Orgainized Religion is responsible for more death and destruction and misery than all world wars and conflicts since, COMBINED....

You take your faith and I'll take my self-reliance..

We'll see who fares better in the modern world. :D

Lemme know if you want to collect that $100 :D

Michale...

I HAVE taken my faith into the night. I AM still standing. While I'm an atheist, the best I can do is

http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/13-13.htm

Shalom

Which "people" would that be??

The ones who crap on public buildings??

The ones who rape and sexually assault women??

The ones who are threatening to show the world what a molotov cocktail will do to Macys??

The ones who shoot at President Obama??

The ones who have child porn at Occupy Chicago??

The ones who attack and cause injuries to cops??

The ones who publicly masturbate in front of children at Occupy LA??

The ones who are part of the Occupy movements all over the country who steal and squat??

The ones who scream over and over "FUCK THE USA"??

The ones who advocate violence against innocent people whose ONLY crime is being well off??

Are these the people you have "faith" in???

Apparently so, because you spend a LOT of time defending them and absolutely NO time condemning them...

With these people, you take your faith.

I'll take my weapons.. :D

We'll see who'se standing at the end of the night.. :D

Michale...

I have faith in the essential goodness of people. I pity you that you apparently don't.

Perhaps if you had seen some of the real world outside the United States, you might feel differently..

Faith is a wonderful thing..

But it doesn't help when facing down an AK-47, so a backup weapon is always prudent.

Michale.....

I meant a willingness to defy the Klan and get tied to bridge across Lee Creek with the water rising because you are doing right.

I mean a willingness to stand on one side of the road to protect organizers while the JohnBirch society screams hate and anger at you from the other side.

I mean a willingness to take a baseball bat to the knee trying to protect a battered woman from the husband screaming that "she's MINE, the LORD said so"

I mean a willingness to stand still in the road when the Nazis march down the middle.

I mean a willingness to not back down when the cops leave and you're facing the Posse.

I have faith in the essential goodness of people. I pity you that you apparently don't.

Yer positively militant!!! :D I knew there was a reason I liked you.... :D

Michale.....

You mean a willingness to hurt others, right??

Michale.....

There really are anarchists at Occupy Boston, last I checked.

That's been a week or two, though. I don't interact with the camp much, just go there and hold my sign for a while then come home. I didn't see any excesses that needed to be reined in.

Are you having technical troubles? Let me know...

-CW

There is no such thing as social change without violence. We hear much of the violence of the protagonists (John Brown, Leadville, Molly Maguires) and less often will history talk of the vilence of repression (Haymarket, Kent State, Birmingham, Tulsa, Chicago(68), Pine Ridge). In the US violence in the defence of the status quo is a well established practice.

Advising a muted response in the defence of rights is ask the status quo to change in mime. It won't work. To quote an Punjabi proverb: beg in silence, starve in silence. Only attitude, in your face resistance and a willingness to get hurt will cause change.

On the other hand, a logical argument can be made that the militancy of the gay movement has held gays back from progressing further...

One of those things that is logical but that can never be proven..

Michale.....

Heh. Yeah, but with full-time pay and benefits.

DerFarm [4] -

Your point about Malcolm X is a good one. I make this point a lot in casual conversation, although I usually put it as: "MLK wouldn't have made as much progress as he did, if there hadn't been a Malcolm X out there as well."

I remember arguing with some gay friends roughly ten or twelve years ago about the tactic of pushing for gay marriage. My point was "it's the wrong time, you're going to kill Democrats' chances to get elected and make it happen gradually." I was wrong. They were right. They've made more progress than I ever thought possible, by refusing to take the "calm down, it'll happen eventually" route.

-CW

OK... Maybe the Oowzers hate Obama as much as they hate Corporations.. :^/

Michale.....

I'll get to the other comments in a minute, but was curious so I went to my stats and looked it up. Here are the countries using the site last month, in the order of how many hits they generated:

Sweden, Russian Federation, France, Japan, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, UK, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Poland, Australia, Singapore, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Moldova, UAE.

Those are just the ones identified, most come in as "unknown" so there may be more...

Also of interest, the site served up 612 files to "US Government", 354 files to "US Military" and 268 files to "US Educational".

To all and sundry, I say "Welcome, and thanks for visiting the site!"

:-)

-CW

If only there was a little APP on CW.COM that would put a little stick pin on a world map that showed the location of all of the accesses to CW.COM....

