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Today's Top News
12.01.09 - 2:33 PM
God's (Well-Armed) Work
A number of Goldman Sachs employees, whose boss has attested to doing "God's Work" by making billions for himself and his cohorts, are reportedly buying handguns to protect themselves against the populist uprising they clearly deserve but which will likely fail, alas, to materialize. Bloomberg columnist Alice Schroeder has more.
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62 Comments so far
Show AllGod's work all right. The God Ayn Rand and her prophet John Gault.
They are probably thinking of how Henry Clay Frick should have packed a piece (he survived the attempt anyway).
Trouble is, there is no Haymarket seven, Emma Goldman or Alexander Berkmann in the forseeable future. Quite the opposite.
As the too big to fail banks get bigger their employees will make ever more money with which they can construct ever more fortified abodes.
US contractors will need to start building third world fences around the bankers' homes...the concrete or masonry fences with shards of glass embedded in them so the groveling masses who are being ripped off by the bankers can't scale them without being severely cut by the shards of glass.
Throw in a little razor wire for good measure.
I wasn't familiar with Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkmann, so I read about them in the Wikipedia article on Henry Frick. Steel workers were on strike, and seven had been killed by detectives hired by Frick in an attempt to move the strikers from the factory by force. Berkmann tried to murder Frick in revenge, but he only injured him and ended up being arrested. According to Wikipedia, "Negative publicity from the attempted assassination resulted in the collapse of the strike. Two thousand five hundred men lost their jobs, and most of the workers who stayed had their wages halved."
Whacking Lloyd Blankfein would probably engender similar feelings of remorse in the general public. It's an age-old problem: how can those who renounce the use of violence and dishonesty battle the ruthless? There's no easy solution.
John 8:42 ----- and everyone else read "The Day Wallstreet Exploded".
Whats interesting is during a time when the anarchists were blowing up governors and everything else, the feds came down hardest on the anti war people (WWI).
I love the 15,000 armed miners marching through West Virginia( I do not condone violence' but boy sometimes I wish I did).
Strikers stealing a plane and bombing the mines.
Thanks for the reference. I'll try to take a look at it.
I guess they just don't teach labor history very well in school. The steel strike you mention was the famous Homestead Strike, culminating in the Battle of Homestead on July 6, 1892. I guess I was lucky enough to have it taught in jr. high school history so I knew about it even before moving to Pittsburgh. But I bet most kids where I live now, just a few miles from Homestead, have never heard of it. Just that WW2 bomber that crashed in the Mon River there.
You are right, it is awful hard to be "nonviolent" when the other side is killing you or killing those you are defending.
They might have taught it in my school, too. I didn't pay much attention to history in high school. I had an innate repulsion to politics and the history of wars, which to me represented the worst aspects of humanity. I've read some history later in life, but it's not a subject that really attracts me.
There's a quote by Martin Gardner that expresses my feelings well:
“Biographical history, as taught in our public schools, is still largely a history of boneheads: ridiculous kings and queens, paranoid political leaders, compulsive voyagers, ignorant generals - the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents. The men who radically altered history, the great scientists and mathematicians, are seldom mentioned, if at all.”
I would add to his list the great writers, poets, composers, and artists, among others.
Yeah, come to think of it, the the little labor history most USAns might recall is just the name "Sam Gompers."
Who of course, is the founder of the philosophy of "no commies or anarchists in our union, boss, we'll all even bend over and let you kick our asses to prove it!"
No easy solution? Evidently not. One "made in Heaven"? Well, according to the Gospels of the New Testament, and possibly other religious beliefs or teachings, there sort of is. I'll make an attempt at explaining based on the Gospels, though.
On the one hand, if the money changers or exchangers, whatever, appear at church, then you can feel free to throw them out and you're allowed to express real anger (including physically) in regards to their presence and dealings, too. On the other hand, "forgive your enemey"? Hmmm, why on earth would you want to do that? Well, I guess the answer can be found both on earth and in heaven; while hell's the other option. So, and assuming we're aiming to help everyone avoid hell for destiny, do you decide to figure, in earthly terms, that if you were in these robber-baron positions, then you wouldn't do the same? If you think that you might do or try the same, then you should forgive, obviously; but, at the same time, realise that the Wrong nevertheless needs to be corrected and that you should, as a citizen of not only your country, so politically, but of Earth, hence naturally, because you're naturally a worldwide citizen, you should then act to try to help bring about the needed corrections. And the same applies even if you believe that you wouldn't act in these GREEDY ways if you were in the same (sick) positions as these financial "elites" are, too, btw; although, if you weren't as sick as them, then I don't know how you'd be able to get to these positions. Meanwhile, as for heaven, well, the opposite is hell; although some people believe in purgatory, some half-way point, where whoever's there for rehab. hopes there'll be enough prayers to help escape hell as final course or destination, anyway. But heaven also preaches [mercy] and doesn't mean this lightly. And some people might think of other ways in which heaven can apply or might respond, but I'll leave it at this.
Okay, alright, so, but, well, where does this leave us? Well, uhhh, ohhh, well, huh; well, heaven's not against justice, let's say, and this really is for sure, rationally speaking anyway. And Heaven also knows that without real justice, there can't be real peace, and heaven's for peace, too. Well, now that makes a happy pairing and I think we can all agree with it. So, well, and again, where does this leave us?
