Hearst, I don't think so). Obama's the president now. You might want to start keeping an eye on him

    ReplyDelete
  142. During the next year I plan on starting an all-out campaign to fight the ONLY 100% preventable birth defect. As the adopted father of a Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder child, I have witnessed the trauma of both the child and the family that can come from this travesty. I hope I can count on everyone in bringing this problem to the public. We can begin by making sure there are signs in every location that sells alcohol of the possibility of FASD if a woman drinks even a small amount during pregnancy.

    Thanks for the outlet. I'll have more to say at Left of Centrist over the next few weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  143. Will "take your meds" hyart said,

    Bush is gone, Mike. As for Limbaugh, he's little more than a side-show (Randolph Hearst, I don't think so). Obama's the president now. You might want to start keeping an eye on him


    The damage that your hero has caused is still turning people out in the streets. The crimes your icon committed are still going unpunished. And the pedophile dope addict is a cancerous, lying poison who is helping to whip up the kind of frenzies that result in bloodbaths in places like Pittsburgh and Knoxville. No, these scum are far more than "sideshows."

    ReplyDelete
  144. Lydia said,

    That is beautiful JR.

    Also, if you really love someone, that is also evidence of God.


    That someone could love ME is probably better evidence of a merciful God :)

    ReplyDelete
  145. My hero? My icon? I don't have heroes and icons, pal.

    ReplyDelete
  146. Or don't your "man-crushes" count?

    ReplyDelete
  147. Okay Will,

    Limbaugh is a bozo and we shouldn't bother with him. This, btw, being the same Rush Limbaugh who backed down the Chairman of the RNC. Methinks that Bozo is really one of the Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
    Check out Huffington Post for the audio tape of one of his callers calling him "a brainwashed nazi". It's priceless.

    ReplyDelete
  148. Want a shorter version of the leaked ICRC report;

    In McCain’s own words:

    The soldiers took me into an empty cell, set me down on the floor still on the stretcher and placed a blanket over me. For the next few days, I drifted in and out of consciousness.

    My interrogators accused me of being a war criminal and demanded military information. They knocked me around a little and I began to feel sharp pains in my fractured limbs.

    I blacked out after the first few blows.

    I thought if I could hold out, they would relent and take me to a hospital.

    But on the fourth day, I realised my condition had become more serious. I was feverish and losing consciousness for longer periods.

    I was lying in my vomit and other bodily wastes, and my knee had become grossly swollen and discoloured.

    The medic, called Zorba, took my pulse.

    “Are you going to take me to the hospital?” I asked.

    “No,” he replied. “It’s too late.”
    [snip]
    For almost two months, nothing happened. Then the punishment sessions began. I was hauled into an empty room and kept there for four days. At intervals, the guards returned to administer beatings.

    One guard held me while the others pounded away.

    They cracked several of my ribs and broke a couple of teeth. Weakened by beatings and dysentery, with my right leg again almost useless, I found it impossible to stand.

    On the third night I lay in my blood and waste, so tired and hurt that I could not move. Three guards lifted me to my feet and gave me the worst beating yet. They left me lying on the floor moaning from the stabbing pain in my re-fractured arm.

    Despairing of any relief from pain and further torture, I tried to take my life. After several unsuccessful attempts, I managed to stand. Up-ending the waste bucket, I stepped on it, bracing myself against the wall with my good arm.

    I looped my shirt through the shutters. As I looped it around my neck, a guard saw the shirt through the window, pulled me off the bucket and beat me.

    Later, I made a second, feebler attempt at suicide. On the fourth day, I gave up. I signed a confession that “I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pilot”.

    The guards ordered me to record my confession on tape. I refused, and was beaten until I consented.


    No difference in the actions, just the war and the actors.

    BTW the Bush war criminals added,

    Suffocation by water (waterboarding)

    Beatings by the use of a collar

    Prolonged nudity


    Nice to see just how "humane" the supposed Christian right is in glorifying the torture of the Muslims but reacting with horror when the same was done to John McCain.

    Situational ethics is NOT ethics at all.

