Monday, November 12, 2012


Over at Western Hero Finntann Asked Us to Examine Flaws Within the Republican Party 

Here’s what occurred to me. I posted it here, because I thought it made a good article, and because I mistakenly thought Comment Moderation had been put into effect over there.


"Let's talk about us."

Okay. First of all, if you're taking about the Republican Party, there is no "us." "We" are divided into factions that don't like each other very much. 

1. Establishment –– out-of-touch, self-serving, self-promoting, desirous of permanent incumbency and tight control, uninterested in new blood, new ideas, invested in maintaining the status quo, however bad that may be.

2. Christian Coalition –– Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, traditional Roman Catholics –– Abortion, the Right to Die, and Homosexuality are their primary concerns. Though they would deny it, they are interested in establishing Central Control over moral conduct. Deep concern there over the threat of Islam. A misguided, radical support of Israel, not because they love Jews, but because of their desire to see biblical prophecy come to fruition. The economy, the environment, international trade, foreign relations may be of concern, but take a back seat to Sex, Pregnancy, Suffering, Death and Biblical literalism.

3. Honest strict constructionists most of whom see the Founding Fathers as fellow libertarians, who would love to do away with all the destructive, increasingly costly, burdensome, freedom denying "progressive" legislation laid upon us since the days of Woodrow Wilson.

These three factions have about as much in common as raccoons, peacocks and coral snakes.

Somehow, these disparate elements worked together to elect Ronald Reagan. The results turned out better than anyone expected. Almost a miracle.

So what did the mythical "we" do, as soon as Mr. Reagan was safely put out to pasture? 

We nominated a staid, stale, maddeningly aloof, unimaginative, shallow, apparently clueless New World Orderist in the person of George Herbert Walker Bush.

Since then, it's been downhill all the way. 

What most of "us" either cannot see –– or adamantly refuse to acknowledge –– is that both parties are essentially working together to maintain what some call the Welfare-Warfare State, because both parties are bought, paid for and controlled by unseen, largely unknown forces whose interests are frankly antithetical to those of the vast majority of American citizens.

The assertion is hard to "prove" by legalistic standards, so most either ignore or dismiss the theory, and stubbornly cling to the outmoded, largely illusory, increasingly irrelevant Left-Right Paradigm.

To me the situation closely parallels the unresolved issue of how to find a satisfactory legal definition of pornography. No lawyer, no court has yet resolved the question satisfactorily, yet no one but a determined intellectual pervert could fail to recognize the stuff when confronted with it. So, instead of solving problems we continually get mired in stupid battles over legal technicalities, and evil flourishes like the green bay tree of biblical fame.

This determined  Establishment mindset keeps us at each other's throats getting all hot and bothered over things that hardly matter –– the latest being General David Petraeus' much vaunted  AFFAIR with Whatsername.

That certainly has blasted any and all interest in BO's role in the Benghazi Fiasco, the looming Fiscal Cliff, Economic Policy in general, massive Unemployment, mounting Debt in the Trillions, Afghanistan and the failures and bumbling ineptitude of FEMA in the aftermath of Sandy, hasn't it?

ALL OF A SUDDEN the nation is expected to focus the lion's share of its attention and concern over what David Petraeus did with his PENIS.

Talk about CIRCUSES!

Meanwhile the people of coastal New Jersey, Staten Island, parts of Manhattan, large areas of Queens and much of Long Island are literally starving for "BREAD," as well heat, light and basic shelter while the rest of the nation slobbers over and revels in yet-another media-generated SEXCAPADE.

How much longer are "we" going to allow "ourselves" to be flimflammed by the Triumvirate of Corrupt Media working hand-in-glove with Corrupt Public Officials from POTUS on down, and the Corrupt Banking Establishment?

AREN'T YOU SICK and TIRED of GETTING the SCREWING without the LOVING?

Reality ain't pretty, but our need to face it and deal with it effectively is long long long overdue.

Could we?

Will we?

I don't know. What do YOU think?

~ FreeThinke

25 comments:

  1. First FT, I would like to say you would have had no problems with comment moderation and this post over at Western Hero. I can't speak for SF, but the only comments I ever moderate are direct personal insults not cogent to the discussion at hand.

    Second, you and I, I think, are fairly close politically, only having arrived at the same destination by widely divergent paths. The only thing that you have said here that I would disagree with is your position on pornography... which I think it no more relevant than "what David Petraeus did with his PENIS". That and I see inertia and self-interest where you perhaps see conspiracy.

    The key question is where does the only viable opposition party go in 2016. Frankly, I don't think 2014 will be any indicator, the House is an entirely different beast than the executive and the senate.

    Cheers!





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  2. I'm starting to believe that the American people are easily taken in by all sorts of distractions.

    We've lost the plot as far as being a serious nation goes. **sigh**

    There may be more to the Petraeus matter than merely an adulterous affair. I don't know much about the sexcapade as I haven't followed the story. Sexcapades bore me to tears, really.

    But I have a few thoughts based on the little that I know.

    It seems to me that something as mundane as a love affair could have been easily covered up within the CIA. Certainly, the CIA has the means to cover up such a matter.

