The following essay has been contributed by Steve Richards for your reading pleasure.
The article “Confronting Kleptocracy–Identifying The Looter Mentality†by Rawles was very interesting as have been the posts which followed. Please let me chime in my two cents for what it’s worth (which is about 2 cents worth). 🙂
First, I’d like to make these statements:
1) I believe in helping people… to a LIMIT. I do help the sick, wounded, elderly, homeless when I can and give to the Salvation Army. I also give to other charities – AFTER I look at how they handle the money I give them.
2) I WAS NOT born into this world to live up to ANYONE’S expectations. Whether that be my neighbor, and/or any state or federal governmental entity. I love my wife and children but don’t give a damn what anybody else says about me or what they think.
That’s a strong statement. It is NOT said out of meanness nor uncaring about my fellow man. It simply means that I take care of myself and my family first and, if I have something left over, I’ll contribute to others. But I am NOT obligated to.
Furthermore, I’m NOT obligated to listen to people bitch, whine, and moan because I do or don’t do something THEY want. I ONLY HAVE ONE LIFE and I am living for myself. However, to reiterate, I am trying to live unselfishly as I can. But know this. My neighbor didn’t put food on my plate. My neighbor didn’t contribute to my pension and 401K. I don’t expect my neighbor to work on my car, cut my grass or wash the windows of my house. And, I don’t expect my neighbor (or anybody else) to try to tell me how to do anything. Like survive for example.
Still, people are OPINIONATED and poke their nose in other’s business continually. And, this is ONE of the things wrong with our country today. We give information about ourselves to databases held by state and federal entities, the big 3 credit reporting agencies, our doctors, dentists, and just about everybody else. And, everybody is NOSEY! “What’s go’in on? What’s happ’n? Who’s doing what? When? Where? Why? How?†Again, I was NOT born into this world to live up to ANYONE’S expectations. I don’t give a damn what anybody or any government entity thinks about me and I refuse to play another man’s (or woman’s) game.
We have morality rules, laws (about everything by the way), and general social customs which we all adhere to. Me included. And, while I am a happy, productive, affable guy who tries to be helpful to others – at the same time I’m damn tired of people and government agencies trying to run my life. Aren’t you? You CAN think for yourself can’t you? As the song said: “He can’t even run his own life, I’ll be dammed if he’ll run mine!â€
3) And, for those of you who read but don’t comprehend… let me say it again. I’m a kind, loving, affable guy who believes in helping my neighbors… up to a POINT. In fact, WE ARE the United States. And, the old saying, “United we stand, divided we fall†will be much more than a slogan to live by if the Shit Hits The Fan. For it is in unity that we will have a better chance of survival. However, if bad goes to worse MY PERSONAL SURVIVAL AND THAT OF MY FAMILY COMES FIRST. And, YOU should feel the same way.
4) I feel sorry for the people in Haiti and Chili. Heck, I feel sorry people in all the third-world toilets out there. In fact, I’m on my 6th passport and since I was 16, I’ve traveled the globe over 4 times. I exactly know first hand how most of the people on this planet live. And, MOST live in horrible conditions. Many don’t even have fresh water to drink on a daily basis and die from dysentery and other water-borne diseases.
I’ve been in countries where I saw women washing rice in the river down steam while upstream people were bathing, urinating, and taking a crap. I saw heads of dead pigs floating by and I won’t even mention the millions of flies, dead rats, and mosquitoes.
But none of this IS MY FAULT! I don’t feel guilty about it. I use to but not any more. When I was a teenager and into my 20’s.. when I was in a foreign country I’d give a dollar here and a dollar there to needy people begging. That is until I realized all it did was cause a crowd of people to follow me wherever I went and to try to take all of my money!
Once, in Indonesia, I and my friend were surrounded by so many people that under the hot equatorial sun I started to faint. My buddy had the presence of mind to literally pull me into a handicraft shop nearby and he almost fainted himself. We both regained our composure after about 20 minutes and a cold bottle of water and slipped out the back. It was then that I made up my mind I would NEVER give money to any beggar in a foreign country.
I reneged on my own promise though the very next year. While in the Philippines on a buying trip for an import business I owned I was accosted by the most pitiful set of beggars I’d ever seen. The 3 year old baby was blind, one of her legs was deformed and twisted completely around where her foot faced backwards. The mother holding this child was so skinny she had to move around in the rain to get wet and was wearing rags. I gave her $5 and then marched off. Almost immediately I was surrounded by a hoard of other beggars. There were at least 25 of them. Luckily I ran into a Police corner station nearby and the policeman came out and read the riot act to the beggars and they took off.
He then told me in no uncertain terms that these were PROFESSIONAL beggars and that the lady I had given the five dollars to was one of the top beggars in Makati-Manila! In fact, when the baby was born, her eyes were punched out on purpose, and her leg was broken and twisted around on purpose! Sickening isn’t it? But that day I mentally slapped myself and fully resolved never to give alms to the poor in any foreign country. And, this rule has stood me in good stead throughout the various countries I have traveled through.
Daily on TV commercials I see self-appointed ministers and pitchmen asking for money for the old Jews of Russia, children in the Philippines or other countries. When begging for children they always show pretty little girls with big eyes and dirty dresses living in shacks with bare feet. A dirty little boy (made for us to think he is her brother) will stand in the doorway behind with a sorrowful, dejected, begging look in his eyes. It’s true. There are MILLIONS of children like this all over the world. Children feeding off of the dumps in the Philippines, in India, Brazil, etc. I FEEL SORRY FOR THEM! Let me be clear… I FEEL SORRY FOR THEM and I WISH I COULD HELP THEM. But I can’t! I can’t help them.
Why? Why can’t I help them? Is it because I’m a mean, dirty son-of-a-bitch? A selfish person with no empathy for my fellow man? No. It’s not that at all. It’s because I CAN’T SAVE THE WORLD and neither can you!
Look at the facts. There are almost 7 billion people on this planet. That’s 7 with nine zero’s behind it (7,000,000,000). Stand on the beach. Pick up two large, handful’s of sand. Count the tiny grains of sand. They won’t even come close to equaling 7 billion grains. In fact, 7 billion grains of sand equals over 1,300 lbs! In other words, if you took a small Toyota pickup truck down to the beach and loaded it up, you’d have close to 7 billion grains of sand (see http://www.wolframalpha.com for mathematical computations).
There’s 1 billion 300 million people in China. Out of this population base their own government states that only 300 million are living decently (about the size of the US population). The other billion are in dire straights. There’s one billion, one hundred forty million people living in India. One of the most poverty stricken places on the planet. In fact, Bombay (now known as Mumbai) is one of the worst human toilets anyone could possibly visit! I NEVER want to go there again.
So you tell me… how can we help all of these people? Why is it our duty? Why should our taxpayer money go to help them when we have so many NEEDY AMERICANS here at home? Shouldn’t we (as a UNITED family under our Constitution), help ourselves first and foremost?
