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Guest Post: We [Don’t] Take Care of Our Own
Submitted by Ben Tanosborn
We [Don’t] Take Care of Our Own
A generation ago Bruce Springsteen was socio-serenading us with what soon was to become the iconic song, “Born in the USA.” And now, seven presidential elections later, he’ll likely be sending his message with the song, “We Take Care of Our Own.”
Although the message in 1984 was inconceivably misconstrued and misappropriated by conservatives then – Ronald Reagan, running that year for his second term in office, among them – this time around, as made visually clear in the video released a month ago, Springsteen is giving us the lyrics in his video underlined from beginning to end with a clear message: Ignore the words at your own peril.
No hidden or subliminal message from the “Boss”. To most of us, it was clear in 1984, and it is clear today, what the laments were in post-Vietnam America… or what the dire struggles are today, both material and spiritual, all summed in the song with the missing “don’t”:
“Wherever this flag’s flown we [don’t] take care of our own”
No, Americans, singularly among people of the so-called First World, don’t take care of their own. Half of America is in poverty, and few among the other half care or much give a damn about the situation, resorting to blaming it all on a lamentably greedy “one-percent.” They prefer not to look in the mirror, naked… knowing full well how ugly they look in their obesity, exhibiting both, layers of fat and lack of cojones.
But if the civilian poor yells “help” but the cavalry stays home, as Springsteen tells us in his song… the culture in the military is quite different. They do take care of their own.
Soldiering America dutifully lets you know that no American military member will be left behind; and the nation seems to find idiotic pride in such a vainglorious act… for at the end of the day, it’s all it is. It is to honor the empire, the symbolism, and not for the love of the fallen or captured comrade at arms. That’s the meaning in the military of “we take care of our own.” Our soldiers are exempt from responsibility to anything they might do, any crimes they might commit against the yellow or Muslim man they’ve been sent to kill; children and women not to be excluded, nor the old nor the sick. Yes, Americans can take care of their own and they have… from the hamlets of MyLai to Haditha to the unnamed village in Kandahar where the latest act of American criminality took place; in America’s military culture, the only clear-cut crime is that committed against their own.
Somehow, in some fashion, any criminality committed against foreign friend of foe, no matter how despicable, how heinous the crime, always finds an irrefutable defense in combat stress symptoms which appear as anger, anxiety and depression… which becomes a perfect defense if such symptoms are linked to a recent death of a comrade, or the accused has served in too many combat tours. Of course, such symptoms probably apply to half or more of the military population, which is in effect telling us that given the nature of war, and how the Pentagon is allowed to conduct it (financial considerations forcing multiple combat tours), the American soldier is for all intents and purposes, a priori, free from being found guilty of any crime – more specifically, capital crime – unless such crime is perpetrated against his comrades or adversely affects U.S. national security.
Sergeant Bales, assuming he is found to be the only soldier involved in the recent massacre in Afghanistan, will not be paying for the horrific incident, whether innocent or guilty of such a crime; such determination in military justice likely to take many years. The Pentagon’s convenient refracting transparency will make sure that such is the case.
That brings us to the question of who the criminals are. Well, the criminals can be seen when we look ourselves in the mirror: the criminals are simply us. Not the President, nor Congress, nor the bemedaled pit-bulls staffing the Pentagon… they are simply the hangmen we choose to carry our criminal acts. The criminals are us who allow ourselves to be governed by a warmongering, elitist gang serving special interests and not the people, the commons.
If we lack the conscience and compassion to take care of our own, should anyone expect us to take care of others… walk around the world imparting social justice? Yes, Boss, we are, unfortunately, ignoring the words in your song at our own peril.
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We are too busy killing others to take care of our own. Besides, how can we take care of our own if gasoline costs $400 a gallon in Afghanistan?
Praise the lord and pass the ammunition - and, yes, no free contraception for you.
We are doing God's work.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-57337390-503543/real-cost-of-gas-...$400-gal/
I take care of my own to.
My own= close family
Screw the rest. I'll send them a postcard!
+1 And Listen up !
What got us into the mess we're in today, the worst recession since the Great Depression, is the same grotesque capitalism cum corruption we shoved down the throat of the Third World since the end of World War II. (Yes, the Third World's elites were cheerfully corrupted.) We, and the rest of the West, learned the trick of selling unneeded infrastructure, services, over-sophisticated weapons--stuff that could never benefit anyone other than the people who lined their pockets. And yes, Perkins is right, the international economists and press were handmaidens to the thievery. It was all fairly routine until 9/11, when the real gorging started. Tell the people their roof is on fire and they'll give you whatever you ask for. Between 2001 and 2009 the Department of Defense budget increased 74 percent, and that is not to mention the hundreds of billions of dollars in related contracts.
Nigeria on the Potomac. Few of the people who call the shots have ever met each other. They don't have a playbook other than a couple of fraudulent economists like Milton Friedman and the others who worship at the altar of deregulation. No, what they have in common is an obsession with the winner takes all.
I am not taking responsibility for the psychopaths running the American Empire. I was against the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq from day one. I am not taking responsibility for a government that does not represent me and tramples on the US Constitution, and I was born in the USA.
It is not my fault that a vast number of Americans choose to look the other way when atrocities are committed in their name. It is not my fault that an absurd number of Americans think that a choice that is limited to Coke or Pepsi is a choice.
I have spoken up. Some have listened. Most have not. Others have spoken up. All of those who are awake need to speak up, and then some day enough people will be awake that things will change. You may say that my efforts are insufficient (from the results, they definitely are insufficient).
I am but one person. I cannot force change. However, I can speak for the truth. The truth endures, and one day will win.
My suggestion is that we all speak up more often. Tell people that our political parties are Coke and Pepsi. (Contents: the same and bad for you. Packaging: different)
If you know somebody who supports any status quo candidate (OilBomber, Mitt, Rick or Newt), ask that person why they are so stupid. Ask that person if they'd just put a Pepsi or Coke sticker on their car.