    Torture is always Torture.

    Even if we claim the right to do it in the name of national security.

    ReplyDelete
  149. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

    Mike, you lie like nobody I've ever met before."

    So your "CLAIMING" I lie show one instance where I lied Willy.......i'm calling you out to show one instance of where I've lied in this thread.

    ReplyDelete
  150. Ike is one of my top 5 favorite presidents, Clif (Kennedy being one of the others, btw). But he's nothing compared to Clift and Garbo. I probably should have said that I don't have political heroes and that the nonpolitcal heroes I have (insert also, Frank Weston Benson, Andre Gide, Modest Mussorgsky) are dead.

    ReplyDelete
  151. dead like your ethics

    ReplyDelete
  152. Robert Rouse said "During the next year I plan on starting an all-out campaign to fight the ONLY 100% preventable birth defect. As the adopted father of a Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder child, I have witnessed the trauma of both the child and the family that can come from this travesty. I hope I can count on everyone in bringing this problem to the public. We can begin by making sure there are signs in every location that sells alcohol of the possibility of FASD if a woman drinks even a small amount during pregnancy."


    I'll be glad to help in any way I can.

    ReplyDelete
  153. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...You guys were trying to draw some connection between serial killers and right-wing radio."


    No Thats a bald faced Lie Willy..........we were discussing the connection between people who snap and go on a killing rampage and them listening to Right Wing radio and being rascist, bigoted, prejudice and full of hate..........and there is most certainly a connection look at any wack job who has gone on a killing rampage and the vast majority FIT THAT CRITERIA.


    The Serial Killers crap is just that crap its a strawman YOU tried to raise because you CANT discus issues on the merit..........NO ONE WAS REMOTELY talking about serial killers and the guy we were reffering to wasnt a serial killer.......so tell me was that you AS USUAL being misinformed or deliberately LYING?

    ReplyDelete
  154. Mike, you said I've spent the last 2 years criticizing Obama. That is a bald-faced lie. You said I have a problem with criticism of right-wing commentators. That is a lie. My only point is that you guys seem to want to tie ANYTHING that goes wrong in society to either Bush or to right-wing radio. That's all. It's like Hannity blaming Obama for everything. It's lacks credibility.

    ReplyDelete
  155. Rush Limbaugh gets pwned by caller: "You, Hannity, Hewitt, and Levin are all brainwashed and you know it."

    CALLER: Thanks, Rush. Rush, listen, I voted Republican, and I didn't -- really didn't want to see Obama get in office. But, you know, Rush, you're one reason to blame for this election, for the Republicans losing.

    First of all, you kept harping about voting for Hillary. The second big issue is the -- was the torture issue. I'm a veteran. We're not supposed to be torturing these people. This is not Nazi Germany, Red China, or North Korea. There's other ways of interrogating people, and you kept harping about it -- "It's OK," or "It's not really torture." And it was just more than waterboarding. Some of these prisoners were killed under torture.

    And it just -- it was crazy for you to keep going on and on like Levin and Hannity and Hewitt. It's like you're all brainwashed.

    And my last comment is, no matter what Obama does, you will still criticize him because I believe you're brainwashed. You're just -- and I hate to say it -- but I think you're a brainwashed Nazi. Anyone who could believe in torture just has got to be - there's got to be something wrong with them. His only defense against the caller is to say he's not a Republican...

    LIMBAUGH: You know --

    CALLER: And I know Bush wanted to keep us safe and all of that, but we're not supposed to be torturing these people.

    LIMBAUGH: Charles, if anybody is admitting that they're brainwashed it would be you.

    CALLER: No, no, no, Rush. I don't think so.

    LIMBAUGH: Charles. Charles, Charles --

    CALLER: You, Hannity, Hewitt, and Levin are all brainwashed and you know it.

    LIMBAUGH: -- you said -- you said at the beginning of your phone call --

    CALLER: Yeah.

    LIMBAUGH: -- that you didn't want Obama in there --

    CALLER: That's right.

    LIMBAUGH: -- but you voted for him because of me.