Especially since the end of World War II the United States has tried to help people around the world by giving all types of aid. Food, agricultural machinery and help in seeds and agricultural growing methods, money and much more. I could write a dozen pages on just the help the USA has given the world. But, is the world better off for it? And, what strings did our government or a multinational attach to this aid in recompense? What if we had let nature take its course and we had helped ourselves first?
You’re an animal. I’m an animal. We’re ALL animals (whether you believe it or not). And, whether you believe in Adam and Eve or Evolution or some Hopi or Navaho dream tail of how mankind was created… the fact is; we are all animals on this planet. So how does nature take care of the lower forms of animals when the population grows out of hand? Say it. Say it mentally right now. You know the answer very well don’t you.
When deer for example, become over abundant what happens? Cougar, coyote or wolves decimate their population thus increasing the cougar, coyote or wolf population for a time. But as the deer population stabilizes or falls, starvation takes hold and the cougar, coyote or wolf population falls back into equilibrium. Equilibrium through what? Starvation.
Consider this: Look around you and think of the many inventions you have in your home coming out of Mexico, Chili, Haiti, or Romania. I’ll bet you can’t name five on your left hand that was invented, manufactured, brought to market and advertised by one of these countries. And, scores more of other countries.
Look around you at the things you take for granted. The light bulb and the generator which changed the world was invented here in the USA. Paint on the wall, your computer, the Internet, the electric watch, the air conditioner, combine harvester, the Colt revolver, vulcanized rubber, rotary printing press, how about the lowly safety pin or the potato chip you snack on?
Can you survive without rolled toilet paper? How about the Mason jar for canning or even the can opener? Need a tape measure or paper bag to carry your measured “stuff†in? Like those jeans you wear or the dissolvable pill you take whose prescription was written with the fountain pen also invented in the USA? From powered flight to the dishwashing machine to the first skyscraper which uses an AC electric motor to pull the cables through the pulleys of an Otis elevator (he invented the elevator brake) to its top.. all were invented in the USA. Don’t forget the GPS system you’ll need when you run for the hills and the survival gear also invented here and the cell phone you’ll need to call for help. I could go on for pages listing the things invented here in America but you get the idea.
Our ORIGNIAL form of government (not the out-of-control crap we have today) and our FREEDOM to survive and innovate in a CAPITALISTIC society where COMPETITION causes innovation are a few of the prime reasons we have changed the world and especially OUR lives for the better. For I wouldn’t trade ANY of the inventions I’ve named above for a hole-in-the-wall or third world toilet existence. Would you?
Go ahead. Name the inventions coming out of the Philippines or Haiti. Where’s that wonderful innovation which came from Latvia or Bulgaria or Albania which changed your life? When was the last time a third-world toilet helped the USA when we had an earthquake or a hurricane?
So here’s the point. When you look around you, you’ll notice that at least 90% of what you see was invented here in the USA. And, we HAVE contributed one HELLUVA lot to the upgrading of the world. Not only by our discoveries and inventions but by our exported agricultural methods and even innovative drugs. More than any other country in the HISTORY of mankind, we, here in the USA, have done more for the total betterment of mankind than any other since the first stylus was pressed into a clay tablet to record history. So I don’t feel ashamed if I can’t help the world. We ALL have to stand on our own two feet for Mother Nature will take care of us if we don’t!
Therefore, I’m willing to help my fellow American but up to a point. I’m not obligated if I’m starving. And, like any other animal in the forest or jungle, I’ll do whatever it takes to survive. Just as a wolf or lion will do. And, deep in your heart you will do the same when push comes to shove. It’s a law of nature. The law of survival of the fittest. For it is a truism that cannot be denied that ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE. And, that means strong mentally as well as physically. That means strength from having one’s survival food and medicine safely stored away for YOU and YOUR FAMILY and having a weapon to protect YOU and YOUR FAMILY if NECESSARY.
When push comes to shove, Wolves and Lions and other topmost animals in the animal kingdom will fight among themselves for a meal. Similarly, humans will do the same when things really get bad.
Yes, I WILL help my neighbor to a point. I will work with him or her to rebuild and to protect each other. But, when it comes to everyone for themselves.. if it ever gets that far… I’m sorry, but if I catch him or her trying to steal some of my survival food or anything else, that means society and the law have broken completely down and anarchy reins. In that case I WILL shoot him! Similarly, in the same situation, if I’m in dire straights and am invading his property to steal his food or other supplies, I EXPECT to get shot! For in this last case it is Mother Nature taking over in her rawest form and again, ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE.
Do you truly expect it will get this bad? I seriously doubt it. I live in Southern California. So I expect maybe in Watts and East L.A. and in other low-class and gang areas it will be bad. Up in Oakland and parts of San Francisco. Oak Cliff in Dallas or Sterling Heights in Detroit are a few examples. People who live in already crime prone areas can expect to be attacked first. Businesses can and will be ransacked. We’ve seen this before so I’m not in any way a prophet. Fools will also burn businesses in their own neighborhoods including vehicles and even destroy water pump stations and electrical stations.
Then, a few days later, when they realize they don’t have the electricity to run that big-screen LCD TV they stole and their gas stations are out of fuel and their burned out supermarket doesn’t have anything left… then they come for YOU!
And that’s when you and your neighbors have to pull together. That’s when you all should have a workable plan of resistance. For 90% of us cannot run to the hills! We live in comfortable neighborhoods with a front and back lawn and a barbecue in the back. We live in apartments. We live in high-rise condominiums or townhouses.
Let’s say the shit does hit the fan. Tomorrow. Who is going to invade us? Canadians coming over the border at midnight with butcher knives in their hands? A few million Chinese or Russkies coming in on hundreds of ships (which we’d see via our satellites before they even got out of their ports)? And, where are you going to run to? What hills? Ninety percent of us couldn’t live in the hills even if we wanted to. Hell, we couldn’t even get out of town on the clogged highways and wouldn’t have enough fuel to go very far in any case.
Suppose a total break down of society happened in the dead of winter? What? You’re going to live in a 12’ tent on the side of a hill in the snow trying to rub two wet branches together to make fire? How about runn’n up to Canada or invading Mexico yourself? What’s up there or down there to help and protect you? Have you got friends and family in Canada? Can you speak Spanish and do you know how to live in an over populated 3rd world toilet? What? You’re going to drive into Mexico and just take it over with your AK? You’d better like the desert too.