The US government has three primary competencies. These are to kill, steal and lie.
I am not pretending the US is a democracy. Rather it is a police state. Fortunately, it is a police state that is collapsing. The race is to either reform or total collapse. Given the current path (I see no reforms), my guess is total collapse. It can't come soon enough.
http://ae911truth.org/
+1,000
You want to do some good for others? Then change the growth paradigm.
The campaign to end growth:
http://www.planbeconomics.com/2012/03/14/the-campaign-to-end-growth/
What a dick-weed this author is, holding up lyrics by that hypocrit warmist Bruce Springsteen! Being a citizen of Colorado and not a "US person" I resent the implication that I have some responsibility for "taking care" of a bunch of homeless bums in LA or NY. Ben Tanosborn, if you are so fucking worried about them then why don't you take up an oath of poverty and go support them instead of trying to foist your guilt on us. Socialist Asshole.
You must gargle with bile.
Citizen of Colorado Only, without the united states aka washington d.c.
The real reason you pay an income tax, is for the privilege of using a private currency.
Also known As A: Federal Reserve Note
Demand from your bank, lawful money and the tax goes away, with a tax exemption on lawful money, all of your money is yours.
http://www.21silver.com/?show=merrill&read=federal_reserve_act_remedy
http://stormthunder.com/federal-reserve-act/
Tax Exemption: http://stormthunder.com/federal-reserve-act/#ixzz1pOYzDgEm
Agree 100%. There is no road to reform. Entrenched interests groups that are powerful, rich and totally lacking in scruples will fight to the bloody end to preserve their oversized share of a shrinking pie.
So collapse is coming. The only questions are how long until it happens and how much crazy shit will happen along the way. The best case scenario is a relatively peaceful breakup into individual states and groups of states. The worst case....well, there's a whole lot of worst cases.
tend to agree as well. it certainly doesn't help that the politicians wildly lie about what they will do in office: bush's "humble foreign policy", obama's transparent administration of change. it is after all a representative democracy. we have some poor representation, imo. ike looks better every year.
That's such a lie Aldous! I was told they hate us for our freedom and stuff!
Indeed, Friedman is a fraud.
It's jerks like that which ruin the name of capitalism all the while insisting people do anti-capitalist things. Friedman certainly isn't even the worst but his attitude about others leaves much to be desired.
I know there has to be many intelligent, educated, well read and thinking individuals who are readers of ZH. Why don't they ever comment here? I guess they prefer to remain annonymous and the only evidence that they are here tonight is the liberal use of the down arrow in the comments section? Is this jingoists night here on ZH? An amazing number of the comments here prove the author's point Either psyops has assumed the identity of many ZH commenters or the night is just chock full of the "it doesnt affect me crowd", ignorant jingoists, armchair warriors, etc. Charles Hughs Smith articles generally receive a very hostile reception also. Keep these prescient essays coming Tyler.
You know, when an author makes up assinine statistics like half of America living in poverty, that author deserves to be ignored. Whatever else his politics are, he is obviously a fucking brain-dead idiot--and he believes you are a credulous idiot, too.
How far could you make it on 11-16k a year daddy's boy?
We definitely, Do Not take care of our own!
I'm not in the Green Arrow business.
The United States were forged/ on asshats like Warren/ Turn Coat ( BUFFETT)
What a preening, uninformed spewer of specious reasoning and non-factual statements.
Other than his self-important personal opinion, he provides no basis for his argument.
Granted it's St. Patrick's Day but this is well below the norms for ZH.
barliman
agree
While I do think the author is trying to throw too many ingredients in the blender (military culture/protocol is somewhat unique)...
I believe the overall theme is one of compassion, and if you/anyone needs "basis for argument" and "factual statements" towards such a thing, you miss the point entirely.
Don't diss compassion -- it's a lost art... and here we are.
Cabreado,
I don't diss compassion. There are many examples of it in this day and age of all stripes and varieties. From my perspective, there are more people trying to make the world a better place than ever before. A fair number of the groups may have agendas I disagree with - God bless them anyway.
Mr. Tanosborn, whoever, puts forward statements that are patently false and bordering on the incoherent. "Half of America is in poverty, and few among the other half care or much give a damn about the situation, resorting to blaming it all on a lamentably greedy “one-percent.”
I have been fortunate enough to travel the world and walk among true poverty in Mumbai, India. Poverty in America is more an affliction of bad policies and bad choices than a society which has little respect for human life and morals.
barliman
barliman, I too have not only walked among poverty, but lived in the midst of it.
"Poverty in America is more an affliction of bad policies and bad choice..."
There is no excuse for poverty in America.
Bad policies? Yes.
And in fact, with regard to those who have been charged with making policy (because they were elected and paid to do so):
"half care or much give a damn about the situation."
America doesn't exist without poverty. How else do you get the greatest increase in the history of productivity then by providing the plebes with a constant negative wage/benefit incentive? And when you're done squeezing that peach we have another billion chinese to bring in to the mix so that you feel greatful you have that fancy walmart job! Don't want y'all gettin too uppity n shit!
I agree completely. Why would ZH scoop such tripe out of the sewer?
I agree completely. Why would ZH scoop such tripe out of the sewer for all to see?
Well because the pro-Russian/Iranian groupies love to read about the demise of America. By the way, how come most of that bottom half have cellphones and HDTV's. Never mind, they're not taken care of and they'll starve to death in days...... Yeesh.
Ditto that, factless, pointless, emotional rant, nothing more, nothing less.
Our military knows what to do. God bless our troops.
Oh -3 points. Don't give a fuck. You feel the heat and our military knows what to do. You live in our country, and fear for your life.
Repeats.. Our military knows what to do. God bless our troops.