    CALLER: I didn't vote for him. I voted for McCain. I voted Republican.

    LIMBAUGH: Oh, so --

    CALLER: I voted Republican.

    LIMBAUGH: -- you're saying I turned people off to --

    CALLER: You turned people off with all your -- all this "vote for Hillary" and all this BS, because you must think people are really stupid.

    LIMBAUGH: That was Operation Chaos. That was to keep the --

    CALLER: You -- no. It didn't work.

    LIMBAUGH: -- chaos in the [unintelligible] of the Democrat primaries.

    CALLER: It didn't work. And now what we have with you Hannity, Levin, and Hewitt: sour grapes. That's all we have. And believe me, I'm not -- I'm more to the right than I am to the left.

    CALLER: We are not supposed to torture people.

    LIMBAUGH: I do not ever --

    CALLER: Do you remember World War II, the Nazis? The Nuremberg Trials?

    LIMBAUGH: I --

    CALLER: Do you remember the Nuremberg Trials?

    LIMBAUGH: Charles --

    CALLER: Klaus Barbie?

    LIMBAUGH: Charles, let me say --

    CALLER: Huh?

    LIMBAUGH: Barack Obama --

    CALLER: What's the matter with you?

    LIMBAUGH: Barack --

    CALLER: You never even served in a military.

    LIMBAUGH: Barack Obama is --

    CALLER: I served in the Marine Corps and the Army.


    Can you say totally pwned

    ReplyDelete
  156. Sorry son but the person who ambushed and murdered three Pittsburgh Policemen was spouting the reich-wing, Obama is gonna take our guns LIE as the reason he shot and murdered the police.

    The connection was made by the killer not us asshole.

    Go concern troll someplace else like the waste of bandwidth nobody comments on.

    ReplyDelete
  157. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...
    That's what I was referring to with the South Park analogy. Either you were too moronic to decipher that or you're just a flat-out cynical liar. I've criticized Obama on a spate of issues and defended him on others. I defended him on the Wright flap. I defended him on the Ayers flap. And I defended him on the socialism flap. And over these TWO years, I've probably done over a hundred posts critical of George W. Bush. Why did you leave that fact out, Mike? You say you like facts."


    Wow two bait and switches in the same post.......you've outdone yourself Willy............FIRST of all WE WERE NOT TALKING ABOUT YOU DEFENDING OBAMA OR YOU BEING CRITICAL OF GWB..........so your being dishonest and pulling the bait and switch.


    Pay attention and get some help for the ADHD Willy we were TALKING about YOU over and over again telling US we should NOT be criticizing Rush, Coulter, Hannity, etc........and despite the fact that most of us disagree with you you persist in stating your opinion over and over again after you've made your position abundantly clear but attacking and calling names to people who dont agree with you.

    I've stated your entitled to state YOUR opinion Willy, I dont call YOU names for stating your opinion.........so i have to ask are you resorting to the name calling to intimidate people into doing what YOU WANT and trying to STOP them from exercising their free speech as THEY SEE FIT.

    Its telling that you try to deny OTHERS the same rights you CLAIM to be entitled to yourself...........namely the right to state YOUR opinion without being attacked, slandered and called names.............YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY PEOPLE SAY YOU ACT LIKE A CONCERN TROLL LOOK AT HOW YOU BEHAVE HERE.

    ReplyDelete
  158. Seriel killers was the wrong word. But, still, Mike, there is a lot that goes into the making of a crazy person. They normally don't just "snap" because of a solitary variable. I mean, come on, a person who needs Glenn Beck as an excuse to go off the deep-end is probably going to go off the deep-end eventually anyway. It sounds like this fellow had a personality disorder of some kind. Those develope very early in life and are virtually immutable to change. I mean, sure, if you want to continue this quest of yours for easy answers/clear-cut dichotomies between good and evil, that's fine, Mike. But you gotta expect a little blowback once in a while, fella'.

    ReplyDelete
  159. another word salad by the expert

    ReplyDelete
  160. Mike, you idiot. You accused me of criticizing Obama. I was answering that. You're the one who needs the Ritalin, dude. What do you do for a living, btw, Mike?