So what are you going to do? Run around in your camouflage dungarees with a camouflaged gun and pickup painted in camouflage chewing tobacco from your camouflaged tin showing off all your stupid tattoo’s and cursing till the sky darkens to a storm? Get real!! I’m originally from Texas and I’m just as rough ‘n tough as the next guy out there. And, if I see a fool like this (or some black or Hispanic gang member) trying to invade my home… I’d shoot ya were you stand! In a California minute (which is a tenth of a second more laid-back than a New York minute). 🙂
But that’s NOT going to happen. There would be many stages before total anarchy. Gerald Celente is correct in stating one should be prepared to tear up that front lawn and become self-sufficient in one’s own foodstuff’s. Furthermore, work with your neighbors to not only grow products to get by on until law and order is restored; but work with them to maintain a water supply, electricity, hauling out your own trash or burning it in a vacant lot so as not to provoke disease.
Toilets don’t work? Build latrine’s with an outhouse over them and keep things sanitary as did your great grandfather and grandmother in days past. Set up your own [temporary] security methodology to protect yourselves day and night from invaders. That DOES include shooting to kill if necessary – for if a marauding group or gang tries to invade your housing area you may have no other choice. Of course you would then be part of the burial committee wouldn’t you? Ummm, how many vacant lots do you have around your condo or townhouse? Home Depot has already been stripped so did you think of stocking up on a pick and shovel before the SHTF?
I’ll tell you this true, short story. Back in the 60’s my father had a contract which took me and the rest of the family to the island of Guam. The people of Guam are U.S. citizens but still like to maintain part of their old island culture. That includes some specialty recipes indigenous to the island. One of the recipes includes breadfruit. A wonderful tasting, healthy fruit my mother use to bake in the oven once in a while.
Guam is about 30 miles long by 4 to 10 miles wide at the waist. There was a “Cross Island Road†we use to travel on when going from one side to the other. In the dense jungle just off this road was a huge breadfruit tree about 50 to 60 feet in height. My mother would send me over this road once in a while and ask me to stop and pull some breadfruit off of the tree for her. As a teenager I loved doing this because I enjoyed this huge tree very much. The smell of the breadfruit and its cool shade. By the mid-60’s we left Guam to return to Texas and I always missed that tree.
Years later, I returned to Guam where I owned several businesses. I would travel the Cross Island Road once in a while and stop at that old breadfruit tree and let my young boys climb on it to get some breadfruit. It was old but strong. It had survived Super Typhoon Karen on November 11, 1963 which had gusts to 207 mph, and Super Typhoon Pamela in May of 1976 which had had gusts to 180 mph. And, who knows how many typhoons it had survived over all of its years.
One evening, close to sunset, I watched the sky turn a lovely hue of pink and multicolored shades red as I traveled down the Cross Island Road. Stopping at the breadfruit tree location I got out and scratched my head. It was gone! I couldn’t believe it! My first thought was of who the dirty son-of-a-bitch was who had cut it down. I vowed to myself I’d track him down and give him a good beating for harming such a stately old tree which always had 50 or more breadfruits on it.
I slowly walked into the jungle toward where the tree had been. Slashing my way with a machete against the ubiquitous Tangan Tangan brush which grows everywhere; I came upon the spot where the tree had stood. To my astonishment the tree was still there. But it was felled and lay in a big heap with its breadfruit dead and reeking of a foul, sour-sweet smell. “What killed it?†I wondered as I slowly stepped through the branches to get to the main trunk. I was amazed to see it was termites! Yes, termites had eaten its heart out and in its weakened condition it finally fell. It had looked fine just a few days ago. It was regal in its splendor and its thick, green leaves shown with health. But here it was. Dead. Its heart ripped out.
This is what is happening to America. The land of the free is no longer free. The home of the brave have turned into fat, whining slobs who suck at the tit of the government (the taxpayer) begging for every hand-out under the sun. Socialized everything. University kids protesting with bullhorns that they want free education. A guaranteed job after graduation. Free housing and even free food! Obama, Pelosi, Reid pushing a health care bill which will further destroy our already broken budget. Our national debt not measured in a few measly billions but in the TRILLIONS!
Fellow Americans, we have become too soft! We’ve become too satisfied with our garbage disposals, dishwashers and big screen TV’s. We sit on our butts watching semi-illiterate, multi-millionaire sports figures and only take our eyes off the tube long enough to grab another slice of pizza or pick up another can of beer.
We were started as a REPUBLIC with one person, one vote but we now let the Electoral Collage determine our President and instead of MAJORITY rule.. we let every minority group that wants their way whine until they get it! We watch as the big international corporations (who DO NOT pledge allegiance to any country) close down our factories and ship our manufacturing (and jobs) to China and other countries. We stuff another French fry into our mouths as hear about the latest outrageous law being passed and say to ourselves: “Oh! That’s just the way it is. What can I do?â€
Socialists, Communists and Fascists are all vying for the heart of the country while we order our next big burger at the drive-through in our heavily financed SUV. We love our goodies. Our TV’s, fancy cars and trucks, expensive computers, RV’s, boats, and vacations all financed with a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) taken out against our McMansion as most of us were too ignorant to understand that home values would not rise forever. Surprise, surprise! Which turns to dread then horror as we realize too late that our ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage) reset the end of the 3rd year and our mortgage/interest payments now doubled or even tripled.
Foreclosures, short sales, bankruptcies, repossessed vehicles, boats and RV’s. Dreams crushed. Unemployed or working lowly service jobs. Hands out for food stamps, unemployment, HUD housing and other government support simply because we were too GREEDY to save and buy our “stuff†with real, earned money. Too lazy or ignorant to “Just Say No!†to the greedy banksters on Wall St. who pumped the system with these “Liars Loans†and so-called “products†to rape us with.
Blame them? Yes. Blame yourself? Yes. What? Are you an idiot? Can’t you read? Didn’t you learn basic math in high school? Oh! I see! You were taught that “New Math†so a plus is a minus and a minus a plus to you. Okay! Blame it on “the systemâ€â€¦ as usual.
You of course have no responsibility whatsoever to think for yourself. To understand the mortgage documents before you sign them. To ask what an ARM is or get knowledge about any other banking “product†which was sold to you. No… that’s right. I forgot! Your parents didn’t teach you any values and as a teenager you became a Hippie. Smoked dope. Listened to Jim Morrison and Jimmy Hendrix and let the Beatles woo you with Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
Oh! You’re from the next generation? Yes, you’ve got an excuse too. Your parents were Hippies, didn’t give a crap, let you do what you wanted so you didn’t study either and listened to Metallica, Guns 4 Roses, etc., and sat on your butts playing your Nintendo’s and Playstations.
Meanwhile, because we weren’t truly interested in government (“I’m too busy†was the usual refrain), we let the banksters and the multinational’s pay off our Congressmen and groom our Presidents to do their bidding and now over 80% of our manufacturing jobs have been lost. The bastards in power are only interested in more power and pile law upon law destroying our Constitution and freedoms as we sit back with our beer and pizza watching the Dallas Cowboys, a Lakers game or a Seinfeld rerun.
