gdp's Comments

Big Government : ACORN's Cultish Leader Wade Rathke Doesn't Seem to Realize He is the Disaster that Hit Springfield,

Tue, 5 Jul 2011 13:19:29 +0000

not with ACORN

Big Government : ACORN's Cultish Leader Wade Rathke Doesn't Seem to Realize He is the Disaster that Hit Springfield,

Tue, 5 Jul 2011 01:26:54 +0000

What planet do you live on? Certainly not the same one that I do. ACORN - the new SA or SS? I think you misunderstand what these organizations do. Believe your myths if you like, but I know better.

Big Government : ACORN's Cultish Leader Wade Rathke Doesn't Seem to Realize He is the Disaster that Hit Springfield,

Mon, 4 Jul 2011 16:17:19 +0000

"Along with all of ACORN’s leaders, Rathke belongs in jail." You won't get your wish, Matthew. In America, we have this thing called freedom and the right to assemble. I know you draw a neat connection between the welfare and riot and ACORN's tactics. But it is not accurate. ACORN's tactics were NON-violent. Loud, yes. Insistent, yes. Rude, of course. In your face, by design. But they were non-violent. ACORN was stupid to make so many mistakes (financial, staff training, administrative) that it made it easy for the right to set them up for a fall. You should know, Matthew, that the rest of us are not that stupid. And we will continue to do the things that ACORN was doing (rallies, demonstrations, voter registration, GOTV operations). Wade Rathke was merely the result of the Peter Principle. He rose to his highest level of incompetence. Rathke is a superb organizer and strategy/tactic man. Not an administrator of a multi-million dollar operation. Organzr4FR 30 years as an professional Alinsky Organizer

Big Journalism : American Exceptionalism: Who Owns It?

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:43:37 +0000

"Progressives are Communists by a different name" That would have to be a response with out philosophical or historic understanding. You have been studying at Beck University too much. Progressives have always been a species of democratic capitalism. Beck's nemesis, Woodrow Wilson put Socialist Eugene Victor Debs in prison for speaking out against American participation in World War I. Wilson set up the Palmer raids that rounded up "Reds" and sent them to jail. I am not on Wilson's side on this. My hero is the guy he put in prison. But history and philosophy would say that the two are not the same.

Big Journalism : American Exceptionalism: Who Owns It?

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 13:47:42 +0000

American Exceptionalism, as most people understand it, is a myth that we use to make ourselves feel good about ourselves. American Exceptionalism, as most historians understand it, has more to do with the question of why the United States does not express the class politics of Europe. America has a much more fluid class structure not found in Europe. The Socialist and Social Democratic Parties of Europe developed in response to the much more rigid class structures of Europe. Ironically, American Progressivism of the early 20th Century was part of the "safety valve" of American Democratic Capitalism. The successes of Progressivism allowed America to reform capitialism without the necessity of Socialist transformation. Many people on this blog may not like or agree with Progressivism. But the American Progressive impulse is one of the reasons why we do not have Socialism in the United States.

Big Government : Reason.tv: In Defense of Payday Lending

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:08:03 +0000

I cannot believe that Payday Lending is being defended. These businesses are nothing but legalized loan sharking. City by City, State by State - we will drive them out of business. See how people are organizing to close Payday Lending down: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100716...

Big Government : Progressive Christian Leader Jim Wallis Admits His Lie About Receiving Millions From George Soros

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:06:18 +0000

Flame, I think your little candle has gone out! Try again, another cliche may work!

Big Government : Progressive Christian Leader Jim Wallis Admits His Lie About Receiving Millions From George Soros

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:56:32 +0000

GLENN BECK just knocked down the figure that SOJOURNERS got from the Open Society Institute to $200,000 from the exaggerated $7 Million. Too bad, BIG GOVERNMENT! Rushing to press before you have all the facts!

Big Government : Progressive Christian Leader Jim Wallis Admits His Lie About Receiving Millions From George Soros

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:42:29 +0000

Some of the increase in revenue for Sojourners would have to be credited to the successful release of Jim Wallis' best seller, GOD'S POLITICS in 2005. Wallis' profile greatly increased after the release of that book. One of the main insights of GOD'S POLITICS was that progressives could not afford to ignore outreach to evangelicals and other Christians. On the question of the $7 Million, Scott you claim reference to "unstated amounts". I have been in non-profit organizational management for decades and all grants by Foundations are "stated". O'Lasky knows this. This is how he discovered the $200,000 grant from the Open Society Institute. And franky the Open Society Institute supports many non profits of a progressive nature.

Big Government : Progressive Christian Leader Jim Wallis Admits His Lie About Receiving Millions From George Soros

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:40:48 +0000

Marvin O'Lasky's article in WORLD talks about $200,000. Where did this 7 Million Dollar figure come from?

Big Government : Helen Needs To Go!