+ 1 in both cases for supporting our troops
But, the right thing to do in this case is to hand Bates over to the Afghanis. Going crazy or drinking too much (whatever) is too heinous (not to mention obvious) for this guy to not get old-fashioned justice. We are THERE in Afghanistan, we should play by their rules. This guy killed wantonly (we presume), he should not get a free pass to Kuwait and then US psychiatric care. He made his mess, let him be so judged.
IMO of course
To: Junkers of Atomizer and me
Please feel free to state why you are unhappy with our comments. I for one will read what you have to say. Bring it on, tell us where we´re wrong.
Support ameriKlan SS troops ?
Shit man...give your head a shake!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4122494/SS-flag-and-US-troop-storm-Marines-posed-with-Nazi-style-flag.html
Thanks for replying. I would send him to Afghanistan for THEIR justice. Marines carousing with a Nazi flag of course is repellent. But, how many (%) do that kind of stuff? Not many I would guess.
Disclosure: I was never in the military.
Q... how many (%) do that kind of stuff?
A... 110%
naw, now you're pretty much debasing your point.
The more to reality answer would be: 90% of people either too naive to recognize they have been tricked, OR people who made the stupid mistake accepting the draft (alias "decide once in your life to accept, decide to FOREVER in your lifetime be extorted to do our bidding).
Or in short: Get em early, keep em forever.
No he's not, he's self identifying like the rest of the pukes that I knew would populate this thread. Oh mighty dispensers of wisdom, oh ubercompassionate selfless warriors of justice. Blah blah blah.
Feed someone you useless pimples. Stop telling everyone else how you "get it" and have appointed yourself True Knowledge Kommisars™, and instead write a check - today. Heck, strip off your tighty whiteys and pound the pavement in anger - at least that will get you some attention, you closet attention whores.
There; "(Disclosure: I was never in the military.)" That said it all! Well I was, and I thought I knew who I was, and what it's like to live in mortal fear for months. Many can "not" take that kind of fear for an hour, and NONE can for years. No one should go to war if you are not ready to kill "people". Any and all people. And just who the hell is this writer? Nazi flag? or the unit flag of a German WWII army? Any one who "thinks" they know how they can handle prolonged mortal fear is at best, wrong.
Disclosure: Florida National Guardsman that was sent to Nam in 68, and flown back to the "world" on a stretcher in 69. You fall in love with your comrades, and will do "anything" you "think" that "might" save one of them or yourself. One does not know who or how one is going to kill you. You just know who is not!
Since you seem to be throughly brainwashed, putting comments is almost certainly a waste of time and energy.
Thanks for your reply anyway.
I've read your comments for quite a while. Though I junked you earlier you've earned my respect as a well-rounded individual.
May you grace ZH as long as it exists.
I understood your point.
Ain't chaos fun?
When there is no rational thinking that makes sense in the context of things?
With regard to supporting the troops, of course most of us do.
The other guy is confusing "the military" with "our troops."
The disconnect is glaringly obvious -- which makes some of us support our troops even more.
I didn't junk anyone, but the first post from Atomizer is obvious junk-bait.
If the military "knows what to do," how come we didn't accomplish anything in Iraq over the course of 10 years?
If the military "knows what to do," why can't anyone explain what any of our foreign policy excursions are?
It's laughable. Our military is an enomous and stupid tool whose function is putatively to carry out foreign policy. Opinions may differ as to how well it accomplishes this aim, but for damn sure it has no idea at all "what to do."
All large institutions are literally brainless. They know NOTHING.
You got the "military is a tool part right". It's the those who put that tool to use where the failure come in. RULES/ control is how we get to the place we are at. It's NOT the car's fault, it's the driver's fault. So who decided who was to be the driver? If you have no rules, and your adversary does, you should win. Who would want to have to go into a gun fight, where you have a rule that does not allow you to load your gun, till after the other guy starts shooting? We send our troops out with rules, then damn them for not winning??
I don't think I damned anybody.
I didn't junk either or you but I'll be happy to tell you where you're both wrong. Pretend for a moment that you are 24 yrs old (young, dumb, and full of ego harmones) and you stumble upon some girl scouts in their tree house. You immediately start telling these innocent girls what time it is and how you are there to 'protect them' from what is lurking outside the fence. As they get older, you continue to dispense your 'wisdom' all the while you and your homeboys have begun humping these girls because 'you care'. In fact, you now have 'security' for them so something 'bad' doesn't happen to them. Now you want me to respect these 'troops [aka 'security]? You're joking....right? Do I have America pegged correctly as the 'homeboys' or am I missing something from my American History classes?
Thank you as well for a well thought out comment.
I support out troops as a whole. Rotten apples should thrown out, or in this case back to the Aghan government.
My two comments above to DavidPierre stand (I would think that it is a LOW percenatge of American soldiers who do that AND I disclose that i have not been in the military so I would not really KNOW that).
Wow, I didn't realize that you had all the facts. You must be highly placed in the Government to know all the details of this incident. Oh wait, you are somewhere in South/Central America right? Yeah, nuff said...
You should know better that you don't turn over someone to a hostile Government (striclty for appeasement) to be disposed of without due process. Justice will be served, in time.
More like an ambitious pimp.
And you're the bottom bitch, honey!
well... i don't think that it is wrong to request god's blessing for any individual or group but as far as telling you where you are wrong- it is in your supporting a group that murders men women and children to allow for theft on the behalf of corporate interests.
i guess most folks don't think that that is such a great thing...
DOChen,
I would never give you a thumbs down, but when you support "the troops" you also support the murder of women and children all over the world for the benefit of resource raiders and trade monopolists. The only way to stop our predatory behavior is to NOT support the troops. To teach your children the value of self defense only and the refusal to serve in the military-industrial complex, unless we are in real danger at home. America has not been in danger since 1812.
I realize you think that the troops are innocents, attempting to "defend their country", but is this argument any different than that posed by the Nazi's? Did we let them off the hook? Do we glorify their actions? It is important to separate the propaganda from the real effects of our policies. We are not just killing others, we are killing and maiming our own.
This madness will only stop, when people refuse to serve.