We whine about buying Chinese “crap,†but most of it is NOT crap and is engineered here in the USA and manufactured at one of the multinationals manufacturing plants relocated to China. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it! We use to call ‘em Gooks and Slopes and Chinks and all other types of derogatory terms but now we twist and squirm while one of these guys makes $2 per day making that foreign TV you just bought. Hell, even the Japanese have assembly plants for their electronics in Northern China!
I like Gerald Celente. I subscribe to his Trends Journals & Forecasts. He, as others say: “Buy American!†Yeah, right! Say it again! Buy American for Americans! But it’s not going to happen. It’s too late to save most of our good manufacturing jobs. Their gone! Shipped to China, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, Mexico, and many other countries. And, they aren’t coming back! Where can you buy a “Made In America†brand TV or DVD or CD player? Look at the guts of your Dell or HP computer. Made in China and other Asian countries. Where was that monitor made you are looking at?
Look around you. What’s made in America? The chair you’re sitting in? Nope. I’ll bet you its even made in China. I think the paint on my walls is made in the USA. Maybe the sheetrock too and the timber came from Oregon. Copper water piping and electrical wiring? Naw… made in China. Just about everything INCLUDING the stainless steel kitchen sink is made in China or elsewhere.
You know, I’m not the only one, but I’ve been a hell raiser for MY COUNTRY all my life. Trying to get people motivated to get off their butts. But it seems I’ve been nothing but a voice crying in the wilderness so to speak. People talk ‘n talk n’ talk ‘n talk but NO ACTION! I like this set of lyrics from the Pink Floyd song “Time.â€
“And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gunâ€
And that’s the POINT! More than 10 years have got behind us since this outsourcing began. More than 10 years have gotten behind us since we let our government run roughshod over us. More than 10 years have gotten behind us while we have sat on our butts and complained. We’ve moaned, and groaned and jumped up and down scream’n and beat’n the walls but we HAVE NOT COME TOGETHER as a group and strong voice to straighten out this country. When are YOU going to get off your butt and do it? When are you going to stand up and be counted? When are you going to organize or gather into an organization to take this country back from an overpowering government and the elite banksters and multinationals who have raped you? I’m not talking about some militia with skinheads or Nazi’s and some stupid agenda either.
Oh! I see. You’re just going to listen to Glenn Beck, Celente, Schiff and others with that beer in your hand and continue to whine till the shit does hit the fan. Then you’ll do something! Yep! You’re rough ‘n tough and ya wear your diapers hung low eh? You’ll pull out your AK ‘n go “pop a cap†in some mofo…
Time is ticking away. Our country is falling away. What are YOU going to do other than whine and post on ‘blogs? How many times did call your Congressman last year and this year? How many times did you snail-mail and email his or her offices? Are you going to vote them out the next election? Or, are just going to take the same old easy way out. Vote for the incumbent whether Democrat or Republican. Ever thought about joining another party out there and strengthening it? When does all the hot air stop and get replaced with positive action?
There would be no need for all this tough talk about survival and killing some invader of our larder if we all worked together to take this country back to its roots. What did Jefferson say about taking back government? You know and I know. Lets get involved before its too late!
This essay has been contributed by Steve Richards for your reading pleasure.
At long last someone here online who has it absolutely right and has the balls to say it all exactly as it is.Â
Having read this article I know many will label Steve Roberts’ beliefs and outlook as crazy and he on the lunatic fringe but whatever.
Good on him for being true to himself. In fact he sees what most do not and I suspect it is because he is well travelled, which leads one to be aware of the bigger picture and their own immediate environment. Unlike the vast majority of duped fools who still believe in the dream that America once promised and delivered on he has seen it from the other side.
His forecast of things to come in my opinion will unfold as he has called it, only if that is people do not get off their asses and get directly involved in their own lives and future wellbeing.
This article is made of the stuff that made America great in the first place. What it once was can be again, but the uphill battle is going to be a whole lot more difficult than it was in the days when the English were the only problem for Libertarians at heart.
Now it’s the world coming over the walls to rape and pillage and it’s the banker/politicians who are destroying the nation from within.
I do not know Steve Richards for Adam and I’ve never heard of him until now but having read this article I for one know in my heart, bones, flesh and soul everything he has said is the way it is and I do so because I awoke from my nightmare in progress the morning of September 11, 2001.Â
The enemy is at the gate people.
The decline began well before 9/11 but the days of freedom and liberty, promise and entitlement died that day. I have no illusions and I am fully prepared for the worst.
Gerald Celente has it right as well but as this author stated, those like Gerald Celente can afford to fly away to their safety in order to evade the looming ground fight and they will do just that.
Where will that leave you?Â
Wake-up, think for yourselves and take your country back.
Wow – very well said my friend.
Thank you…
“There would be no need for all this tough talk about survival and killing some invader of our larder if we all worked together to take this country back to its roots. What did Jefferson say about taking back government? You know and I know. Lets get involved before its too late!”
Like you said, we all let it happen. The consciousness of the government is just a reflection of the populace. From my observations of the community, state and nation…it’s too late!
Like my friend said to me, “Embrace the chaosâ€. I feel that is one way to stay strong for the unknown times ahead.
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Just about sums it up completely- great post. In addition to the manufacturing job flight, reflect on a parallel dilemma on our own soil- we have forgotten how to do things- and I intentionally state that as vaguely as possible.  Planting gardens, canning goods, building houses, raising animals, the list is endless…
Helluva rant, Steve. Plus you managed to include some Floyd lyics…..wow.
Everything you say is true Steve. People have to get of their asses and join a group, create a  movement or get involved with local politics. One problem though is our right to protest, or dissent publicly has come under fire from quasi gov’t ( NWO) institutes. A group that I belong to “We Are Change “ has been characterised as a hate group by the SPLC and ADL . The Oath Keepers as another. Desenting groups about our corpratist gov’t can now be labeled as  domestic terrorists, and if Mc Cain and Lieberman have their way we ( the patriots) will have no Moranda rights or Habius corpus . We are in deep shit, I was telling my daughter the other day I could end up in prison for protesting the things that our gov’t does! YEA IN AMERIKA. But I still will….     Â
Comments…..Some good points that require some clarification. First of all charity is an obligation on every human being with morals, I do agree professional beggars should be avoided because I experienced the same thing in different parts of the world. The scripture require we give to charity from excess to the truly needy, it doesn’t require us to take out of our mouths and go hungry while helping others. These tear jerker charity organizations know how to get you as well, but when was the last time anybody cared about how well his brother or sister or parents are doing, charity towards next of kin is first. Let’s face it the family unit has been destroyed. How many know their neighbors name. This is the second article I read attacking the so called poor and incompetant causing a drain on the country, if you look at the big picture, social services don’t take more than 4% of the country’s spending. The rest of the money goes towards wars, bailing out the bankster wall street thieves, Isreal, idiots that don’t know how to run a compay GM, Chrysler,AIG,etc. etc. Now when it comes to survivial , to see how things will really be for you when SHTF, turn off your water meter, electricity , and pretend the local grocery store is closed, then see what happens.I experienced these things first hand in a country that had civil war believe me it’s not pretty.As far as democracy and elections, you have been decieved there is none and your vote means shit, the US has being occupied just like Palestine, they are losing their homes at the end of a gun, Americans are losing their’s  by the end of the pen,and both are ending up in tents. “We don’t care what the American people think we own congress” Ariel Sharon.Wake up and see who the real enemy, for it is the most important thing to know next to knowing thy self.