    More information about the Petraeus matter is coming out every day -- sexcapade that the information can necessarily be trusted.

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  3. FJ,
    Dante's words are appropriate for this political mess in which we are embroiled!

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  4. I'd say that David Petraeus has shown that he's a gentleman and a scholar. He may or may not "just fade away", but as a good soldier he fell on his sword. Contrast this with another denizen of the White House who sanctimoniously swore and waved his crooked finger that he "did not have sex" with "that woman". He lawyered up and would have continued his lying until the mysterious stain of the blue dress proved to be the DNA of none other than William Jefferson Clinton.

    Now he's just been called the MVP on the team to re-elect Obama. Go figure...

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  5. I think this story has legs since it seems to be getting more bizarre by the day. Now apparently the story only came to light because "Whats Her Name" (the biographer), got touchy about another woman (not Mrs. Petraeus) getting "close" with the General, and being warned to "back off" that this was her man (Mrs. What's Her Name).

    Of course this stuff could all have been created by Andrea Mitchell to keep the dogs of the press off the White House lawn.

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  6. Some of your conclusions about most of the groups seem a little extreme and highly biased on your part, but I do think that the Democrats always vote together and we're torn asunder..that's not going to stop, either.

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  7. Well Freethinker, how we do focus on our common problems?

    One place to start is the so called "culture wars". The fringe right has been defeated and it's an utter waste of time to pay attention to the death throes.

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  8. One place to start is the so called "culture wars". The fringe right has been defeated and it's an utter waste of time to pay attention to the death throes.

    HUH?

    Culture wars now. Sounds like you are saying that the Cultural Marxism, the ideology of the far left loony quacks, has prevailed? Not yet. There is always time to seize victory from the jaws of defeat since your beloved socialist enslavement has never worked, and only leftist loons could pretend that it ever will.

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  9. "They turned favorite especially for the duration of Community Wars. Aviators to get always keeping their paws heat used these folks."

    WOW! And I thought Steve was annoying ;)

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  10. I too believe that at root we share a very similar view of things, Finntann, but you completely misunderstood my reference to pornography.

    The focus was supposed to be on the impossibility of finding a satisfactory legal definition thereof not pornography per se.

    Sorry if I failed to make my meaning clear.

    Too many of us are fighting furiously over misconceptions and assumptions instead of taking the time and effort needed to deal with actuality.

    That's what Matthew Arnold must have meant in the phrase I often quote from Dover Beach: "We are here as on a darkling plain where ignorant armies clash by night."

    ~ FT

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  11. Also, be it known:

    I first wrote this post as a comment at Western Hero. For whatever reason it was not accepted.

    I am not well -- have been sick for the past three weeks in fact -- and am, therefore, more short of patience than usual. Ergo, I took the easy way out, and decided to post the statement here, instead.

    I may be mistaken, but I thought I had seen that depressing, inhibiting sign "Comment Moderation has been enabled" the previous night at Western Hero -- for the first time, I might add.

    If I was mistaken, I apologize, fever coupled with aches and pains can wreak havoc on one's perceptions.

    Also, Finn, there's a BIG difference between "Comment Moderation" and personally jettisoning offensive posts on an individual basis.

    "Comment Moderation," an automated function, refuses to allow ANY remarks to be posted without first being "reviewed" -- presumably by a blog owner. Simply deleting individual posts by using that wonderful little garbage canicon available exclusively to blog owners is another function altogether.

    I wouldn't bother to belabor these tedious points if it weren't for a certain determination to take exception to -- or umbrage at -- assumed motivation that usually is not the case.

    ~ FT

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  12. Z, admittedly I tend to paint with a "broad brush," but only for dramatic emphasis in hopes of helping others see The Big Picture.

    There isn't a soul alive who is not "biased," because every one of us us sees life through the individual prism of his own background and experience. Not one of us begins to see the whole picture, but at least I admit that. Most people who bother to have convictions at all tend to confuse their perceptions, assumptions and cherished beliefs with The Whole Truth.

    This, of course, is why people waste so much time squabbling over petty trifles instead of pooling their individual strengths to combat life and death problems more effectively.

    This is why The Republican Party is NOT one party, just as I have said, and is, instead, a conglomeration of factions that have little respect for one another.

    I don't like Abraham Lincoln, as I never trouble to disguise, but I agree with the principle he stated: "A house divided cannot stand."

    When someone like my cousin, an ardent, ultra-conservative Roman Catholic, tells me there is no way he could ever bring himself to vote for a pro-Choice candidate no matter what that candidate's position might be on economics and foreign relations, I DESPAIR of ever finding common ground with with him -- and the many millions like him who allow themselves to become fanatical Single Issue voters. They have TUNNEL VISION, and are every bit as dangerous as committed Marxists.

    If the mythical "we" can't get our act together, we will very soon be swept up and tossed on the Ash Heap of History.

    FANATICISM of any kind is in many ways the ULTIMATE form of VANITY.

    THINK about that. It is not intended as a personal criticism of anyone in particular -- but rather the condemnation of a crippling, self-defeating attitude.