"...let him be so judged."
Spoken like someone who has never been stop-lossed in a combat zone for multiple tours and likes burning gasoline like the other hypocrites.
Our troops are in Afghanistan to protect the narcotics trade. When the evil Talibanis came to power (approx '98-'99) they burned all the opium crops because they were considered un-Islamic. What a terrible thing to do, burning all those pretty little opium poppies.
DC to the rescue!! Since our liberation of the Afghanis the opium poppies flourish in greater numbers than ever before, and yield record harvests thanks to our military guarding the fields and farmers so that the pretty little opium poppies eventually end up on our streets wreaking havoc on everyone's lives.
See? We fixed it.
Because everyone knows that eliminating one of their few useful exports would bring sooo much stability.
You're thinking small...dope is just the hobby of our local puppethead. Take a look at a map sometime.
I do not understand your response. The narc trade makes far too much money for the criminals in charge to let it get destroyed by anyone. The Tals had every right to eliminate it in their own country for whatever reason they saw fit, and yes they saw fit to eliminate obvious criminality, unlike our gang. Of course the criminals at our end saw their bank accounts affected, so they had to "liberate" the Afghanis.
There is absolutely no good reason for us to be there. The Afghanis were never a threat to us or anyone else. Protecting opium poppies does not count as a good reason. They do not want us and they can take care of themselves. The AQ alibi is a crock.
Our military knows what to do. God bless our troops.
You mean that (banker) mercenary force creating havoc in other countries while America slides into full-scale tyranny?
They swore an oath to defend the Constitution? But they're in other nations imposing American imperialism while the Constitution is trampled in the dirt here at home?
Half of them couldn't tell you anything about the Constitution. They don't even know what it is. They're in the military for the paycheck and benefits. It's just a job to them.
They know what to do? What might that be? Obey this rogue government and turn their weapons on Americans? That's what I expect to see.
Fuck the troops. Worthless treasonous leeches on taxpayers, just like their bosses all the way up to the president.
And no, don't hand me that bullshit about "oathkeepers".
When are they gonna start keeping that oath?
In the end, it is not really the fault of those who have been sent. Yes, they do need a job. But the vast majority are loyal Americans and have been led to believe--like everybody else--that our enemies are different-looking people living in faraway lands, when in fact the enemy looks just like us and is much closer.
The objects of your ire should be those who have wormed their way into authority, who knaw at our Constitution like termites, who lie to us and our military, and move them all over the world like pawns on a chessboard, risking and destroying their lives for no other reason than to subjugate foreigners and control their resources, and creating real enemies we never had before.
If they don't know anything about the Constitution it is because our edjakashun system wants it so. What would be the point in letting them know they are out of bounds and in violation of our own laws? Instead, they are taught stupid lessons on social ( fill in your favorite psedo-subject here) which are little more than distractions and a waste of time and money except to be more aware of the social control laws for thought, speech, etc.
The troops are not leeches, they are just another abused demographic without realizing it, like all the rest of us. Until the real leeches are identified and pulled off of us this will continue.
You're both right.
No, it's more than "just a job"...it's a path to citizenship.
Like Rumsfeld knew what to do? lol...
If the central planners allowed us to be free, we could exit survival mode and gladly begin to focus on helping those around us. Pretty damn tough to feel generous when the government is busy sucking all the oxygen out of the room.
It ain't 'charity' at gun point.
Just let us be free.
You could scarcely fill the bed of a pick-up truck with my 'possessions'. But the world might be changed by that which I have produced.
Just let them be free.
May the good lord take a likin' to ya and blow you up REAL good!
Big Jim McBob: Boy, he blowed up good!
Billy Sol Hurok: He blowed up REAL good!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUtdXzBSVaU
This article points the blame at the readers, which in my opinion is very ill advised if you want people to keep reading your communications. I, for one, do not take responsibility for the actions of anyone else by my own. If a grown man decides to go on a killing rampage regardless of where he does it, domestically or abroad, he should be held accountable for his actions.
In other words Mr author, leave me out of it. I am not responsible for a killer's actions, just as I am not responsible for your idiocy.
The author is'nt pointing the finger at individuals ,but all of us collectively.
Not because we did anything in paricular ,it's more what we did not stop
what is this self evident truth.
I am sure I will get more -1 for this post.
However as a one legged disabled vet, I understand the waste and destruction
caused by our corrupt system ,which I , and all of us enabled.
Deny if you want ,you are only fooling yourself.
The thrust of the article could have been to make the monetary system more charitable.
Ron Paul contrasts militarism with taking care of people at home. As long as the majority permits a ponzinomic government debt-cum-fiat wealth confiscation apparatus being in place operating 24/7 which overwhelms private initiatives by grossly perverting monetary flows into needless "wars", "security" and "welfare", the grassroots initiative are on aggregate being crowded out by the sheer scale of government-induced misallocation.
How can anyone support credit cycles, central banking and floating exchange rates and then with a straight face say that they care about the poor? Charitable well meaning individuals who are not aware of the perils of the monetary system are just unaware at best, yet ignorant and the consequences are painful to watch. A very good way to take care of people would be not to steal what they earn and what they have through monetary inflation and confiscation by taxation. When a charitable person sees a parasitic inflationary machinery grinding down the value of the currency, it becomes their charitable obligation to support its removal as a matter of moral consistency.
Therefore, the best gift one can give to a charitable person with a surplus to give (I believe most of us are, including troops) is knowledge.
Nicely said.
Mirror, mirror on the wall.
He right.And the truth hurts.
The first step is acceptance of our true selves.
Vicious lying bullies ,that get the bankers that reflect ourselves.
Friend of Bill
I do not feel the point this post makes is universally true, but I applaud it nonetheless. There are many of us who work homeless shelters, soup kitchens, repair homes in disrepair, bring electricity to places that don't have it, and even open our homes to others in need. The needs are far, far greater than the supply of late, however, in these trying times. And for that the post is worthy in my view.