AMEN BROTHER!!!
I LIVED IN THE PHILIPPINES FOR TWO YEARS WITH THE MILITARY.
WHAT HE DESCRIBES ABOUT THE BABY HAVING IT’S EYE’S POKED OUT AND LEG CRUSHED.
IS TRUE… IT HAPPENS IN THE PHILIPPINES, INDIA, MEXICO, ETC ETC…
AND WORSE… TOO CHILDREN BY VISITING US MILITARY AND TOURISTS.
SO I AGREE… DON’T LOOK TO OTHERS FOR HELP… PROTECT YOUR OWN… QUESTION EVERYTHING.
THE SAME HAPPENS HERE IN AMERIKA AS WELL… 5 YEAR OLDS PIMPED OUT BY PARENTS, RUNAWAYS ILLEGALS SOLD INTO SLAVERY, HANDICAPPED AND INVALIDS OLD AND YOUNG KEPT’D LOCKED AWAY AS MONEY MACHINE COWS FOR THEIR GOVERNMENT DISABILITY CHECKS.
ANY PRIVATELY RUN NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION MAKING A PROFIT OFF OF THE DISADVANTAGED BE QUESTIONABLE OF… THEY ARE RUN BY FOLKS WHO ARE MAKING A HUGE PROFIT OFF OTHER PEOPLES SUFFERING… SAW THAT FIRST HAND AT A NON-PROFIT VETERANS SHELTER IN RUTLAND, VERMONT AS A VOLUNTEER FOR MY CHURCH.
TRUST NOTHING, QUESTION EVERYTHING!
SEE YOU WHEN THIS IS OVER.
Wow, the posters on this site are great. Most posters on other sites cannot construct a proper sentence, spell check, articulate their thoughts etc.
What a big difference!
Comments…..i agree with all of thee above . the only thing to do is let it all fall. to many factors against us . unions bribes tenure pluss many more.self employed my whole life have seen and done a great deal .stood on my own. let it fall .
Great post Steve, but the problems have been building slowly for 50 years, not just “more than ten”. Its been an EROSION of American values in all areas of American life over time that has allowed the American “Tree” to wither.
Yes, we have done too much for others around the world and not enough for ourselves, while the majority of the masses around the world who want what we have, are not willing to work and sacrifice for our lifestyle.
Case in point. I used to send St Mary’s Food bank a check every year, you know, “Food for The Hungry”.Â
Then one day I got to talking to a young illegal here in Arizona who was working as a day laborer making six bucks an hour when he could find work. His wife, a citizen, was working for a title company making nine dollars an hour, and was about to have a baby. As he was only 22, I thought this was his first child. But no, it was his fifth! He wanted nine children because he came from a family of nine children, and his wife wanted twelve because she came from a family of twelve children. I guess they thought they had to make as many kids as their parents had.
I was astonished that they had four children with another on the way and between them both, made only $15.00 per hour, when HE was working too.
He was feeding his family by working one day a week at St Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix, where he was given all of the food that he needed. You would think that he would have stopped having kids, but no, he couldn’t do that, they wanted a large family.
Needless to say, I have never written a check to St Mary’s Food Bank again.
Now the Catholic faith is a great faith and I believe in many, though not all of its tenants. But as a Church it is complicit in smuggling illegals into the USA, helping them to disperse across the entire country, pressing the American people for donations to feed, cloth, house and give health care to their poor; while exploiting these people for political gain and sexual favors.
All at our expense. 30 million foreign nationals in my country illegally is not immigration. Its an invasion. They MUST go home!
Zukadu, both you and Phil Perez are correct. Most (not all) charities are scam’s. There have been some investigative books also written on the subject. Let’s just use one. The March of Dimes. When I was a child the March of Dimes was all about polio. There were cardboard displays in every shop which had slots one would press a dime into and plastic containers for donations. The money was to be used to fight polio.
Then, when the polio vaccines came out (via sugar cube or a vaccination) and polio was mostly conquered… one would think the March of Dimes would go out of business. Not so. They morphed into another type of charity and today, if you visit their website (http://www.marchofdimes.com/aboutus/) you’ll see they have morphed once again and they state: “The leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health.†For everybody wants to contribute to pregnant mothers and babies don’t they?
Trouble is, charities just keep growing. If one goes to the National Center for Charitable Statistics (http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/PubApps/profile1.php) you’ll be amazed at the number of charities here in the USA and their growth rate from 1998 to 2008 is incredible.
I also investigated various major charities 5 years ago and was amazed to find that anywhere from 10% to 20% of the funds raised actually went toward what the charity was developed for. About 30% of the money was used for advertising and about 50% was used for private jets, vacations and meetings all over the world, nice office space with expensive furniture, cars for the executives with a food and gas allowance, etc.
So, am I against charities? No! I haven’t investigated the Salvation Army in the past 5 years, but when I did, I found they had a good track record of really helping people. This is why I still support them. As for Goodwill Industries… here’s what happened to me back in December.
I retired a few years ago as CEO of a large enterprise I had started. I had a lot of expensive suits and other clothing I wanted to give away. My Armani suits cost over $1,500 and one cost more than $2,000 not to mention a Zegna which cost $2,300 and a Dolce Gabbana (D&G) which cost $3,000 (before tax). I had 9 different expensive suits to give away, expensive shoes, expensive ties, sports jackets, silk shirts, etc. All of the suits were in perfect shape as were the rest of the items. All cleaned, pressed, and the shoes even had expensive shoetrees in them.
It was a Sunday and the Salvation Army was closed and also very far from my home. Thus I figured I’d go to a Goodwill store which was open about 8 miles away which accepted Sunday delivery. I figured I’d get a receipt to use against my taxes. Wasn’t trying to make a mint on all this “stuff.†Thought maybe somebody who would be trying for a management job could use some of these items.
It was overcast and lightly raining when I got to the Goodwill store. Each item was covered in clear plastic with nice, wooden hangers. The shoes were boxed as were the ties. The guy in front of me was nice and drove a Caddy while his wife donated a lot of nice cloths. I didn’t pay much attention to what was going on as he was a retired Air Force Colonel and we swapped war stories for a few minutes.
