Tuesday, September 12, 2006
I saw Ted Koppel's program on the Discovery channel. I have always had a high regard for Ted and the program was good except for the 'town hall' portion which was little more than the Republicans repeating Rove Republican talking points. I hope the Discovery channel runs it again if so I will watch it again.
Chris Shays said something of interest that slipped by too quickly. He is the first Repub that has said something that Rove and Bush would/will have chastised him for saying. He said something like, when a party gets back in power after being out of power for forty years they will do some wrong things. I think thats pretty close to what he said. It sounded like and admission of something. Is he running for office or has he suddenly developed a bit of conscience or a bit of backbone. Could he have actually done some thinking for himself. Maybe there is a bit of hope for the Repub party maybe some of THEM have a bit of conscience after all. I was very impressed by Mr. Shays, people like him could save the Repub party before Bush et.al. destroy it.
Why am I concerned about saving the Repub party, well I will tell you. It goes to the concept that America is crippled by the fact that we have only a two party system and should one party get too much power (as the Repubs have) they become corrupted (as the Repubs have) and our American democracy gets damaged as a result. Hence the two party system and our 'system of checks and balances' which is essential to preserve our democracy suffers. America really needs a three, four or five party system so never can one party gain total control as the Repubs have now. So if Bush destroys the Repub party then we will have only the Democrats and that brings us back to the dangerous and dreaded one party system which is dangerous to our democractic system of government, and we are right back to the mess we now have. This kind of mess is less likely to occur from the democratic party because it is the party of the people and because it is not really a single party but unlike the Repubs is really a party of many different groups. But nevertheless the danger is there so America very much needs both political parties.
And that is why I am an independant because I support people and issues not political parties. Also I would like to see another political party for us independants. But until I see a redress of the balance of political power in America I will vote straight Democratic ticket in every election. Or until the Repubs destroy America which is a very real possibility to me. Or until the Repubs destroy the world which is also a very real and imminent possibility. One more day of support from the Catholic or white southern Baptist religions could make that very thing happen.
These two religions are fundamentalist and we can all see what religious fundamentalism can result in. There is no room in this world for religious fundamentalists be it muslim jihadists or American jehadists like the Catholics or Baptists. All three groups must be stopped or they will kill many or destroy all of us in the name of god. small g intended because the real God is not a fundamentalist because He loves all His children equally.
Even though the Repubs have taken control of PBS there was a good program they aired yesterday on 9/11 which was very revealing, even though it revealed what we already know. Jim Lehrer moderated a round table of about eight or nine people. All but three were quite sophisticated possessing an in depth understanding of 9/11 and what was happening in America caused by the Repub party and Bush.
Three seemed to be Repub and Bush supporters and two of those were from confederate states, a women professor who taught in a southern state and a minister(Baptist) from a southern state who despite what everyone around them were saying nevertheless kept repeating the Bush, Cheney, Rove talking points. The third person was a college student or recent graduate who said that all his friends wanted to go to war and fight for America. He said that his friends thought the way Americans thought during WWII.
These three were to me just blind shallow simplistic thinkers. I would like to have heard more from all the participants especially the three who supported the war mindset. The war minister tried to dominate the group via agressive talking points and agressive and supressive comments but the group gently stuck to their beliefs and were not swayed.
I was terribly dissappointed as I always am by the war supporter mindset but was very encouraged and uplifted by the others who displayed a range and depth of understanding that is almost never heard anymore from people on TV, the talking heads never express those points of view. Almost all the MSM speaks to the Bush Repub points of view.
The black minister from New York was magnificent, he could preach to me on any sunday. I got tears in my eyes from his comments, he was without a doubt a true christian and he spoke the way I believe Jesus would have were He at that roundtable.
The arab american comedian was very good as was the hispanic youth worker from LA who expressed so very well what he tries to teach the gang members who thought the same way as the minister from the Southern Baptist Convention, the female professor from Nashville and the college student. The hispanic youth worker had an amazing and clear depth of understanding of the realities of warfare and conflict and I knew the youth he worked with were in good hands.
