[Dialogue] Time for a Change

Mon May 22 15:34:13 EDT 2006

And Jesus' (maybe, a la Jesus Seminar) first one wasn't bad: Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind, and with all thy strength. . . . (from first canonical gospel)

  _____  

From: dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of KroegerD at aol.com
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 7:08 AM
To: dialogue at wedgeblade.net
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Time for a Change

Thou shalt care for all of creation in a manner that sustains and nourishes
our planet

In a message dated 5/21/2006 10:52:25 PM Central Daylight Time,
DavThom at att.net writes:

I the spirit of Harry Wainwright's messages, I offer this political
commentary, 'Time for a Change'.  This commentary written by me is attached
to our Lake Hills Liberals' weekly newsletter.  For the last three weeks, we
have also had attachments concerning theology based upon our Ecumenical
Institute courses.  Our Lake Hills Liberals which started in mid-October
2005, now has 325 members.  To receive our free newsletter with attached
commentary, forward this message with to me your name and where you live.
Dave Thomas, 162 - 163rd Place SE, Bellevue, WA 98008
----------------
Time For a Change

Is Bush Afraid of debating Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently sent an 18 page letter to
President Bush, asking whether a good Christian would have lied about and
invaded Iran.  He suggested Bush should return to his professed Christian
principles.  What an opportunity for Bush to discuss his religious beliefs.
But Bush didn't respond.

Practice What you Preach

Bush says immigrants should learn to speak English and sing the Star
Spangled Banner in English.  When is he going to learn to speak English
without a teleprompter?

I Have a Dream

Imagine that the Democrats win control of the house and Senate.
Investigation of the outing of Ambassador Wilson's wife leads to Vice
President Cheney who is forced to resign.  Just as he thought he was
invading Israel when he invaded Iraq (weapons of mass destruction,
terrorism, violation of U.N. resolutions), confused President Bush nominates
Senator Byrd or Senator Feingold or one of several Democratic governors as
vice president.   Congressional investigations then lead to the impeachment
of Bush.  Bush goes down in history as by far the worst American president.
Alas, it's only a dream.

Privacy for Government, not People

The Feds know you didn't call your mother on mother's day.  If they ask you
why, tell them she's a terrorist.  Start assembling your evidence now.

The NSA just called me to inform me they can save me money on my long
distance calling.  They suggested switching to a long distance company which
makes large contributions to Republicans.  Now that's government service.

Where's Colin Powell?

At least six former military commanders have severely criticized War
Secretary Rumsfeld.  Colin Powell hasn't joined them.  Colin's autobiography
showed him to be a fantastic person of great integrity, who almost certainly
must disagree with much that Rumsfeld has done.  Unfortunately, his military
service and behavior as Secretary of State show that his decades of serving
loyally under superiors still affects his independence.

Department of War

We call it the Department of Defense; but it might more aptly be called the
Department of offense or the Department of War.  Very few of our recent (or
even earlier) wars have been defensive, including Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon,
Grenada, Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq.  Military action in Korea, Bosnia and
Kosovo might have been justified as international efforts to stop grave
injustice, but none of these were defensive.

Liberal Hawks is an Oxymoron

War reduces freedoms and opportunities more than virtually anything else.
People who lose their lives, limbs, relatives, friends and property have
certainly lost freedoms and opportunities.  Only rarely does terrible
injustice reduce freedom and opportunity more than war.  Only rarely and
then only when other measures have failed to overcome severe injustice can
war be justified. 

Yet many of our politicians who have been liberal regarding other issues
have been hawks, including Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and our own
Senator Scoop Jackson.  Failing to recognize the similarity with the Gulf of
Tonkin resolution which enabled major escalation of the Vietnam War, many of
our Democratic Senators voted to give President Bush authority to
preemptively and unilaterally invade Iraq, including Hillary Clinton, John
Kerry, John Edwards, our Senator Maria Cantwell and others.

Most have been unwilling to say they would have voted differently, even
knowing what they know now.  These otherwise liberal Hawks are preferable to
conservative Hawks.  But Democratic Doves would be better yet, liberals like
Senators Byrd and Feingold.  Incidentally, contrary to conservative
assertions, Kerry and Kennedy are not nearly as liberal as Byrd and Feingold
(based on their voting records).

Moderate and Extreme Liberals

What is the difference between moderate and extreme liberals?  Are moderate
liberals only liberal on some issues?  I have recently met people who
consider themselves liberals who vehemently argue that undocumented
immigrants should be forced to return to their former countries without any
pathway to obtaining legal status in the United States.  Besides being
impossible to enforce and causing great damage to our economy, these self
identified liberals don't recognize that the problem is that we haven't
provided legal ways for immigrants to enter to work here.

Incidentally, conservatives also insist that the reputedly 12 million
undocumented immigrants are taking jobs from and lowering the wages of
native born Americans.  But if they really care about these natives, why
don't they support raising and indexing the minimum wage and earned income
tax credits.

We also encounter liberals on other issues who oppose civil unions for gays
and lesbians.  But why not consider these people conservatives.  Most
conservatives are liberal on some issues, such as extending freedoms and
opportunities for people like themselves.  Let's not consider people who
believe some people should have fewer freedoms and opportunities than others
to be liberals.  Liberals believe all liberals should have the same freedoms
and opportunities.

Some liberals may believe that people with fewer freedoms and opportunities
than others should be helped, even if these people refuse to attempt to
become competent and responsible, thus wasting the help they receive.
Perhaps these could be called extreme liberals.  Very few liberals fit this
definition.