When my turn came to drive up to the back of their warehouse I was greeted by a Mexican (said he was from Chihuahua) and the Caucasian guy working with him looked like he was still on drugs. The white boy pulled out a long receipt and just made me sign it and told me to fill it out myself and put a value on it. Both of them started grabbing the cloths without any care whatsoever and tossed them into a huge bin located outside. As I said, it was lightly raining and I said: “Hey guys, that stuff is expensive. Rain will ruin it.â€
“Don’t worry ‘bout it mister,†was the reply. “We’ll get the stuff inside.â€
“But those are really expensive cloths and you’re wadding them up like an old blanket! Can’t you hang them up properly?â€
“Hey! You gave ‘em to us so don’t worry ‘bout it!!†This little shit replied.
“Fu*k you!†I said as I tossed the receipt into his face. I not only stopped unloading, but grabbed the stuff they had unceremoniously tossed into the bin and put it back into my car. And, just then it began to rain. Hard!
I live in the San Diego area and if any of you have watched the weather the past few months, you’ll note that SoCal has gotten more rain than usual. Day-after-day of heavy downpours. As I was getting into my car the Beaner got all huffy and threatened me with a fist. I’ve seen this attitude all over Mexico, Central and South America, the Philippines and anywhere else the Spanish conquered. I gave him the finger on purpose to make him more angry and as he headed toward my car I sped up just out of his reach and kept that up for about 20 yards as he chased me. As I had figured, he let his emotions get so out of control that he got soaked to the bone in the downpour.
I ended up selling the items on eBay and Craigslist and actually got more than I would have as a tax write-off. So, am I down on charities? Hell yes!
But, before someone out there thinks I’m some kind of a “big shot,†let me tell you that everything I did I did on my own. The American way. The Capitalist way. The way it use to be with freedom in this country without a lot of government interference.
As a kid, my father bought my brother and I a couple of Schwinn bikes with baskets on the front. I was 12 and my brother was 10. He also bought us a wire brush, a gallon of aluminum paint and a gallon of black paint, brushes and some stencils. In those day’s (1959) in Dallas, people mostly had alley’s and used 55 gallon drums for trash cans. The garbage collectors were usually black guys who actually picked these heavy drums up and dumped them into the back of a dump type truck. No Mexicans.
Dad told us: “Quit asking for an allowance. You’ve got to earn it. You boy’s get your butts out there and paint some trash cans!â€
And, we did. We went door-to-door asking for $5 to paint a trash can and $2 to paint the homeowners name on it or their name or house number on their mailbox or curb. I remember scrubbing with the wire brush the outside of the most nasty trash cans in the world. My brother would work on one side and I the other and we painted like a couple of fools. We did a good job too. We even painted 2†inside the can and made sure there were no “holidays†(as Dad called ‘em), gaps or streaks. People were happy. We were happy and on an average weekend we usually made $50. That was BIG money back then. Believe me.
Later, by the 7th grade, I was wearing a basket supported by straps over my shoulders filled with doughnuts and going door-to-door selling a half dozen per bag. I forgot if it was Dennis Doughnuts or Dunk’ in Doughnuts but the guy would come to my house with a VW bus, pick me up and a few other kids, provide us with an inventory, drive us to a neighborhood and drop us off. At 16 I worked for an A&W Root Beer stand to buy my first car. An old ’52 Mercury.
My mother never worked and my father provided for all six of us. We weren’t poor but we were middle class. Dad wasn’t stingy either. He would give us allowances when needed but he made sure we knew the value of working for our money.
So, do I know the value of a dollar? You bet! Did we give to charity and were we neighborly? You bet! When new neighbors moved in Mom and her friends took care of the neighborhood “Welcome Wagon.†She and other neighbors would load up a couple of big bags of groceries and take them to the new neighbors and even help them unpack or move in furniture. Being “neighborly†it was called.
I worked my way through TCU by working in the Ling-Temco-Vaught (LTV) aircraft plant on 2nd shift during the fall and winter, and in the summers I’d work as a licensed Merchant Marine (Ordinary Seaman) on cargo ships or tankers to earn the money to pay for my education. I even worked ships where I got hazardous duty pay as we carried bombs, rockets, napalm and beer to Sattahip, Thailand for the Vietnam war. And, it WAS hazardous. We caught on fire once right at the dock but were able to put it out. However it was close as there were bombs on deck being off-loaded onto lorries.
I won’t go into my whole resume, but know that I worked my way up and started several different enterprises and now, at 63, I can honestly say I’ve had an excellent life. But I was able to do it “My Way†as the old Sinatra song goes. However, running a business got harder in the 90’s and the 2000’s with much, much more out-of-control interference by both greedy state and federal agencies. Tax ‘n spend is all they know. Feed it to the greedy Unions and the minorities and Socialists with their hands out!
I may now highly anger some of you with what I’m about to say.. but facts are facts and “The truth shall set ye free†as Gramp’s use to say.
The Catholic church is one of the most despicable organizations on the planet earth. I don’t even have to delve into their current and on going pedophilia, the homosexuality within the Vatican itself and parish priests. The past adultery and orgies within the Vatican by some of its Popes, the terror of the Inquisition which lasted from 1478 to 1700 (12 years less than the age of the USA), the greed, bribery, the lies, willful killing and murders and the ties the present Pope has to Nazi’s in his past. Just know that the Vatican is one of the wealthiest BUSINESSES on the planet. If you want to know about the Vatican Bank’s scandals, its money laundering of heroin drug money for the Gambino family, and laundering drug money for the Sicilian Mafia.. if you want to know about its Nazi past and its ties with the Soviets, just go here as a start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Works_of_Religion
With this said, I have found that throughout Mexico, Central and South America, the Philippines and any place else the Spanish conquered and ruled; they required the people to have large families. There are three main reasons:
1) Large families produce many workers who will work cheap and can be treated harshly. As slaves hundreds of years ago and now as common Peon’s.
2) They were forced during Spanish times to speak Spanish and become Catholic on pain of death. This is why today Spanish is the prime language and most of these countries are Catholic. It is the worlds second largest spoken language (358 million speakers) behind Chinese. And, the more Catholics the better for the Vatican.
3) The majority of these Spanish speaking peoples being Catholic, contribute tithes to the Catholic church. Each individual parish church then sends a large amount of this largess directly to the Vatican.
From my travels and interviews in so many foreign Spanish speaking countries I estimate at least 90% are Catholic. That would be 322,200,000 souls. And, if each one of these gave just one dollar (about 12.60 Mexican pesos for example) even per year, that would be a heckuva lot of money. However, the Vatican earns much more than that from its tithes throughout the year, gifts, banking, investments, and other business enterprises. Furthermore, it is a nation unto itself with its own laws! Bottom line… the Vatican is extremely wealthy and totally corrupt.
Zukadu said: “But as a Church it is complicit in smuggling illegals into the USA, helping them to disperse across the entire country, pressing the American people for donations to feed, cloth, house and give health care to their poor; while exploiting these people for political gain and sexual favors.†And, how right you are!