From the King - well before the Boss - the parable of the sheep and the goats:
The righteous will say, 'When did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ ...
[The cursed] will say, 'When did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matt 25)
1 Timothy 5:8
Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Sorry, but simplistic aphorisms, no matter how pleasant they sound to us, can never come close to capturing reality.
Being your brother's keeper is all well and good except if your brother is your enemy. Ditto any of your relatives. If it's worse than sacrilege to not be a victim of your own family, what should one do, turn the other cheek? No thanks, you can keep your slave religion(s) and the attendant slave morality.
Amen... I mean affirmative.
If you read the parables as "pleasant," I do not believe you are not fully hearing what they say.
That Paul was one misogynistic prick alright.
If what you are recommending is true, true to the point of changing lives, then how does a nation founded by christians continue to murder, rape, pillage and destroy the world as they sit in their pews and sing: Glory, hallelujah?
The same christians that always blame the unbelievers or the "fake" christians for all the sin in the world?
This simplistic response is the adult's equivalent of "just be nice", with a nice helping of you will go to hell.
If God made man, then man IS his image- not a pretty picture.
If God made man, but allows free will, he merely fails to take responsibility for his mistake.
If God, is the God of the Bible, Torah and Quoran: He is a sadistic megalomaniac that promises riches for slave like adoration and indescribable pain for eternity for the exercise of free will.
All the kind words in the world will never make up for the reality of your God. Your God is a powerful tyrant, a sadistic and petulant child with the ability to torture and kill, that blames "evil" for his mistakes. Not a whole lot different from the Elites that run our governments, eh?
You might want to consider that...
I believe you are reading into things and/or linking things together that shouldn't be linked together.
The "nation founded by Christians" is to a large extent abandoned Christianity. Kicked God out of just about everywhere on the basis of secularists' interpretation and imposition of the first amendment.
True Christians do not blame unbelievers for the sin in the world, as true Christians understand that all are sinners, including believers. All have sinned and fallen short (Rom 3:23). I don't know what gives rise to your statement, but there is certainly a lot of apostate churches masquerading as Christian churches these days.
God made the first man; after the fall, all successive people were conceived in Adam's image - not God's - until Christ. That is pretty clear from Scripture. As to your argument about freewill, I cannot follow the logic of the 'mistake' as you term it.
As I said, lots of things in your comments that don't jibe with Christianity as I understand it.
You're entitled to your very own Special Invisible Friend, but not your own fruit-cake 'facts'.
off topic, thanks for the matthew quote
significant on a personal level
It's not my credit to take, but I'm always glad when the Word reaches someone in the right place.
Why should I take care of some irresponsible woman's offspring and you know what I'm talking about. The 250 lbs ghetto or trailer park trash with multiple children with multiple fathers destined to be wards of the state from their birth to their imprisonment.
Best to not take care of such people. Nature would cull them as being unfit to survive. Just because two stupid people want to lay naked in a heap for a few minutes does not mean the rest of us should have to pay for their erotic fun.
Depends on the definition of 'care'.
Government 'cares' by enabling the behavior in exchange for votes/status.
Others might submit that nurturing self destructive behavior is gross, misleading, deceptive, racist, pathological, sociopath....
RAPIST.
DOMINEERING.
SICK.
TWISTED.
WRONG.
You are too late in 'taking care of' 'them'.
It is the culture of expecting an outside force to assume responsibility that is most toxic.
"trust us"
L.M.F.A>O
Uh, can I get a translation? Ah shoot, nevermind...
Yay!
When do we start the Eugenic Norplant Cross-bow Tournament?
Fuck Bruce Stringbean, he probly votes for Obie.
bruce springsteen a tax dodging "farmer" http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=50133
our 'Poverty' looks a lot like luxury to much of the world. Chubby, overly well fed kids, vaccinations for all who want often refused, definitions of poverty redefined to be sure we have pleanty of poor to buy with entitlements...
Yes we have homeless thanks to our recent leadership in maters financial but I'd have to say overall we do care for the poor...
I think you got junked because you spelled "matters" wrong. Our poor have no idea how good they actually have it; but they will soon find out as the rug is pulled...
Of course, the poster of this article can provide for them.
How much better off would the economy be if they were skinny and sick? Perhaps leaving them uneducated would be a bargain?
Any idea how many kids go without food in the US? Any idea how many people in the US are both working and in poverty?
Overall, you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground.
why is this on ZH?
Recent dialog between someone else and me:
Me: If anyone would write a comment like that, i'd call him a troll or idiot
Him: So what's different for a guest article, then?
Me: I guess that the tylers actually lacked the spine to NOT put this on the frontpage. Then again.... i by now get the impression, that the tylers intentionally sometimes post "contrary" articles, if ZH opinion is biased strongly into a direction. And moreso if the tylers themselves are strongly biased towards a direction. Once they perceive a strong bias, they tend to sporadically post counter-articles, regardless of their quality. Basically, bit like an egalitarian approach to "balance"
Him: Meh. A better approach to balance would be, to try and reflect on your own bias :)
it just seems like this is what pussies think about during their free time
Good points. I'm afraid Sgt. Bales will be coddled for lack of a better word, while PFC Manning has been basically tortured for his misdeeds.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/17/us-usa-afghanistan-soldier-idUSBRE82G0FG20120317
True total Warfare = Abe, Grant and Sherman, afterward surrender
Yeah, the founders of hyperpowered central authority in the US- wonderful bunch. Pissing on the Constution to save it was a spectacular idea.
On the good side, the descendants of their armies are being ground to dust under the weight of the government they fought to create and their cities are deteriorating into wreckage, so at least there is that.
Oh Ben, I laughed, I cried. Thank you for being the incredible voice of compassion during these selfish, obese, dark times of ours. I'm so moved, I'm going to go out in that heartless wasteland known as the USA and I'm going to rub real chocolate fudge on every wound I see.
