Letters to the Editor
divadab
Published Letters: 160 Editor's Choice: 4
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Tangential POint - Origins of Samaritans
[Read the article: Consequences for ignoring congressional subpoenas: None]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]From Wikipedia:
"Jewish tradition maintains a different origin for the Samaritans. The Talmud accounts for a people called "Cuthim" on a number of occasions, mentioning their arrival by the hands of the Assyrians. According to 2 Kings 17 and Josephus (Antiquities 9.277–91), the people of Israel were removed by the king of the Assyrians (Sargon II- see special wording of 2 Kings 17 which mentions Shalmaneser in verse 3 but the "king of the Assyrians" from verse 4 onward), to Halah, to Gozan on the Habor River and to the towns of the Medes. The king of the Assyrians then brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avah, Emath, and Sepharvaim to place in Samaria. Because God sent lions among them to kill them, the king of the Assyrians sent one of the priests from Bethel to teach the new settlers about God's ordinances. The eventual result was that the new settlers worshipped both the God of the land and their own gods from the countries from which they came."
I suppose from the Christian point of view, a polytheist is almost as bad as an atheist. WHich is why Mormon WIllard is having trouble in this area - Mormons are polytheistic. Mormon doctrine holds that the Nicene creed is wrong, and that God the father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are three separate and distinct Gods. And that there are other Gods on other planets.
Monotheism has its charms, but why does it have to be enforced? Surely it should convincingly stand on its own?
Many paths, one God. Many emanations, one God. Mother God, Father God, Brother God, Sister God, Lover God, Tree God, Mossy God, Joyous God, Dancing God, Smiling God, Water God, War God, Illuminating God.
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Why Does "Defending My Freedom" involve wiretapping me without judicial oversight?
[Read the article: More disruptions to the Cheney/Rockefeller plan]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why does the "Clean Skies Act" give licence to coal-burning power plants?
Why does the "Healthy Forests initiative" double the area of National Forests avilable for clear-cutting?
Why does the "Environmental Protection Agency" prohibit States from enforcing higher gas mileage standards?
Orwell's distopia is Socialist - our own attempted distopia is fascist. You don't need a Ministry of Truth when you have Fox News. And the Ministry of Love is busily defending our nation by destroying other nations they don't like and terrorizing their populations.
Rep. Vito Fossella's arrant lies are not his - he is merely parroting them like a good tame order-follower. Order taker. Do you want fries with that lie?
Good work, Mr. Greenwald! And thanks a million to all who shared their thoughts, ideas, outrage, and art in this space. And hope that we will continue to do so in a country where the federal government is so distant from everyday local concerns, and the controlling edifice is so powerful, rich, sophisticated, and evil.
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@HRH - Clinton the best Republican Presdient we've ever had!
[Read the article: Bill Clinton: The Chris Matthews of South Carolina]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for pointing out Bill's authoritarian outcomes. Hillary is, IMHO, part of the same machine.
A lesser evil, to be sure, but not much.
And the machine is working hard to co-opt Obama. With some success.
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Was Bill sugar-coating a bitter Pill for Hillary?
[Read the article: Bill Clinton: The Chris Matthews of South Carolina]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Explaining her loss in the only terms he could come up with?
They are both SO invested in the process that they cannot pull their punches. The Obama-Jackson comparison is just that - a punch.
A low blow? Maybe...or rather a kidney punch?
Thanks, Glenn, for starting a lively discussion this snowy Sunday morning!
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@Defendirt - Politics is War if that's all you know
[Read the article: What's at stake today in the Senate's FISA filibuster vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That's all you guys seem to know - how to git yer war on! War on Libruls, war on drugs, war on Terror (sic), war on common decency, and so on.
I ain't fighting your damn war. Pick a fight with me though and I'll fight you. You and your damn lying whore heroes. Chickenhawk greedy deceitful trash.
Twas ever thus - divide and conquer. You authoritarian folks are fools for the dividers, the haters, the prostitutes who sell wars to the self-righteous. Try thinking for a change.
El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido!
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@sysprog - Funny Graphic - although I think that
[Read the article: What "bipartisanship" in Washington means]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]the Donkey might be enjoying the affair, since he repeats the process with such regularity.
I put Hillary in this camp - she talks a mean game on the campaign trail, but she so often votes with Republicans she clearly enjoys presenting her ass to the elephant. Or is well paid to do so.
Either way, she's part of the problem.
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@HRH - The WAR ON FREEDOM?
[Read the article: What "bipartisanship" in Washington means]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Gitting yer war on is always good clean bipartisan fun.
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None of it will be relevent when enough people stop paying taxes
[Read the article: The Senate's FISA agreement]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It is to feel like a minnow, shimmering fast
Avoiding the eagle, flying past
It is a sad end to a glorious experiment in democracy. Fuck!
However, by their own actions (all the fuckers know how to do is to control and destroy, their appetites perverted), these quislings will destroy that which sustains their blood-sucking. Or at least injure it enough that they will fall.
Most will retire in comfort and wealth - like good tyrants do from Indonesia to Lagos. Private action is called for, I think.
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Zero Credibility? Because they Lie and Lie and Lie and Lie
[Read the article: Republicans have become the credibility-free party]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's an infection on the body politic - a culture that lies as a matter of habit. Top to bottom - it is shocking to behold. When trust is destroyed, society is destroyed. When your tax dollars pay someone to pretend to be your friend in order to entrap you and put you in jail, mistrust is spread and increased.
That Mrs. Clinton went on Fox News validates their lies, and makes her suspect.
In Christian terms, who is the "father of all lies"? This is the darkness behind the American fascist movement.
The Evil Empire, sung into being with hymns and prayers.
And they do not know who or what they really worship.
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@Roger A - Give Up, All is Lost?
[Read the article: Republicans have become the credibility-free party]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So the problem with America is all the Americans? If this is so, and I don't completely disagree, then we are in for a long hard up close and personal slog. Think individual missionary effort hard. And we're fighting all the arrayed forces and funds of the richest bastards in the world. And they control the information that most people get.
I think it better to work on your own little corner. More influence up clise and personal. FUck the media.
Hard to do when we're trained to want to be on Letterman, but IMHO the only way to go.