    ~ FT

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  13. For relaxation:


    What Beethoven's Music Will Do To You

    by Bill Holm

    Listen long enough,
    you'll go stone deaf,
    your body grow squat
    from eating only
    fish and brown sausages
    washed down with hock.
    Christen your sister-in-law
    Queen of the Night, then
    take her to court. Break
    all the piano's strings,
    howl and mutter and brood.
    It'll do you no good.
    He already wrote this music,
    made it into the mirror
    that always shows you
    the back side of yourself
    that you only imagined before.
    Now you'll want to write
    King Lear, paint The Last Supper,
    rebuild the Parthenon.
    That's how it always goes—
    nose to nose with magnitude.

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  14. This just in on the "culture war" front:

    "The puppeteer who performs as Elmo on Sesame Street is taking a leave of absence from the popular children's show in the wake of allegations that he had a relationship with a 16-year-old boy ..."

    Of course it's been denied and called a consensual relationship between consenting "adults". What the hell is wrong with the "culture" in these publicly owned and run corporations? First the BBS now PBS. Next they'll be coming for Ducky's daddy, Big Bird, again.

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  15. I like that poem, Ducky.

    I think Holm "gets" at least a good part of it, may be even most of it.

    Is Bill any relation to Celeste? ;-)

    ~ FT

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  16. Music has far more power to do good -- and evil -- than most people begin to realize.

    I honestly believe the "pop" music that arrived in the mid-fifties and has been metastasizing ever since has driven us into the nihilistic, suicidal phase we've been experiencing all my adult life -- a trend that only seems to grow worse with each passing year.

    The only hope for Man has been in Art; it has never been in religion, except in the sense that religion has inspired and fostered the creation of Art.

    "Die Musik ist de rein geistigste aller Kuenste."

    ~ Goethe

    Goethe was right.

    ~ FT

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  17. Waylon, I am a Christian, but one of a decidedly Pelagia turn of mind. I think the morbid preoccupation with sex from which the West has suffered for centuries has done much to deter us on our journey toward Bliss.

    I find these media-generated spectacles over the Sexcapades of this prominent figure and that to be as tedious and hypocritical as they are unwholesome and distasteful.

    In short this is NOT a proper target for our attention.

    ~ FT

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  18. @Waylon -- "The puppeteer who performs as Elmo on Sesame Street is taking a leave of absence from the popular children's show in the wake of allegations that he had a relationship with a 16-year-old boy ..."
    -----

    Waylon, the boy recanted.

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  19. I don't care much for the pop scene either, FT although metal bothers me more than rap. No harmony, no melody, no rhythm, just a basic 4/4 unvaried boring meter blasted incessantly.

    Song form with really bad lyrics.

    You take a one or two bar hook and it passes for melody. No wonder kids can't manage a complex thought.

    Don't get me going on "attention deficit disorder" editing in film today. MSL (mean scene length) over 5 seconds and you lose the average male.


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  20. FT, I think you are right about the morbid preoccupation with sex and I also think it is drummed into the culture via the pop music scene or pop culture.

    Personally I don't think it is by accident that this has happened but by deliberate design. One of the multi-faceted attacks on the underlying morals and values upon which Western Civilization has been founded.

    This can be conclusively seen looking at the revealing comments some pop stars have made about selling their souls to "the devil" (selling out their fundamental values or semblance of goodness they may have at one time possessed in order to climb the ladder of riches and fame offered to them by their new masters who will make them "stars" to be worshiped my the masses driven by today's media whores.

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  21. I suspect "ADDHD" may well be a Rock-Rap-Metal-induced mental disorder, Ducky. I felt very strongly that "Rock" was an ENEMY -- an artificially induced "trend" -- decadent, destructive, backward -- the moment it arrived on the scene. I was about 14 years old then.

    While so-called classical music -- a Western phenomenon spanning about 800 years -- has attracted me from the dawn of consciousness, I remember taking great pleasure in the popular music and show music of the pre-Rock era.

    When Rock came in it felt to like a portcullis had slammed down cutting young America off from her natural roots.

    Whether mere Symptom or root Cause I will never be able to see the influence of Rock and its increasingly depraved spinoffs and derivatives as anything but pernicious.

    And I am anything but a pride or a cultural reactionary -- as you often like to label me.

    ~ FT

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  22. Also false accusations if sexual molestation by youngsters, who are often sexual sophisticates from tender years, is a morbidly unhealthy trend.

    Sexual Predators have become the New Salem Witches.

    Many many perfectly decent lives have been destroyed by putting this unholy weapon into the hands of children -- and ardent statists eager to make a name for themselves while destroying public trust in the sanctity of the family.

    ~ FT

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  23. Thank you again, Waylon. As usual, I find your analysis astute and convincing.

    ~ FT

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  24. Finntann, I have searched in vain for the inane remark you quoted and commented upon above, and failed to find it here.

    I'm not worried or annoyed -- just a bit puzzled.

    Is it an "in joke," perhaps?

    Just wonderin' ...

    ~ FT

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