I feel like a new man already.
BTW, why don't you post your charitable contributions for the last few years and your gross income, putz
I average about 6% of my six-figure income. Your turn.
Why only 6%? Seems skimpy. Last I checked, preachers gave most of their worldly possessions away
Author is an asshole. We have the largest entitlement programs in the world by far, so much so they are bankrupting us... additionally we provide more foreign aid to the smelliest of places around the world... additionally, look at the millions of people who are in our country illegally and receive welfare, healthcare and education...
Our systems have been corrupted by the corrupt corporations (i.e. Goldman and JP Morgan) and traitor politicians. Our constitution has been trashed, ditto our currency. So stuff it up your mom's ass, Ben, and get out of our country.
PS: Maybe you should wait to see if this soldier, brain damaged and on his 4th deployment is guilty or not before you burn him down... you sad, impotent jagoff!
I think you make some valid points. 42 million on foodstamps, god know how many enrolled in section 8 housing and the author says we don't take care of our own?
As far as Bales, exactly why has he served 4 deployments? That might be enough to make someone do something crazy.
Stop-loss. Because no one else wanted to be all they could be.
I can not belive the TD's ( no they are not Tyler D's).
WTF? ZHrs?
You may find this article interesting and on topic. The thesis is "America is a nation of hustlers" who eat each other. check it out, worth the read.
http://www.alternet.org/world/154453/why_the_american_empire_was_destined_to_collapse/?page=1
Berman the Jew tries to shift attention from the activities of his fellow tribesmen in his analyses of the current situation. Caveat lector.
Truth hurts, don't it, you Koch-sukker?
Absolve this "President," Congress, and the Pentagon of responsibility? Are you kidding me? Things are, however, obviously fucked up - we apparently can't even treat the remains of our own war dead honorably...pathetic...
4 tours of duty!!! Injured twice!! Didnt want to go back but was forced to!!
Yeah...we take care of our own..... MF Global, JPM, GS, WF.......
He volunteered for the army. There is no draft. That argument is BS.
Even though your argument holds some water, i'll add to the discussion by adding salt:
Can people - after drafting - remove the legal consequences of drafting? In other words, can people adapt their past decisions according to how the gov behaves, and one's own experience?
Not? So, being forced to fight a war, is not based on if one recently wanted to, but based on an initial but final lifetime decision? Either one totally forever agrees with the gov, or one stays neutral?
Granted, thinking it up to this point, makes any agreement to get drafted totally braindead.... but is it - especially from a strategic pov - fair to base this lifetime binary outcome on a single decision that one made while one was young?
I understand. Its one thing to volunteer and expect to see some time. But its another when you do 2, 3, 4 tours against your will which our guys are doing. He did not want to go back for a 4th time. Im against all these endless wars. If he is guilty then punish him. I am really suprised at how fast they got him out of the country. There is something wrong about this whole thing.....does not feel right. A cover up of some kind.
He volunteered to be stop-lossed?
Interesting theory.
At what point did the German people stop being just plain old "patriotic" people "supporting their troops" and become evil people supporting an evil Nazi war machine? At what point do we find ourselves in that same situation?
Yes I know for some there is NO WAY POSSIBLE for that to happen here in 'Merca, but I'm sure the Nazi folks felt the same way too.
It is happening here. The outpouring of support for the monster murderer and burner of children blows me away. I used to think we were a reasonable people. Now I don't. We are quickly becoming nazi Germany.
Why are you afraid to let the facts come out? Someone too quick to condem is as screwy as those who are too quick to absolve. There would be no apparent logical reason for this to happen, but it did. Now let's find out why. Sheesh...
The answer to your question, "At what point did the German people stop being just plain old "patriotic" people "supporting their troops" and become evil people supporting an evil Nazi war machine?" is this: When Eisenhower forced the German citizens to "tour" the death camps, help bury the dead of those camps, and filmed it for the world to see. Until that, they were all just Good Germans.
This time, there will be no Eisenhower.
Don't really understand the missive of this article, but incidents like the ones we saw in Afghanistan will probably be more common now than ever.
Tensions are excruciatingly high and that's just in Afghanistan. If the Pashtun go ahead and deem US soldiers as occupiers, prepare for armed resistance and what not to increase ten fold.
This was bound to happen at one point or another though.
And it won't be pretty whether it's in Iraq or Iran...
This is more of a geo-political analysis, but political analysis and finance do go hand in hand.
If you just scrolled down to bottom of my post:
Very bullish on oil for the months ahead.
That just about sums it up.
The response to this article is nothing short of stunning; of most posters saying: hell I just be a citizen, don't be pointin no fingers at me. I luvs merica and all that it entails.
I thought the article was one of the better posted on this site. Yes, Virginia we do have to share the guilt as well as the pride that we should all understand. That soldier pulled the trigger but we all are a part of why it happened; Everyone one of us is still, weather constitutionally anymore or not, the godamn SOVERIGNS of it, as in the preamble, "We the people----do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America."
Now either stand and assume your responsibility as a sovereign or take a hike Milestones
Are you calling for armed rebellion? Nothing short of that will change anything.
Of all the American citizens I've met, only two, a vacuous college student and Admin. official, believed in the policies of their govt. - the author is crazy if thinks that the general citizenry have any say in the policies of the administration.
There are many indirect ways people can influence the system. Choice of job, choice of investments, whether to pay credit cards, what they say to friends, whether they buy local, etc. If people really, truly do not like the system, they could make their displeasure felt very quickly. Unfortunately, the middle class is attached to debt and comfort and status, and so they are good tax donkeys. This is tacit approval. Also, people may not approve of most things the government does but there is probably at least one thing they do approve of (wealth redistribution, war, prisons, etc.) so they can get a job in that field and sleep well at night. They don't realize that all of it serves the NWO.