The woman from the theater/artistic background and the woman psychoanalyst/ ex-policewoman were also able to speak eloquently of the follies of war. I hope PBS runs that program again, I will check their website for it.
Enough for now
Chris Shays said something of interest that slipped by too quickly. He is the first Repub that has said something that Rove and Bush would/will have chastised him for saying. He said something like, when a party gets back in power after being out of power for forty years they will do some wrong things. I think thats pretty close to what he said. It sounded like and admission of something. Is he running for office or has he suddenly developed a bit of conscience or a bit of backbone. Could he have actually done some thinking for himself. Maybe there is a bit of hope for the Repub party maybe some of THEM have a bit of conscience after all. I was very impressed by Mr. Shays, people like him could save the Repub party before Bush et.al. destroy it.
Why am I concerned about saving the Repub party, well I will tell you. It goes to the concept that America is crippled by the fact that we have only a two party system and should one party get too much power (as the Repubs have) they become corrupted (as the Repubs have) and our American democracy gets damaged as a result. Hence the two party system and our 'system of checks and balances' which is essential to preserve our democracy suffers. America really needs a three, four or five party system so never can one party gain total control as the Repubs have now. So if Bush destroys the Repub party then we will have only the Democrats and that brings us back to the dangerous and dreaded one party system which is dangerous to our democractic system of government, and we are right back to the mess we now have. This kind of mess is less likely to occur from the democratic party because it is the party of the people and because it is not really a single party but unlike the Repubs is really a party of many different groups. But nevertheless the danger is there so America very much needs both political parties.
And that is why I am an independant because I support people and issues not political parties. Also I would like to see another political party for us independants. But until I see a redress of the balance of political power in America I will vote straight Democratic ticket in every election. Or until the Repubs destroy America which is a very real possibility to me. Or until the Repubs destroy the world which is also a very real and imminent possibility. One more day of support from the Catholic or white southern Baptist religions could make that very thing happen.
These two religions are fundamentalist and we can all see what religious fundamentalism can result in. There is no room in this world for religious fundamentalists be it muslim jihadists or American jehadists like the Catholics or Baptists. All three groups must be stopped or they will kill many or destroy all of us in the name of god. small g intended because the real God is not a fundamentalist because He loves all His children equally.
Even though the Repubs have taken control of PBS there was a good program they aired yesterday on 9/11 which was very revealing, even though it revealed what we already know. Jim Lehrer moderated a round table of about eight or nine people. All but three were quite sophisticated possessing an in depth understanding of 9/11 and what was happening in America caused by the Repub party and Bush.
Three seemed to be Repub and Bush supporters and two of those were from confederate states, a women professor who taught in a southern state and a minister(Baptist) from a southern state who despite what everyone around them were saying nevertheless kept repeating the Bush, Cheney, Rove talking points. The third person was a college student or recent graduate who said that all his friends wanted to go to war and fight for America. He said that his friends thought the way Americans thought during WWII.
These three were to me just blind shallow simplistic thinkers. I would like to have heard more from all the participants especially the three who supported the war mindset. The war minister tried to dominate the group via agressive talking points and agressive and supressive comments but the group gently stuck to their beliefs and were not swayed.
I was terribly dissappointed as I always am by the war supporter mindset but was very encouraged and uplifted by the others who displayed a range and depth of understanding that is almost never heard anymore from people on TV, the talking heads never express those points of view. Almost all the MSM speaks to the Bush Repub points of view.
The black minister from New York was magnificent, he could preach to me on any sunday. I got tears in my eyes from his comments, he was without a doubt a true christian and he spoke the way I believe Jesus would have were He at that roundtable.
The arab american comedian was very good as was the hispanic youth worker from LA who expressed so very well what he tries to teach the gang members who thought the same way as the minister from the Southern Baptist Convention, the female professor from Nashville and the college student. The hispanic youth worker had an amazing and clear depth of understanding of the realities of warfare and conflict and I knew the youth he worked with were in good hands.
The woman from the theater/artistic background and the woman psychoanalyst/ ex-policewoman were also able to speak eloquently of the follies of war. I hope PBS runs that program again, I will check their website for it.
Enough for now
# posted by t bob @ 3:19 PM 