Sat, 5 Jun 2010 16:55:04 +0000

t is time for Helen Thomas to retire. And, I agree, that the White House should talk to whoever her boss is now about replacing her. Perhaps age has taken another person. This statement is beyond any reasonable position. It is anti-Jewish.

Big Journalism : Helen Thomas: Jews Should 'Get the Hell Out of Palestine and Go Back To Germany And Poland'

Sat, 5 Jun 2010 16:45:57 +0000

It is time for Helen Thomas to retire. And, I agree, that the White House should talk to whoever her boss is now about replacing her. Perhaps age has taken another person. This statement is beyond any reasonable position. It is anti-Jewish.

Big Government : DC Bank Protest: So, SEIU Now Owns the Cops Too?

Fri, 28 May 2010 11:48:08 +0000

I hate to tell you this, but the "War Between the States" is over. We won.

Big Government : DC Bank Protest: So, SEIU Now Owns the Cops Too?

Thu, 27 May 2010 02:34:03 +0000

I do not propose to impose anything. I intend to be part of a democratic movement that builds a long term governing progressive majority. Democracy is the rule of the majority. If your side can build that governing majority, then you can "impose" your vision of America on the rest of us. You are right. We see things differently. You are not my enemy. And I am only your enemy if your real enemy is democracy.

Big Government : DC Bank Protest: So, SEIU Now Owns the Cops Too?

Thu, 27 May 2010 02:29:49 +0000

November. I think we need to think about the next generation. Imagine this - a United States of America that is majority non-whites. How do you think that will effect our politics? And how relevant will our founding fathers be when the children of Europe are no longer a majority in America. Your worldview reflects a selfishness that Ayn Rand would be proud of. But the changes that started in America with the immigration patterns of the late 19th and 20th Centuries brought a different worldview to the United States. One example is the Eastern European Jewish immigrants that brought a worker based socialist trade unionist ideology with them. There are other examples. The only hope for your ideology in the long term is if you are able to convert Latinos, Asians, and others to your perspective. Perhaps you will. Maybe not. In the long run the new immigrants will run America. What do you think they will do with it?

Big Government : DC Bank Protest: So, SEIU Now Owns the Cops Too?

Wed, 26 May 2010 17:41:33 +0000

Corporate Capitalism did not exist on the local level in the late 1700's. The only large scale capitalist operations were the trading companies set up by the British, Dutch, Spain, etc. As American Capitalism developed - the excesses and abuses of Capitalism needed to be dealt with. One thing I will never understand is why Libertarians hate Progressivism so. Progressive reforms undercut the development of a real Socialist movement in America. FDR complained that what his big business critics did not understand if that FDR saved Capitalism. The New Deal prevented a truly Socialist movement by undercutting it. My comment does not really go to your larger point. But political decisions are made from time to time based on what seems right at the time - at that point in history. So, when times change - we go back to old statements (Constitution, the Bible,etc.) and find that these things have new meanings. We dress up the new in the old. It has been done in Western Civilization at least since the Protestant Reformation. Be well.

Big Government : DC Bank Protest: So, SEIU Now Owns the Cops Too?

Wed, 26 May 2010 17:00:37 +0000

You are welcome. I blog widely. Huffington Post. Here. And other places. I find that it is wrong to isolate oneself. Many people just surround themselves with people just like themselves and exist in an echo chamber. How can you learn from that? I choose to get out and about and have for years. I prefer to engage with people who have a point of view and can argue it. Unfortunately, you have to put up with the people whose only response is: "Well, YOU SUCK!" - in one form or another. I have learned things that are useful in my progressive organizing from studying conservative and libertarian organizing technique. Some Conservatives have learned a great deal about politics and organizing through studying Saul Alinsky's thought. Dick Armey's FREEDOM WORKS organization requires that their staff read Alinksky. They are doing this not only to know how progressive Alinskyites think - they are doing it to adapt some of the approaches and tactics to Conservative ends. In the last couple of years we have seen the Conservative movement be very successful in the adaption of Alinskyite tactics.

Big Government : DC Bank Protest: So, SEIU Now Owns the Cops Too?

Wed, 26 May 2010 16:47:29 +0000

I talked about "the enemy" in an organizing campaign. You are not likely to be an "enemy" in the organizing sense. An "enemy" is a person in a position of power who has the ability to say "yes or no" to a proposal for change or action. That is why "enemies" tend to be officials of various types. You and I disagree but we do not have to be disagreeable.

Big Government : DC Bank Protest: So, SEIU Now Owns the Cops Too?

Wed, 26 May 2010 16:40:53 +0000

"jail for life"? Really believe in democracy, don't you?

Big Government : DC Bank Protest: So, SEIU Now Owns the Cops Too?

Wed, 26 May 2010 16:15:07 +0000

OnCommonGround, I am one of the people who WRITES the talking points! Talking to you guys is one of my occasional hobbies. I don;t think I have called anyone here a lowlife though. I don't understand people who do not understand how debate works. I thought that was what blogging was.