My family is full of sheeple on both ends of the spectrum. Nobody questions the fundamental assumptions in America's mythology. For example: Mom says she's just scraping by working two jobs and therefore she doesn't have any time to think about why everything is so fucked up, but she knows those goddamn OWS kids need to get off the lawn because IT'S THE LAW. Dad was one of the few who supported the bailouts, and still does. I tell him his bond portfolio is a black mark on his soul and he tells me to take my meds and stop wasting my life on conspiracy blogs. One cousin thinks Obama is the best president ever, the Libya war was justified because the UN said so, printing solves all problems, and bankster piss trickles down. Stepmom tells me not to worry because Jesus will fix everything. Another cousin is a Sniper for Jesus. As far as I know, there are no RP supporters even out to my cousins. My cynical brother might vote for Ron Paul if someone put a gun to his head and told him to choose the lesser evil, but he won't vote on his own. The wisest of the bunch (crazy grandmother) doesn't even like RP.
If my family ruled the world, the shit would continue until everyone is dead or in prison. This is why we need an epic collapse ASAP. Most people don't change their outlook unless they suffer personally. And most of them have it coming.
Yep.
The scary thing is that they are all "good" people- except for my brother!
So, i'm responsible because by legal means all i can do is tell my friends, and vote for idiot X, rather than idiot Y.... since i do not get to influence POLICIES at all, legally?
Or am i responsible, because instead of actively supporting it, i am legally inactive, rather than illegally active?
Okay, let's think that through - can i on my own prevent it illegally? Oops, nope. So how about i together with everyone with whom i am on good terms?
Also not? Ooops.... so what is it again that i am responsible for? That i can/do not illegally rally large masses to prevent it? My guilt is in not being a popular rebell leader, but merely someone active in informing alike minded people..... and because of this, those who ARE ACTUALLY ACTIVELY doing those evil things, are not responsible?
Logics isn't one of the article author's strengths, hmm? Let me guess, he is still stuck in bipolar "either A XOR B"-fantasyland.... in which any information that A may not be the entire story, leads to automatically B being the entire story? I.e., if the population as a whole is not doing everything it could do, to prevent something, it must therefore be the sole perpetrator, and those who ARE doing that very something are innocent?
Geez.... sometimes i really have my doubts in this concept called evolution, regarding humans.
There are a lot of things wrong in our country, but this was a terrible piece. Men are not perfect, we will make mistakes, but I still believe in this country. There are a lot of good people trying to do the right things, don't forget that.
There are a lot of good people trying to do the right things
The US is not "us" anymore - it is "them."
I have been saying this for a long time.
Guess some of you never were taught this in school. On Friday, just heard the police were called to school for a food fight. In my day, I had to clean the cafeteria for a week as my punishment.
Operation Abolition"; Communist trials
(HUAC)Un-American Activities Committee, on charges of communist infiltration in Hollywood
Our military operates under the Constitution of The United States.
The cancer resides within the publically elected individuals who are sold as the candidates for you to vote for. Mittens is favored by the establishment. The establishment knows Obama is a 4 year mistake. Moral of story, they tried this before & folks can see threw the obstacle of Government non-transparency. Our military will uphold the US law. Some can only wish for deportation like last time. ;>)
.
your military may disappoint you.
I don't have a military.
QUESTION: Did the cops bring their own food to the food-fight? Were they armed with donuts?
Article is bullshit. Charity is voluntary giving and nobody gives more than Americans, by far.
A Chicago man, married and father of three, pulled over in the Chicago snow and cold last week (Drudge report) to give a ride to two teenagers who were obviously ill-equipped for the weather. They declined, but three days later the cops showed up to arrest him at his home for "disorderly conduct". He had been reported as a perv.
The Salvation Army is the largest army in the world with 7 million members worldwide and doing good things, but started in the USA. And, you-know-who is trying to drive them away in it's war on religion. Soup kitchens across the country are run by the same good people, and the same thing is happening. And it's becoming increasingly against the law for individuals to give food to the homeless on the street -- no restaurant permits!
US citizens give >$250 billion per year in charity, no other country even comes close per capita-wise. That is not government $$ like the Norgs like to count -- that is straight personal giving. Interesingly, the socialists give by far the least despite their loud claims that their goal is to help the poor and middle class -- V.P. Joe Biden gave just $238 last year.
I was wondering where all the Eurosocialism sentiment has gone for Greece? They suffer. Is socialism a grand Utopian concept that magically stops at borders? Or, should there indeed be limits on poor choices and living beyond ones means? Maybe so, and why wait until it destroys everybody? Why shouldn't it start with the individual who is but a fractal of his collective countrymen?
Charity does not mean enabling someone to continue self-destructive behavior. That's what is cruel. Selfish is dropping out to smoke dope on the couch and mooch off of everybody else.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Hzgzim5m7oU&vq=medium , The Power of Words, less than 2 mins.
Tell the man you like Jesus if you want a warm coat and not to freeze to death. Tell the man. Good boy!
The time to fix things or lay blame has long passed. Since the 1970's or before, our children have not been educated, period.
Before the internet, people had no means of knowing what the government was doing, apart from whatever the MSM decided to tell them.
My husband works 10-12 hour days, six days a week just to pay our property taxes and keep the lights on. Sundays he devotes his time to the church and his elderly father.
We housed my older sister for 7 years when she was unable to take care of herself.
We took in my young nephew when his mother died of an overdose and had Social Services sticking their noses in our business for years.
I receive a total of $13,000 a year from my father in law as my inheritance. I dedicate nearly all of it to helping those in need. I do not give to charities, therefore receive no tax benefits from it. I give direct to those who I know are in need. I pay my phone out of this money. Nothing else. Charities are a joke for the most part and I don't trust any of them to give to the ones who need it, especially those run by NGO's.
There are many who try to change things. I am one of them. However, the time for the individual person to create major change has passed, unless they want to spend their lives in jail or worse.
My husband came home from church today and said that the Easter Egg sale, held every year to raise money for charity, has been told to "cease and desist" selling their homemade chocolate eggs. No one has been poisoned, but there goes another means of helping others. Why? Who knows..
