The Top 40

This is propaganda, by a regime which has exactly the same things in mind as the national socialists did. FDR stole the gold of private citizens and built the engine which turned our free society fascist.

And for the record, I'm not letting the national socialists off the hook. What I am saying is the regime which put the Neisi in camps (and at least did not gas them) has to be watched carefully.

All governments are Fascists. That is the only way they can stay in power. In politics, the night of the long knives is every night and is practiced on the public.

As nice as it is, altruism is a disease of idiot politicians. If one needs solid instruction in politics, I'd recommend H.L. Mencken, a very astute observer of politicians.

RKV: You are right. Propaganda: a form of communication aimed towards influencing the attitude of the community toward some cause or position by presenting only one side of an argument. Propaganda statements may be partly false and partly true. Propaganda is usually repeated and dispersed over a wide variety of media in order to create the chosen result in audience attitudes.

The cause may be good or bad. Mostly nowadays it is bad, but I've seen some fine art work, posters supporting our efforts in WWII. The Brits had some warning against the rise of Islam in their country. This one, replace the swastika with the Obama icon or the Repub symbol, with the rainbow coalition, whatever, and the message is the same to me: the state wants to squash Christianity.

Mencken is OK but I think he's a sour cynical man. Nothing positive comes from his mouth. We don't need that. We the People need some hope that things can be made right.

chas - Mencken, like me, was just a curmugeon who lived too long and saw too much.

BillH — curmudgeon eh? that's a neat word and somehow sounds kinda dignified. "What're you" "Well, I'm a curmudgeon". heh heh.

I reckon I am one as well. That happens as I age (67 and counting, as long as the kidney failure and Myeloma don't get me). Which ailments btw have given me more Faith, but also made me a bit more cynical. Fewer surprises and a view seasoned with some melancholy because life and people turn out just about like I figured they would. What's the aphorism, "life is a series of compromises"?

There's a whole lot in life I don't give a damn about, but I am pretty well centered in my own spirituality and, the older I get, I allow that there's probably 23 different ways to get into Heaven. "Everybody's got their own way to butter their bread" as my father would say, "don't trust the priests, son, all they got a key to is the shithouse".
And besides, as I get older, I pay more attention to the evidence and less to the arguments.

When I see some of these folks running their game I want to say: “Kid, I ran with bikers, shot junk, robbed banks; my hands have taken lives and saved lives; I worked with the Billy Graham Crusade; I got a million miles of highway under my ass, slept with dogs, danced with angels, I got screwdrivers older than you … what ya gonna show me, uh?”

But I don’t. Nowadays I just kinda watch it all going down.

chasmatic - “Kid, I ran with bikers, shot junk, robbed banks; my hands have taken lives and saved lives; I worked with the Billy Graham Crusade; I got a million miles of highway under my ass, slept with dogs, danced with angels, I got screwdrivers older than you … what ya gonna show me, uh?”

That is a very similar statement to one I use when "missionaries" come to my door and ask me to come to their "meeting" place. I guess you could call my wife and I deists. We were both raised in Christian homes.

Twenty something punks cannot educate me in any field period. Been there.

I'll be 69 in April. I do want to watch it all come to a head as I believe will be occurring sooner than later.

Attempting to destroy the word of God has always been the ultimate evil. But I have 2000 year-old news for them that may have been best said to our generation by Dylan in his song "Idiot Wind".

"You didn't know it, you didn't think it could be done, but in the final end He won the war after losing every battle."

Terry, I'm 67 and counting, unless the kidney failure or Myeloma gets me. Still, I will die on my feet rather than whimpering on the couch.

I walk a Christian walk. Of course I don't say that piece when I am talkin' to Christian folk. Some a them don't flex too much or haven't BTDT.