    ReplyDelete
  161. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

    Mike, you said I've spent the last 2 years criticizing Obama. That is a bald-faced lie. You said I have a problem with criticism of right-wing commentators. That is a lie. My only point is that you guys seem to want to tie ANYTHING that goes wrong in society to either Bush or to right-wing radio. That's all. It's like Hannity blaming Obama for everything. It's lacks credibility."


    You cant just LIE and make shit up.......I NEVER mentioned YOU criticizing Obama, or right wing Commentators..........PROVE WHERE I SAID THAT OR ADMIT YOUR A LIAR.


    I stated you specifically said we should not criticize CERTAIN RIGHT WING COMMENTATORS specifically Rush, Coulter, Hannity.........I CAN PROVE WHAT I SAY.......Would you like me to supply the quotes willy to PROVE YOU SAID WHAT I CLAIM YOU SAID many are right here in this thread.


    the difference between me and you Willy is I can PROVE my claims and back them up with facts and YOU NEVER DO BECAUSE YOU CANT.

    ReplyDelete
  162. I NEVER accused you of criticizing Obama in this thread.........I challenge you to PROVE IT or ADMIT YOUR LYING.

    typical lying little concern troll calling names and attacking people while running from facts as fast as you can?

    ReplyDelete
  163. Funny the clown who told us NOT to criticize the idiot who picked Palin,

    now doesn't want us to critique the idiots who are pushing the far right meme,

    But he doesn't have any agenda at all.


    Just writes unintelligible word salads

    ReplyDelete
  164. That bit that Frank mentioned is all over the internet net tonight -- the guy was positively annihilated by the caller!

    ReplyDelete
  165. Mike, will is here desperately seeking attention since he don't get none at his waste of band width

    So arguing the facts of his lies to him, is pointless, just like always,

    ReplyDelete
  166. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

    And I never said you couldn't criticize ANYBODY, boy. I was just showing the lunacy of trying to blame everything under the sun on these great diablo bug-a-boos of yours. That's all. And I said it with humor. So screw you. P.S. Good luck with all these lunatics, Lydia. You deserve a better fate, for sure."


    Your the one who seems like the lunatic Will...........i'm talking to you calmly and respectfully and all your doing is ranting and name calling are you ok?


    Hey if YOU dont want to criticize people that lie us into wars where people die, or incite racial, sexual or religious hatred violence, discrimination and bigotry.......thats your perogative just dont attack me for disagreeing with you and exercising my free speech to expose and criticize these treasonous agents of intolerance.

    ReplyDelete
  167. I hope Wills ok...........he sounds so angry and unbalanced.


    They have Meds to help anger and mood swings like that.........theres no shame in seeking help.

    ReplyDelete
  168. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said... I was just showing the lunacy of trying to blame everything under the sun on these great diablo bug-a-boos of yours. That's all."


    So people that committed treason by lying us into a war of choice based on lies that resulted in possibly a million deaths and ARE STILL TRYING TO START MORE WARS BASED ON BS SO MORE CAN DIE............is LUNACY AND BLAMING EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN ON THESE GREAT DEVIL BUG-A-BOOS.................So I guess we should just let the Neo Cons lie us into more wars and destroy our economy completely and drive us into a second GREAT DEPRESSION by giving More tax cuts to the ultra wealthy and more cronny no bid contracts to war profiteers and crooks.

    ReplyDelete
  169. Why have YOU spent the last 2 years criticizing O'Liely and Olberman, and Obama a man who JUST came to office............yet you seem to have a PROBLEM with anyone criticizing Coulter, Hannity, Rush, Gaffney etc............are you saying YOU wasted your time on YOUR blog for 2 years or were you just seeking attention.

    ReplyDelete
  170. Like all wanna be authoritarians, widdle will gets to decide who and how to criticize the political world.

    and gets to criticize us when we fail in his eyes, but we do not just ask him.

