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Freemasons vs Lord Jesus: Theocracy barely avoided


I was going to post this elsewhere but this thread seems like a place to do so given the past couple of posts. It's the story that goes with the BusinessWeek cover story
Tea Party's Victory Against Government Spending Comes at High Price - Businessweek

And Congress's Deepening Partisan Divide Makes Crisis the New Normal - Businessweek

"...Say this for Tea Party Republicans: They don’t back down. No apologies for triggering a partial shutdown of the federal government, then refusing to raise the debt ceiling without concessions. Condemnation rains down on them from the White House, from foreign capitals, from public opinion polls, but the Tea Party rages on.

They say they have no choice: Deficits are out of control; something must be done and soon. “Politicians have very effectively addicted Americans to government, but it’s not sustainable,” says GOP Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. It’s that sense of being on the brink of disaster that feeds Tea Partiers’ determination to fight to the end. For them, the debt-ceiling deal reached by the Senate on Oct. 16 is merely a cease-fire.

But the Tea Party’s belief that things are slipping away is misplaced. Obamacare aside, events have actually gone the movement’s way ever since Republicans wrested control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterm elections. Discretionary spending has been falling. Federal-employee head count is down. And since 2010, deficit reduction has been more rapid than in any three-year period since the demobilization following World War II..."


stick around for the comments section, YES businessweek still accepts commentary, given the subject i'm sure a flame war or two will flare
 
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"...Say this for Tea Party Republicans: They don’t back down. No apologies for triggering a partial shutdown of the federal government, then refusing to raise the debt ceiling without concessions. Condemnation rains down on them from the White House, from foreign capitals, from public opinion polls, but the Tea Party rages on.

They say they have no choice: Deficits are out of control; something must be done and soon. “Politicians have very effectively addicted Americans to government, but it’s not sustainable,” says GOP Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. It’s that sense of being on the brink of disaster that feeds Tea Partiers’ determination to fight to the end. For them, the debt-ceiling deal reached by the Senate on Oct. 16 is merely a cease-fire.

But the Tea Party’s belief that things are slipping away is misplaced. Obamacare aside, events have actually gone the movement’s way ever since Republicans wrested control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterm elections. Discretionary spending has been falling. Federal-employee head count is down. And since 2010, deficit reduction has been more rapid than in any three-year period since the demobilization following World War II..."

It has nothing to do with rationality. They'll bring the house down because they think the world revolves around them... this is more in tune with religious sects than responsible politics (and economics).

In short, the Beverly hillbillies had more common sense than these morons.
 
So... next year's budget will be smaller than this year? Or has the TEA Party not done *enough*, yet?

When Congressmen need to go on food stamps, I'll say we have the budget nearly under control.
 
The evil political scumbags on one side of the isle should have just waited for the misconceived schemes of the evil political scumbags on the other side of the isle to fail miserably as it has done. Over 650 Million for a website and over a billion for a program that cannot work and is unsafe by virtue of the incompetence with which it was put together. I'm amazed that anyone can find a side to align themselves with or a acceptable ideological hook to hang your hat on amongst them.
 
The evil political scumbags on one side of the isle should have just waited for the misconceived schemes of the evil political scumbags on the other side of the isle to fail miserably as it has done. Over 650 Million for a website and over a billion for a program that cannot work and is unsafe by virtue of the incompetence with which it was put together. I'm amazed that anyone can find a side to align themselves with or a acceptable ideological hook to hang your hat on amongst them.

The mix of politics and informatics is lethal. The sore asses that got involved in the development project (CGI fed... etc..) were sabotaged by last minute fundamental changes (with no room for tests) that should have been refused by any sensible IT project leader. End result: the Titanic hit the iceberg full speed :rolleyes:

Anybody that works in the software/web site development arena knows that complex IT projects are rarely delivered on time and especially that delivering untested projects is nothing less than suicide.

GIB.A stock wasn't too affected which is telling as to where the real responsibility lies
U.S. federal market | CGI.com
big.chart


Our people get it done: (registered trademark) LOL

banner-federal-1_v2.jpg
 
The above could be interpreted to mean a revolution of sorts. America witnessed this dividing of family during the revolution and civil wars.
I don't pretend to be some biblical scholar here, but when I was just a lad in catholic school, I took the above quotes to mean "prepare for change" -or something like it.


Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child;
children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.

lol changing from being alive to being dead , thats change true enough :D
 
Bible week lol

We are now in what many consider "National Bible Week" - a transparent attempt by right-wing theocrats to have their religion and their holy book be granted special recognition by our government. Unfortunately, some incompetent and insensitive politicians have played along with this by giving official proclamations for Bible Week. I think that it is important that everyone make a careful examination of the Bible and how it has been interpreted and used through history. If there are Americans who wish to celebrate the Bible in America, I think it might be good if they were educated as to just what horrors have been based on it.

Christianity and History: Bible, Race & Slavery
 
No offense my American friends here on the Paracast .. but your nation scares the shit out of me when I see people like that and realize there are many more who have even some grasp of political power.

Honey, let me tell you, it scares the shit out of me as well.

Did I mention that I have friends who left the lovely mountains here in Colorado in order to move to Uruguay? It's a pretty dramatic statement to make, considering it's a third world country, whereas we are among the richest - and most heavily militarized - nations on earth.

Things have turned absolutely sinister for me due to the holy batshit coming from a neighbor - who happens to have a whole arsenal of weapons, is a violently pathological liar and thinks he's some Christian soldier who needs to wipe out God's enemies. The scarier thing is, he has no shortage of (alleged) friends who are also heavily armed and buy into this mindset. It's been so extreme that it feels he's holding the entire neighborhood hostage. I no longer walk my dog in the neighborhood and won't let the dog be unsupervised in the backyard, lest some "accident" happen. He likes to shoot military-grade weapons in his front yard, which isn't in itself against the law, though it might violate some noise ordinances. He does this as part of the implied threat, just to show what a badass he is and as a desperate need to be respected. (There's A LOT more to that story.) When he's firing his weapons, it sounds as though he's shooting a cannon, which rattles the entire house even though we're acres away from him. The sheriff's office does nothing about any of this. I moved to the mountains for peace and quiet. Now, my housemate and I keep the blinds closed in the rooms facing his house, as well as some of those that face the street.

Oh yeah, things have just been stellar over here.

If there's any good news, it's that he appears to be moving, though we fear he'll be renting his home to one of his lunatic friends. I had planned on moving in the next few months, though this recent string of events over the past few weeks has lit a new fire under my feet. I had considered leaving the country as well, possibly to Uruguay, though this would put some considerable hardships on my remaining family and be difficult to achieve in a rather short amount of time. Still, things have been insane for so long that I fear I'm losing sight of what it once meant to live a "normal" life. When you're drowning in batshit, sanity becomes radicalized.

Things weren't always this crazy. What's happened is a result of fear-fetishists embracing the gun-fetishist culture and then combining it with religious fervor. People have always looked for reasons to listen to their meanest instincts and do so in the name of righteousness, but there is something tangibly and desperately insane about what's going on right now. I don't remember things ever being this polarized in the past. Part of this is due to gerrymandering (redistricting) areas so that only the most extreme fringes on one side or another can win elections, but even this doesn't explain the insanity. Secularism is, fortunately, at an all-time high, yet the most radically religious among us have grown their numbers and see any non-religious beliefs by any person as a deadly threat to themselves. They also see all other religions as a threat, as if there's some competition going on for souls and dollars. In addition, while fewer Americans own guns than ever before, more guns are being sold than at any other time. In other words, a small part of the populace is arming themselves to the teeth in anticipation of some religious/political/nuclear Armageddon. Overwhelmingly, these are the people who want to die *and especially kill* for a cause. Those who think some annihilation will bring about Second Coming of Jesus are only to happy to make that happen. I dread the fact that these people are not only their own little armies, they may well end up controlling our nuclear arsenal.

What is available online about this one neighbor should be enough to make people piss their pants. That he's part of some legion of mentally ill, armed nutcases who thinks there will only be salvation through an apocalypse would cause the whole world to tremble. Something is seriously wrong. We haven't just failed ourselves. We've failed the civilized world.
 
I don't think it's that bad. What's happened is a lot of money has gotten hold of the machineries of the US government as well as a sizable chunk of the electoral process - not the electorate. Less than 50% vote - that's where the problem lies in large measure imo. It's complicated.

So much good stuff is happening - even in California there has been a sane redistricting and the legislative process has finally gotten bi-partisan. Budgets are being passed. In my hometown in New England civic activism and idealism for the commonweal still triumphs. Where I live now local government is vigorous and accountable.

As usual, what's reported in the media is not always what is a general experience - and the US is a pretty vast country. I love this country - and would never leave.

Hey - want something to take your mind off things? Here's that adorable baby getting emotional when her mother sings a particular song. Mesmerizing....