While Mexico city has about 8.8 million people proper… that whole area encompasses up to 31 million. Imagine, the whole of Southern California has about 20 million people. Mexico itself has 106,350,434 people itself according to the World Bank’s 2008 count. That’s one third of the population of the USA and at least 50% or more would like to move here!!
Charity and morality? Who is going to tell me about charitable morality? The corrupt Catholic church? The TV minister who is making millions and are perverts themselves (Ted Haggard, Tony Alamo, Jim Bakker, James Swaggert and many more)? Sam said: “First of all charity is an obligation on every human being with morals..â€
I agree. However that charity begins at home. With one’s family, then friends, then neighbors. However, I have now gotten to the point where I just don’t give a damn about most of these corrupt charities. Our Socialist population now has its hand in the taxpayer till for everything it can think of. Add to this the millions of Hispanics illegally living here and taking our jobs who don’t pay taxes and the burgeoning Federal and State expenditures which are now in the multi-trillions of dollars.. Take care of yourselves FIRST folks because the system is soon to break!
Comments….. Ariel Sharon is dead! There is no such thing as a Palestinian. A made up story of muslims who were kicked out of Egypt and every other Arab country. Palestinians are muslim thugs who who murder, loot and steal from everyone including themselves. The goal of Islam is to enslave the world and murder the infidels according to their pedophile prophet. Islam is cancer that must be eradicated in order for civilization to survive. Even the muslim apologists that comment here will be beheaded by the muslims.
Comments…..Oh the great Catholic faith. Responsible for the Inquistion, witch burnings, and the Holocaust. Millions and millions and millions of people enslaved, tortured, and murdered. Such a wonderful faith the Cathoklic Church is.
Comments…..America is doomed if it does not support the right of Israel to exist. Jesus the Jew is coming back to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, not the capital of the PLO.
The goal of Islam is to install Sharia law which is no different than a Communist dictatorship. Democracy is at risk.The economy is at risk.
Comments….. Oh yes of course, It’s the muslims that economicaly enslaved the world. We all know the head of Federal Reserve his name is Abdul Shalom Bernanke.
Another great post Steve!
Connie: Â I agree somewhat but want to distinguish between personal faith and a perverted, corrupt organization that should be prosecuted under the RICO laws.
Not unlike the USA: I love my country, but hate my government. Not the government created by the Founding Fathers, but the perverted, corrupt organization that it has morphed into. Like the Catholic CHURCH, the White House and Congress have become an ABOMINATION.
Its not too late and the American people are on the move! Thank you LORD!
Comments…..
Look Steve,
You wrote a textbook diatribe.  Alright, we get it. In fact, anyone who consciously logs onto this website, is quite frankly “scared shitless” about our collective future and we have long since “gotten it”. But for the love of God man, ease up just a touch. There just might be a little bit more Christian love out there which gives our situation a fighting
chance towards a more  positive outcome than which you portray.  Just one man’s thought.
“America is doomed if it does not support the right of Israel to exist. Jesus the Jew is coming back to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, not the capital of the PLO.”
Get the —- real. It seems to me that we have plenty of leaches sucking U.S. dry. We got illegals getting spoon fed EVERYTHING. China selling us crap while they enrich themselves with our money and stolen technology. Even our very own military industrial complex is tapping us to fight illegal wars where we kill MILLIONS of innocent people. Hummm, I wonder who is behind all this???? The Catholic Church? Not only no, but HELL NO. Muslims???? Not that group either. Jews? BINGO, you’re the winner. If there was EVER one group of devil worshipers that hold no allegiance to ANY country, only to their “Chosen One”, status and their belief that the STOLEN land of Israel is theirs by God’s will. What an absolute crock of —-. The proof is everywhere as to who the REAL enemy is. 911, NAFTA, amnesty, TARP, Homeland Security, the planned destruction of our middle class, and SO many other traitorous actions to bring this country down. Jews, are behind IT ALL.
You folks who write here and other blogs with your lies must be pretty dang busy these days. Seems to me that the number of Americans FINALLY understanding the truth is exploding over the internet. Are you guys getting enough sleep? How are those finger tips? Better buckle down even harder because you need to try and stem the tide.
Who gets to win this battle? That, I don’t know. What I do know is which side I’m going to be fighting on. Unfortunately, millions upon millions will die because of ONE GROUP’S ideal that THEY are the best and the rest of us are trash. Well I know who’s stinking up the place, but as luck would have it, the garbage truck is coming to haul this vile stench away.
I’m not ready to place the blame on the entire Jewish race, but SOMEBODY or GROUP or ORGANIZATION has to be manipulating events by pulling the strings behind the scenes through a system of corruption and quid pro quo.
Whoever THEY are, THEY have lots of money and therefore lots of power. Only the FED, the Banks and Wall Street have that much money. And only the FED (through its member banks), and Wall Street have such an insatiable greed and lust for power. If we exercise OUR power maybe we can still reverse THEIR plan to make the American people serfs.
The only way we can do that is strip the Democrats and Republicans of their power (because they have been co-conspirators in the destruction of America) through a third party, and then repudiate the FED and nationalize the banks under strict rules and regulations. The New American Central Bank, like a New Congress should be made to understand that they are here to serve US. Not the other way around.
Lehman is a good example of a bankster that went so far, they were disowned by their own, allowed to fail, and then cannalbalised by the others.Â
We need to take these bastards down!
Comments…..It’s too late, the American people already surpassed the state of serfdom and slavery.
Comments…..Zukadu, this is the same reasoning that Hitler used which ultimately left over 50 million dead. Little brown shirts like you always need a scapegoat.
Comments…..When gas gets to 5 bucks a gallon guess who gets the money? The muslims. When food gets too expensive, who caused it? The muslims. When every product that is made from oil, your medicine, your plastics and most other consumables goes up in price, what caused it. Bingo. The greedy muslim bastards. The Muslims are sucking the world dry and are the real cause of inflation and our economic downfall. The Muslim seeks to enslave the world and they are doing a good job. Every oil dollar that is sucked out your pocket is used to finance their goal of enslavement of the world. After they destroy Israel, they will destroy Europe and the USA with weapons of mass destruction. You will be forced to bow down to the cult moon god Allah and its pedophile prophet or your head will be chopped off.
Comments…..Its seems that all the hate filled posters here have forgotten the truth of Jesus and His return. The Messiah himself said that He will return to His throne in Jerusalem, the Eternal capital of Israel, not a muslim capital. I will pray for your hate filled souls and pray that Jesus will forgive you rather than send you to the pits of Hell, for GOD said that whosoever curses Israel, shall be cursed.
Comments…..We will destroy the people of the Book who worship on Saturday and then we will destroy the people of the Book who worship on Sunday. The Koran will determine who is fit to rule the world. The true GOD Allah and his warriors are the only ones fit to rule the Earth. The Christian and the Jew will be crushed.
Steve comes off as being very realistic. Â Mostly I agree.