No one will stop where we are going. Young people either don't understand, or simply don't care and the rest of us are getting too old for civil war until it's on our front porch.
We've all been had. I admit it, but I refuse to accept blame for being scammed. Do you blame people when they are robbed, or do you place blame where it belongs, with the thieves?
Crying over spilled milk won't save us now.
your post is full of truths, and parallels both my observations and some direct experience.
we do what we can with what we have. wishing you and yours peace.
I have friends and priests in jail for setting up food networks for the hungry. Insurance and regulation to be a charity prohibit participation. Oh and when they bust one of our nodes, the starving homeless get escorted out of town, everyone else is detained. Be aware, invisible and don't trust big charities.
Same old same old: "No Okies wanted here -- we can't help our own -- keep driving/walking/crawling or die Jeebus loves you -- no other fucker does." ;=((
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" on your own couch . on your own nickle is an God given right and an a Ameriacan tradition!
Long may it live!
Unfortunately, dealing with this problem will require "citizens" to step outside their comfort zone and likely sacrifice a bit. Therefore, don't expect much to happen until their hunger, discomfort and hopelessness outweighs their fear.
Thus far the owners have done a fair job of keeping the sheep pacified while they do their dirt work. The question is how long can they keep the sheep satisfied just enough to not do anything while they fleece us? Will the owners all be out of the country by then and watch the sheep attack each other as entertainment? Time will tell.
There's great irony in the posts pointing out that the poor in America are fat and have cell phones and television.
They're fat because cheap food in America makes people fat without nourishing the body. It isn't food so much as industrial byproduct. The poor are fat and sick and lethargic because they eat what they can afford, and what they can afford and have the time to prepare is garbage.
They have cell phones because they can't afford both a cell phone and a land line, and they can't get a prepaid, no-contract land line. If they've had a bad run, they can't get a land line at all. But you can get a prepaid, no-contract cell phone at Walgreen's for what you might have in your pocket, and you need that phone because you can't get a job without a phone number of some kind.
They have televisions because a lot of apartments come with them, or they can get a cheap one at a pawnshop. You'd deny them that one mercy? Although a bullet would be better for their brains than television programming.
People going on about how great our poor have it don't seem to notice that the last time we had a Depression, we had soup kitchens, riots in the streets, right-wing and left-wing extremism, etc. Now we have EBT and SNAP and cable TV. Somebody learned something from history.
The point is not whether the poor in America would trade places with the poor in, say, South Sudan. The point is, would you, not-poor in America, trade places with the poor in America? Not in your right mind, you wouldn't.
I think the answer to your implied question, is the myth of technology == lifestandard and wealth. That, and as usual wannabe-slavedriver style envy (they're poor, how DARE they own tech? Moreso, i hate all that new junktech, and they are the primary consumers, so i blame them for the tech).
By that logic, we indeed should all be superwealthy, and iPads would be edible.
I agree with you.
Our culture has been trained to look down at those poorer than ourselves and scrutinize them more closely for such infractions on the slave work ethic. That way we aren't looking higher up the ladder to see who is defecating on us. It's a nice trick that works well for the owners and their minions.
Good food is no more expensive than crap food. Here's a healthier way to shop - stick to the perimeter of the supermarket when buying food, all the processed crap is in the center aisles.
Riots and extremism in the last depression? examples?
Soup kitchens were primarily private charities providing what was needed. EBT and SNAP let ignorant fucks buy potato chips and soda.
"Good food is no more expensive than crap food." BULLSHIT!
"Riots and extremism in the last depression? examples?' Deerborn. The Business Plot. American Nazi Party.
"Soup kitchens were primarily private charities providing what was needed. EBT and SNAP let ignorant fucks buy potato chips and soda." EBT & SNAP make lines at soup-kitchens then invisible now. Lines at soup-kitchens make for bad on the evening news.
Peddle your poop elsewhere.
fuck you douche
http://i.pbase.com/g6/71/653971/2/78915756.ckPSe3Sw.jpg
(or should I say thank-you)
sincerely pol pot
cc full and associate members of the Janjaweed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UyvoSaocUQ
notwithstanding clooney is an NWO douche as well
cc our Hutu brethren and UN associates
http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1999/rwanda/
Slandering and insulting 300 million people in one stroke is crude, ignorant and stupid.
Why not just say "I hate Americans."
HUAC
Sometime back, I posted a link called "The Lord is a Monkey". Too most, it’s awful music that will make your ears curl like a Geithner Treasury Keebler elf. Today, you can make the Atomizer cryptic ZH post connection. I always enjoy sharing my personal experiences with others. As a teen, had I not researched this song, would have never knew about the HUAC event. Food for thought.
How telling the ratings of this article are. The American slaves still cling to the lie that the MIC tools slaughtering innocents, destabilizing entire countries and regions, and promoting the most immoral of behaviors, are "brave men and women".
Keep paying your taxes and going to church. Be proud of your "Judeo-Christian" roots: Jesus would keep tithing his share to the war machine to support these policies and practices, no?
"Render unto Caesar" and all that implies.
Bullshit - I have no means of changing the course of this ship. Keep your guilt.
Say 50 million people in tandem
This article does not consider how flawed democracy actually is, or the fact that are schooling system mostly trains people to be a good soldier or factory worker. Ever read "dumbing us down"? Governments are built on violence and theft, it is their fundamental nature to force goods and services at the point of a gun.
The author should also watch the documentary "fishead", before making such generalizations about everyone. The problem with power is that it corrupts, that is why you cannot really have a government. Ever hear of the prison experiment that they did with the students and then had to stop it?
What needs to happen is that society needs to wake up, smell the coffee, and stop using violence as a means of solving problems. But this means ending the government. I think the article does not really strike at the root of the problems and is just a rant that you can find anywhere on zerohedge, and I am little surprised that zerohedge would post it.