:D

Michale.....

Your column is read further afield than you might think. I just got a call from a friend now living in Tasmainia, reminding me that the Mayor of Worcester cannot call out the police.

It was the liberal City Manager.

My bad.

I would suggest, Chris, that anyone wishing to influence the future positions of OWS shoud be on the ground at OWS.

Essentially, to OWS, the ruling class liberals are quite superfluous at this time, the current list of liberal negotiators are irrelevant, and the Madison Avenue liberals (even if they are from SF or Chicago) and ARE NOT A PART OF THE SOLUTION.

This is not to say that they can't do a lot of damage. From all accounts, parts of the liberal portion of the SuperCommittee are working very hard to reaffirm that the Congressional ruling pantheon can give away as much as the Presidential can and as fast.

Liberal Mayors in Berkley, Boston, Oakland, Worcester bust heads and "maintain order". Liberals everywhere look to the memory of HHH and cry out for a kinder, gentler National Guard to rein in the excesses of these new generation "Anarchists" (to quote the Police Chief of Boston).

Where the hell is Nixon when you need him?

The problem with that mentality is that, eventually, the clenched fist becomes, not a means to an end, but rather an end in itself...

The system we have, while it does give advantages to the privileged, it doesn't absolutely forbid or prevent the scrappy from achieving..

If it did, then I would agree that the Oowzers might have a valid argument...

There are many similarities between the Oowzers and the Palestinians. While both do have legitimate grievances, the manner in which they choose to express them negates ANY claim to the moral, ethical or legal high ground...

Michale.....

I don't think they WANT to govern. Unlike the TP, these people don't think they have all the answers ... they think they've got the right questions.

For far too long, liberals in this country have depended upon the established institutions to protect them from the excesses of the corporate and upper class rulers.

I grew up in JimCrow (the 50's), and I heard all about how negroes needed to go slow, avoid calling adverse attention, watch out that the REAL bad guys didn't get in and squash them.

MLK was a hero to me, as was GW Carver and Brooker Washington. But you know when I saw the change in white attitudes? The change that really meant that conditions WOULD change? 6/29/64 Because on 6/28/64 Malcom X declared declared a second road to equality:

We declare our right on this earth...to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.

It is not enough to have high moral ground. It is not enough to have God on your side. It is not enough to show the misery.

You have to carry the flower in a clenched fist.

I read an article where Perry has called for a "part time Congress"...

Call me silly, but isn't that what we already got??? :D

Michale.....

Pretty much sums it up perfectly...

It's time people looked at other people's rights, besides the rights of the Oowzers...

Michale.....

Let me just sum things up, instead..

The Oowzers have worn out their welcome. I mean, it MIGHT be different if they are actually trying to *accomplish* something..

But the Oowzers seem to be occupying places simply for the sake of occupying. In essence, they have become squatters...

I won't even bother mentioning all the crapping and pissing, the rapes, the assaults, the drugs and the crime..

Ya'all simply ignore that...

But riddle me this..

What exactly are the Oowzers accomplishing, besides pissing everyone off in the area...

Joshua, I'll address a point here that just occurred to me..

In a previous commentary, you mentioned something along the lines that the businesses and residents in the area could mount a counter-protest.

WHY should they have to??

Let me put it another way..

If you lived in a big house with a huge front yard..

One day, a group of malcontented spoiled brats, number in the thousands decide they want to protest against the rich. They choose your front yard to do it in because it's centrally located amongst all the rich houses...

So they squat on your front yard with tents and drums. The piss and crap all over your azaleas and roses, there are drugs all around, your windows are being broken constantly and they are banging drums at all hours of the night. Your family is terrified...

Now, let me ask you..

Are you going to gather up your family and friends and mount a counter-protest???

Or are you going to use any legal means necessary to remove them from your property?? Hell, if you lived in Florida, you could likely shoot a few of the more violent drugged up ones and be perfectly justified..

My point is simple.. The Oowzers are squatters. They are on Private Property and they are a public nusiance...

They residents and the business owners also have rights. Jobs are being lost. People are in danger. Residents are terrified. And the hygiene (or lack thereof) is abominable...

And, since the Oowzers aren't accomplishing anything, other than being a danger to the public and the area....????

There is absolutely no reason for them to stay and EVERY reason for them to go..

And if they won't go, then they will be arrested..

It's that simple....

Michale...