However, he does appear to be nationalistic when what is needed is neighborhood cooperation. Â Brings up the thought that “humanity is (are) those people with whom we come in contact daily”. Â 300 million people do not constitute a happy family.
And, may I remind Steve that the industrial revolution (which provides material goodies) is a European invention.
Further, we need to remember that collectivism is not a remedy for the evils of collectivism!
Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifiying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, t renders the heart torpid or produces only atheists or fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of despotism, and as ameans of wealth, the avarice of priests, but so far as respects the good of man in general it leads to nothing here or hereafter. [Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason]
Steve,
Excellent piece. I read you comments and every time I do, I think, “There’s my favorite hardass…” I’ve become the some way. Seeing all this bullshit infuriates me. I was raised on a farm where we did most everything ourselves. Farming was a great life but a very poor business. Making money just didn’t happen vary often. We kind of looked down on people what were “buy your lifers”. Now, everyone is buy your lifers. Rather than even think of doing something themselves, people only think of getting the money to have something done.
We’ve been programmed to think this way so we can be more easily taxed and controlled.
Its a vicious circle that will be broken out of when things get bad enough. So many people have so much disposable income that they can allow their kids (and their kids’ kids) to be supported by them to their detriment. Once that support evaporates, they look for the government nipple.
I say let the road go to shit. Lower my taxes. Let the school buildings fall apart. Lower my taxes. Let law enforcement and government just scrape by. Lower my taxes. I don’t need that stuff, and, with all those lower taxes I just might feel obligated to help out a little more.
We just need to start doing stuff for ourselves. This year I plan to plant a garden. I’ve slacked off the last few years. This time its gonna be a “weed garden”. Why try growing stuff that doesn’t like to grow? There are edibles that grow like weeds because they are weeds! I can sow 1/2 an acre of cherry tomatoes and feed the whole damn county! We need to get away from hobby gardening and do some real work.
Good luck and keep up the excellent writing and posts.
Everybody posting in here should be growing something to eat. Drop a few cherry tomato seeds into a flower pot and water it every few days. If you have a yard, dig part of it up and plant some edibles there. EVERYBODY should grow something to eat. Both the skill and the product may come in handy soon.
Comments…..Interesting article. I don’t agree with all of it , I could argue against some of it but overall, for a long esay, very well written and informative. Good job and many good points and some right on. As I said others we could discuss but no big complaints from me.
As an adolescent pauper on the streets of London, Paine had no concept of what true Christian faith looked like. He saw nothing but the corruption of the Church of England…it’s colusion with and catering to the every whim of the aristocracy, with absolutely no concern for the commoner. At the behest of Franklin, who was on a long visit to England at the time, Paine traveled to the Colonies and stayed with Benjamin Rush. Both Rush and Franklin saw the unpolished talents of Paine and groomed him well to aid in the Revolution. When Paine arrived in the Colonies what “Church” did he experience? Hyper-legalistic New England Puritannicals, wishy-washy pacifist Quakers, and constantly scared to death Roman Catholics.
If you take a very young person who has never experienced a truly loving, energetic Christian community, and place them in these conditions what attitude do you expect would have been created in that person?Â
We all owe a big debt to Tom Paine for his penmanship in those days. It can be said today as it was then…”These are the times that try mens souls.”
As for his views on Christianity, he was merely the victim of the times in which he lived.
True Christianity will save this country and the world. Not left wing Christianity that has more faith in Marx than Jesus and not right wing Christianity that detests and demonizes everyone that’s not exactly like them and holds down the indominable human spirit through legalism.
An end note: We here at SHTF see our country in shambles and in decline and that’s why we do what we do. We prepare, we’re preppers, as the media has labeled us. I implore you all to not just prepare physically but also spiritually. Open your hearts to the possibility of a wonderful future on the other side of the storm…America isn’t a place, it’s a condition of the mind. Being born here doesn’t really make us American until we embrace “America the Idea”.Â
Mountainboy(formerly eric, as not to be confused with a new poster named Eric that enjoys fomenting bigotism)
the world hasn’t seen true christianity in well over 1800 years. Â Not since Ceasar Constantine adopted it as the official religion of Rome.
True Christianity is found in every heart that professes Christ as Saviour and Lord. It’s just that simple. So simple that most find it foolishness.
Comments….. Jonny  has a point, Christianity lost it’s purity and unity around the time of Constantine, not because it was adopted as the religion of Rome , but due to the change it took around that time.That is when the Trinity concept was established, in history it’s called the nicene  creed because  the meeting took place in nicea turkey. There is a lot of good christians out there  that are outcast from the church because they refuse to pick a sect of christianity and remained pure. They understand that Christ is not the saviour by his mere existence , but he save us by us adhering to the word he brought from the almighty. Put the word in your heart and show it in your conduct towards your fellow man.
Nice article, it was a good and informative read.
Most of the comments are good too, except the ignorant bigoted comments by a few posters. Eric/Abdul you obviously don’t know anything about Islam fool, but that was actually pretty funny the way you tried to blame Muslims for the worlds economic problems, like anyone is actually going to believe that.
Mountainboy..
You could not have said it better!!!
Good article Steve: And for those of you who are wearing your Religion on your Chest, You might Practice what you preach,Or privately hope there really isn’t a here after,Because when that time comes Every one will be held accountable,Especially the phony bible thumpers,You May think your holier than us,But guess what ?Your not.We know who you are,You are the ones that Say Wow look what we did !! You all need to find the word,Or what ever the now expression is.NO on the contrary we are who we are ,no phony-ness ,We are just plain old regular people who care and believe in treating others the way we would like to be treated.We may not Go to church, we most definatly do not rub elbows with the holy-rolers, And most of us Are happy with Little steps of growth, We are the folks that didn’t have to lock our doors untill We were invaded by the bible thumpers ,That pray that their prey will not fight back,You and your blind followers Thought nothing of dismanteling our constitution,Like that young senator that ran for President, In his southern Drawl You gotta speak the truth,His wife is dieing of cancer and he is screwing some girl friends,Most likely between rehearsals of his next Religious minded campain speech,Or the Child rapers of congress,Preachin, Or the ministers and priests and Rabi’s Raping their Young flock, And Your going to Inforce Democracy throughout the world,And inforce your Beliefs Thanks But NO THANKS, As i said in the beginning of this note WHEN THE TIME COMES WE WILL ALL BE JUDGED ,Of course in your demented minds You Have only committed good deeds , And Steve and the rest of us are lowly serf’s, I may be destined to shovel goal in hell,And should i wind up in hell.You will know what hotter than hell really means Because I am a Very hard worker And I will stoke those those fires,To the best of my ability…Danno
My last religious comment will be the deepest I go on this website. The Creator has given us absolute freewill to live and believe as we wish, you could say He is the original Libertarian. Our Constitutional Republic’s foundation is built on this premise.Â
Comments…..Wow, so this turned into Catholic bashing.Â