    ReplyDelete
  171. Its very telling Will that YOU have criticized the Iraq war for TWO YEARS now yet are now proclaiming that we should NOT criticize the very people who pushed us into these wars WHERE PEOPLE DIED with their TREASONOUS lies.........and WORSE yet ARE STILL TRYING TO PUSH US INTO MORE WARS BASED ON LIES.

    ReplyDelete
  172. Its also very telling that YOU screech about racial and sexual intolerance on your blog............yet tell us NOT to criticize the very agents of intolerance who preach the same vitriol you whine and cry about when DIRECTED AT YOU ON YOUR "BLOG"

    ReplyDelete
  173. You tell us not to criticize people.........yet spend 2 YEARS criticizing people on YOUR blog with your word salads.

    ReplyDelete
  174. I wish Bart were here to address this comment..........ANYONE hear the news about the Obama Administration invoking the State Secrets "CLAIM" to defend the Bush criminals illegal warrantless wiretapping............I think that like an iceberg there is a ton of stuff buried beneath the murky surface on this one.


    I'm just speculating of course.........but consider the fact that Cheney has been POUNDING on Obama on EVERY media outlet that will give this treasonous jackass laughingstock airtime and a voice.

    Consider that most towns NOW have cameras and video surveilance on most traffic lights, stores and places of business......I speculate that the surveilance and illegal spying of the Bush criminals goes MUCH deeper than most people are aware............I think these programs are DEEPLY classified and Obama figures the BEST way to dismantle them is quietly, secretly and stealthily just as they were assembled.


    I KNOW If I were Obama and these heinous programs were classified so that few KNEW about them I would dismantle them in secret so that treasonous fear mongering slimeballs like Dick Cheney couldnt tar and feather me as weak on terrorism and BLAME me for dismantling illegal surveylance programs that were heinous violations of both privacy and the US Constitution.


    See if they remain classified and know one knows about them Cheney cant use them without revealing state secrets himself.


    Again i'm just speculating but with Obama doing a complete about face and clinging to policies he swore to abhor...........Coupled with Cheney throwing fear and smear slime on a regular basis..........I think something smells rotten.

    ReplyDelete
  175. Blogger Robert Rouse said...

    During the next year I plan on starting an all-out campaign to fight the ONLY 100% preventable birth defect. As the adopted father of a Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder child, I have witnessed the trauma of both the child and the family that can come from this travesty. I hope I can count on everyone in bringing this problem to the public. We can begin by making sure there are signs in every location that sells alcohol of the possibility of FASD if a woman drinks even a small amount during pregnancy.

    Thanks for the outlet. I'll have more to say at Left of Centrist over the next few weeks."


    Hey Robert god to see you!

    ReplyDelete
  176. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

    Bush is gone, Mike. As for Limbaugh, he's little more than a side-show (Randolph Hearst, I don't think so). Obama's the president now. You might want to start keeping an eye on him"


    I happen to disagree Will as does the vast majority..........myself, Clif, Bart, Lydia, JR, Frank etc........seems your on an island on this one Will.

    ReplyDelete
  177. "Why have YOU spent the last 2 years criticizing O'Liely and Olbermann, and OBAMA (my emphasis) a man who JUST came to office..." Your words. And, again (I repeat for the feeble-minded), I have ZERO problems with people criticizing Limbaugh (I call him a bozo and THAT is construed as "supporting" him - incredible), et. al.. My only point is that when you try to blame them for everything and constantly compare them to Hitler (I see that Glenn Beck is comparing Obama to Hitler - nice, huh?), you start to lose credibility. That's my opinion. Feel free to disagree with it.

    ReplyDelete
  178. And you're a bald-faced liar as well, Clif. I have NO problems with criticisms of McCain (engaged in a fair amount of it myself). I just protested to him being accused of collaborating with the North Vietnamese (that probably makes him a hero in your eyes, Clif) and him being blamed for a "lost" plane when nearly killed on a ship by friendly fire - STUFF LIKE THAT!! What do you guys do for work, by the way?

    ReplyDelete
  179. Cry baby, must have failed at the dating game again ....... Huh

    ReplyDelete