LINK: Baby's Emotional Reaction to Mother's Song | Storyful - Yahoo Screen
 
The evil political scumbags on one side of the isle should have just waited for the misconceived schemes of the evil political scumbags on the other side of the isle to fail miserably as it has done. Over 650 Million for a website and over a billion for a program that cannot work and is unsafe by virtue of the incompetence with which it was put together. I'm amazed that anyone can find a side to align themselves with or a acceptable ideological hook to hang your hat on amongst them.
In my province our health care scandal was also the failure of the online piece to function properly. It was the right thing to do but no one knew how to test such a system properly so it was released and imploded into a political disaster. However, once these things are ironed out and actually able to service the masses you will have something more functional. Serious patience is needed for this to be corrected.
 
Seems like sometime over the last 30 years a hostile ideological schism has developed between Freemasonry and 'that old time religion'. True believers now reject much of what the Constitution stands for. They reject the principles of the Great Enlightenment on which much of the Constitution is based. In a sense, the Congressional fundy's rant about "serving two masters" is true. One cannot adhere to a jihadist belief system based on oligarchic rules while simultaneously embracing an ethics and morality that insists on reality testing in light of reason.

I haven't sat in Lodge for years. Perhaps I would still qualify as one of those insidious Freemasons populating the long list of things and people the new religious right fears and despises. I can say that two topics not to be discussed, at my lodge meetings anyway, were politics and religion.

I sometimes wonder if the decline of both Freemasonry and the Roman church has left a kind of grass roots power vacuum in America. The factions rushing in to fill it are obnoxiously vociferous and ideologically rigid. An almost certain formula for large scale political strife.

Descartes is out. Pat Robertson is in. Let's hope Torquemada is not waiting in the wings.
 
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Things have turned absolutely sinister for me due to the holy batshit coming from a neighbor - who happens to have a whole arsenal of weapons, is a violently pathological liar and thinks he's some Christian soldier who needs to wipe out God's enemies. The scarier thing is, he has no shortage of (alleged) friends who are also heavily armed and buy into this mindset. It's been so extreme that it feels he's holding the entire neighborhood hostage. I no longer walk my dog in the neighborhood and won't let the dog be unsupervised in the backyard, lest some "accident" happen. He likes to shoot military-grade weapons in his front yard, which isn't in itself against the law, though it might violate some noise ordinances. He does this as part of the implied threat, just to show what a badass he is and as a desperate need to be respected. (There's A LOT more to that story.) When he's firing his weapons, it sounds as though he's shooting a cannon, which rattles the entire house even though we're acres away from him. The sheriff's office does nothing about any of this. I moved to the mountains for peace and quiet. Now, my housemate and I keep the blinds closed in the rooms facing his house, as well as some of those that face the street.

What is available online about this one neighbor should be enough to make people piss their pants. That he's part of some legion of mentally ill, armed nutcases who thinks there will only be salvation through an apocalypse would cause the whole world to tremble. Something is seriously wrong. We haven't just failed ourselves. We've failed the civilized world.

ROFL ! Time for a 'dork sided' god warrior moment :)
 
... but no one knew how to test such a system properly so it was released and imploded into a political disaster. However, once these things are ironed out and actually able to service the masses you will have something more functional. Serious patience is needed for this to be corrected.

I work in the industry. We have been talking about this for a while now. People that I work with daily that have technical expertise in this area are simply astounded that this project was executed in such an unprofessional and incompetent manner. Yes, it could have and should have been tested. This is the result of gross incompetence and junk code. The fact of the matter is it is a technical fiasco that could have and should have been avoided. This is what happens when "elected", incompetent, and corrupt officials attempt to throw money at something (usually being thrown into the hands of their friends and family) instead of expertise.

Large portions of it will have to be scrapped and re-written, perhaps even fundamentally re-architected. It's a project in dire need of a proper manager.
 
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Wow, what a story. You know, there is nothing more dangerous than a "righteous person" who feels fully justified by his ideology, faith, or self-delusion.

Is it any better in Uruguay? What are the violent crime rates and so forth like? This assessment doesn't paint a very rosy picture.
 
I continue to read much of the same things but I'm not convinced.

As a general rule- Pick out the most extreme example you can find and make it the poster boy for your cause. The underlying message is that all religion is evil, all religious people are evil. I don't buy it.

People here( Mike) preach the religion of the bad god or the religion of the no god. Using the same techniques listed above. You can't or won't see the forest for the trees.

If a good poster boy can't be found people find a way to create one.

Politics is much the same way. Our entire system is corrupt. Can we agree on that?
 
Politics is much the same way. Our entire system is corrupt. Can we agree on that?