Bush's Immigration Policy

I predict that Bush's attempt to seal our southern border will be about as
effective as his other projects: stimulating a fair economic growth, Iraq,
Katrina, Medicare prescription drugs, etc.  Where's Rove when Bush needs
him.  Bush can't win on immigration.  To the extent he tries to block the
borders, lock up or deport 12 million immigrants, he'll please his
conservative supporters in the short run, but cost the Republicans most of
the votes of the Hispanic voters (the fastest growing group) in the long
run.  And it won't work.  And the Republicans certainly won't try to convict
their politically supporting businesses for hiring undocumented voters.  If
he tries to provide a pathway for undocumented immigrants to become
documented, he will be accused of amnesty by the conservatives.  Poor Bush.

We should remember that most of our immigrating ancestors were undocumented.
Until the 1920's, no documents were required for entering the United States.
They only had to show they were not diseased.

With our actions to prevent immigration become increasingly Draconian, has
the Statue of Liberty and its inscription become false advertising.  Maybe
it should be removed or at least shrouded until we return to open borders
which helped us become the greatest peacefully diverse country on earth.

Gas Rationing

After dithering for 30 years, nothing can be done to lower gas prices below
$3 a gallon.  So let's focus on avoiding $6 a gallon prices.  With worldwide
production and reserves declining, the only hope is to reduce demand.  Much
attention is directed to increased consumption in China and Indian, but
their consumption is far less than ours.  And China is implementing stiffer
mileage standards than is the United States.

One possibility is to institute gas rationing as we did during World War II.
During our war in Iraq, why shouldn't non-military families share some
burdens?  Another beneficial policy would be to lower speed limits.

Iran doesn't yet have nuclear weapons.  Iran does have a more potent weapon
of mass destruction.  It can cut off oil deliveries enough to send prices
through the roof.

Are You a Gasoholic?

Are you powerless over gasoline and is your life unmanageable?  Have you
tried to reduce you gasoline consumption and couldn't?  Unfortunately, there
are no treatment programs and no Gasoholics Anonymous.  Very few of us are
recovering.

Our United States consumes ten times as much oil per capita as India and
many times more than China.  Yet news reports suggest that oil shortages are
due to India's and China's increasing consumption.  Maybe it's due to our
being the world's largest per capita consumer.

Medicare Prescription Medicines

Some poorer people who use lots of medicines may save individually, but at
enormous cost to our government (funded by deficit borrowing to be paid back
by future generations).  Enormous cost because the pharmaceuticals can set
their own prices for many medicines which have no competition.  The law even
prohibits the government from bargaining prices down.  Many other people who
use fewer medicines, but join in case they will later need more medicines,
will end up paying more than they have before.  They are just buying
medicine insurance.

Millions of Medicare recipients didn't sign up for part D by the deadline
last Monday May 19th, often due to confusion about the choices among
competing private insurance plans.  Except for conservative desires to
privatize Medicare, part D legislation could have been written to simply
provide the medicine coverage for all Medicare recipients.  By eliminating
private insurers, this approach would also have been less expensive. 

Many states are trying to find ways for more people to have health
insurance, usually through subsidizing private health insurance for poor
people.  But this simply subsidizes an increasingly monopolized private
insurance industry, which spends less than 80% of its revenues on health
care.  Medicare spends 98% of its revenues on healthcare.  We need less
private health insurance with the savings going to expand Medicare to cover
more people.  Medicare should continue to pay directly to providers, unlike
the new Part D which pays insurance companies to pay for medicines.

The Republican Noise Machine

Since reading The Republican Noise Machine, I am really impressed by our
Liberal resilience.  Over the last 40 years, a vast network of conservative
columnists, newspapers and magazines, radio and television performers,
programs, stations and networks fed by many think tanks funded by wealthy
conservatives, religious organizations and direct mail has developed.
Forsaking journalistic objectivity, they are hugely partisan; expressing
their racism, sexism, homophobia, and other prejudicial views, doing name
calling and character assassination on a grand scale.  They have virtually
shut out liberals from radio and television, out-shouting the few that
appear.

Really scary stuff.  Yet we liberals have survived, have won many struggles,
are increasingly popular and are now moving toward controlling government
and implementing our policies again.  We have wondered how so many people
could be deceived.  It's nice to know there are limits.  Maybe we should
have known that when they failed to impeach Bill Clinton or even eliminate
his popularity.  Lots of people are repulsed by indecency.  Iraq, Katrina,
Medicare medicine insurance and other incompetence can't be disguised
forever.  Let liberal resilience in the face of ferocious attack renew our
hope.  

Liberals Hold Their Own with Movies.

While conservatives predominate in most other movies, liberals are doing
well with movies, including documentaries, non-fiction and fiction.  See
United 91, Baghdad ER to be shown this Sunday evening May 21 on HBO, and
DaVinci Code which portray alternatives to conservative views.

Your 10 Commandments

Christian conservatives make a big deal of displaying the 10 commandments at
courthouses, schools and other government properties.  No wonder.  Most
probably can't remember all of them.

Imagine writing your own 10 commandments.  Would they include some 'Thou
shall . commandments'?  Would they feature liberal values?  For example: 

1.	Thou shall treat all humans equally as members of one community of
the children of God.  

2.	Thou shall strive to be competent to care for yourself and others. 

3.	Thou shall be compassionate, helping those with fewer freedoms and
opportunities than the rest of us.  

4.	Thou shall protect everyone from mistreatment by powerful public and
private organizations.  

5.	Thou shall promote justice and peace.  

What others would you choose from the Christian commandments or add on your
own?  Dave Thomas 

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