Corruption ? That's what the game is all about.... unless I've missed something ? And its all relative to your perspective and interests.

While you're in office you fill up the supreme court with judges that reflect the ideals of your party (or your own)... thus corrupting what the previous elected official with a different point of view tried to set up lol. (Conservative vs Liberal).

What do you think lobbies are for ? Special interests trying to extract concessions, tax breaks, funding.... etc.. in order to advance their cause.

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely

It takes a special kind of person to be able to deal with that kind of soup. The stench of it usually reeks of corruption :)
5495802-halloween-witch-stirring-in-green-poison-soup-in-her-cauldron.jpg
 
I continue to read much of the same things but I'm not convinced.

As a general rule- Pick out the most extreme example you can find and make it the poster boy for your cause. The underlying message is that all religion is evil, all religious people are evil. I don't buy it.

People here( Mike) preach the religion of the bad god or the religion of the no god. Using the same techniques listed above. You can't or won't see the forest for the trees.

If a good poster boy can't be found people find a way to create one.

Politics is much the same way. Our entire system is corrupt. Can we agree on that?

Who are the “extremists” and the “terrorists” that the U.S. military should be concerned about? For years, we were told that the “terrorists” belong to an organization known as al-Qaeda in the Middle East and other radical jihadist groups that are affiliated with them. But now that has all totally changed. We are discovering that time after time U.S. military personnel are being taught that evangelical Christians are “extremists” that belong to a “domestic hate group” and that they are potential terrorists that could use violence at any time. This vilification of Christians started about the time that Barack Obama was elected and it has greatly accelerated over the past couple of years. Stunned Christian service members can hardly believe what they are hearing in some of these training sessions. They are being told that they cannot be affiliated with any of these “hate groups” and that anyone found to be supporting such groups could be disciplined under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The U.S. military later publicly disavows many of these training sessions when they are revealed to the public, but the demonization of Christians has not stopped. In fact, it appears to be getting more frequent. The following are 8 examples of the U.S. military being taught to treat Christians as extremists and potential terrorists…

8 Examples Of The U.S. Military Being Taught To Treat Christians As Extremists And Potential Terrorists | SilverDoctors.com


Fact: According to the FBI, nearly eighty percent of VIOLENT and long-term offenders are Christians. Problematically, according to a CNN National Poll [amongst others], Christians comprise seventy-five percent of the population. Conversely, Atheists make up 0.21 percent of the prison rates but strong Atheists alone make up at least three percent of the population [according to FUNDAMENTALIST priests, might I add], whereas weak Atheists [i.e. agnostics, secular humanists] make up thirteen percent themse

Atheists Concerned for America: Ten Major Lies Christians Commonly Exploit

What Does Rapture Theology Say About Christians?
1.The greatest event they can imagine is their god destroying all life on Earth, especially those humans who don’t share their ‘faith’.

2.They believe that they alone, of all the humans who have ever lived, and of all the human societies throughout history, have got it right; everyone else, without exception, got it wrong.

3.They believe they will be given a grandstand seat to watch everyone else suffering eternal agony, and that this will be a reward for being such good people.

4.They believe they are such good people that they deserve to have everything for themselves when all the 'underserving' humans have been killed off.

5.They believe they alone are good enough to occupy an exalted place alongside their god whom they believe is creator and ruler of the entire Universe. No one else is, or has ever been, that special.

6.They know this because they have been told by someone else that it’s true and despite the complete lack of any corroborating evidence. They believe it simply because they can’t imagine NOT being that special.

And these people condescend to lecture other people on matters of morality, ethics and love, and demand the right to meddle in our legislatures, our courts, our schools, our science, and in all aspects of our lives, including what we do in the privacy of our own homes...
 
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Holey Guacamoley !!! What a switch !!! ... looks like Obama is cleaning up the mess lol.

Back in the ole Bushy days (the GW guy), military pastors stationed in Iraq would send out the believers in the field (soldiers of christian faith equipped with the M-16A2) equipped with translated bibles in order to convert the lowly Muslims. If someone has any statistics of how many came back alive, please provide ;)

Military Proselytizing by the Gideons – and how we stopped it. - Dr. Gretchen Brendel Mann - RichardDawkins.net - RichardDawkins.net

In 2005, Air Force Lt. General John Rosa Jr. admitted that the campus at the prestigious Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was “so permeated with evangelical proselytizing” that it would take years to rid the institution of religious intolerance. He reported that cadets had been “unfairly pressured to adopt Christian beliefs and practices” and that evangelizing offenders included members of the faculty, the staff, and the student body (The New York Times, 2005).
 
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