We need to get these Wrongs corrected and always work on trying to establish real justice and, thereby, peace. Sounds good to me. Just don't ask for peace without making sure that you demand for real justice, though.
Now who's the scmuck (excuse my lingo) at Goldman who pretended that he was doing "God's work"? If he's true to his words (this guy at Goldman Sachs, that is), then this guy is for real justice and peace, so what's he doing to try to help make this happen? Or was he only trying to sound like GW Bush; who's never been a real Christian, being NO real believer in God, and who only exploits dumb believers by pretending to be one of them?
Unlike GW Bush, the Goldman Sachs guy said that he's retracting his statement about doing "God's work", but the deed's been done and can NOT be eraced this easily, not with mere words; we should keep in mind. If he lacked enough "street smarts" to keep his mouth shut about his wicked doings, even though they were so obvious that they couldn't be missed, and then pretends to retract those words; well, shoot, then why on earth should we treat this retraction by forgetting about his wicked doings? Let him pretend that he can retract his words, let him believe that we accept that he can do this; pretending that he's retracting his words. Okay. BUT let's NOT forget his wicked doings and that he's committing them.
Heh, we playfully can half-agree with him, but not fully; unless we want to act against our own and everyone else's best interests, which I really recommend against doing.
Iow, the guy's a "flake" and should blow away with the next wind.
P.S. The above could be misinterpreted as meaning that I'm really most against this guy being criminal [and] letting his mouth reveal this nature of his, which, iow, could mean that I'm for the criminality, but not this criminal because he let his wickedness and stupidity be revealed a little too much through his blabbing mouth. It'd be a misinterpretation. It's not that I don't appreciate him having a blabbing mouth, for I certainly do; however, I'm against the wicked, fiend, ... ways of these types of people and the above is partly meant to be sarcasm. It's also meant to present some philosophy, including religious philosophy, of a sort anyway; but sarcasm certainly is equally meant.
I'm familiar with the teachings of Jesus, but I have no idea what aspect of my posting prompted your long discussion of religion and forgiveness. You say that "there sort of is" an easy solution, but if it's described in what you wrote, I missed it.
So it's not that easy after all, eh. Well, I thought my post made this clear enough. Also did the way Jesus ended.
Btw, the way Jesus ended is not wholly unique; remember. He was neither the first nor the last to be crucified, and surely other victims were also innocent, for one example. There's more than only one way to refer to the story of Jesus.
Ha ha. Like I said, the post was sarcasm, philosophy, and religio-philosophy, and this isn't "easy as making pie" sort of recipe.
Don't mind me, I sometimes get into "tangential", say, ways of thinking and writing, and sometimes the ends of the tangents don't come to meet, but heh, I give it a starting try anyway. The main point of my above post, however, is that the Goldman Sachs guy who first claimed to be doing "God's work" is guilty of serious offences and I'm not talking about the religious kind.
As for Goldman Sachs employees arming themselves to prepare to defend themselves, due to their racket-earned wages, against angry citizens, these employees should, instead, be honest and just admit that they gained from a major racket harming the country and other countries. But my above post was about the Goldman Sachs du-fous who first pretended to be doing "God's work" and I won't develop further on the employees arming themselves. I wouldn't do that though. I'll never support Wrong against the population of any country, or any other kind of Wrong (capital 'W'); definitely not if I'm aware of it anyway. However, in terms of the Goldman Sachs employees, they should not stand in the way of Justice; let's say. If they want to arm themselves for defence, then they should first get on the right side of the fence.
I guess that should do in terms of what I think about the employees matter. Mr bigshot doing "God's work" is who I was talking about, though. That he's retracted that statement doesn't eliminate that he made it, but if he was truly repetentant, then the retraction could be accepted. The problem is that as long as he continues hoarding The People's money for himself, he's clearly not repenting, so his act is blown, exposed.
What can people do about this? Like you said, there's no easy solution. Like my post related to yours indicated, there are ways of considering this situation, but the post also illustrates that there is no easy solution; as your reply stated or inferred about what my first post says.
So, like ... ahhh, ... well, ... like ... ahhh, well; heh, maybe here's an idea. VOTERS need to stop voting for so-called "lesser" and "greater" [evils] to get all evils out of this government. Ooops; that's also not an easy solution. Oh, it's easy to think of that hypothetical solution, but the possibility of it or the results of it really happening? Oh, yuck; now that's a discouraging thing to think about.
The "Gods work" remark is almost verbatim what Andrew Carnegie said once in the 1890's. These capitalists never change.
If only I knew what Mike Corbeil REALLY thought. If only I could hitch a ride on his neverending whirligig sentences, his stream of consciousness that twists and whirls around in several directions at once, pointing out all we need to know and understand from spiritual and political and psychic perspectives, all tied up in one big breathless marathon of preaching. I'm still trying!
To be honest, Corbeil makes me think of Peter Sellers, rambling away in his trademark logorrhea, especially as Clare Quilty in "Lolita." The guy is just exhilirated by his compulsive run-on verbiage.
pjd 1:12 ------ You have not meet my young daughter if she becomes radicalized, the parasites will perish.
Hmmm. Sounds interesting. Based on your post, it seems like your daughter's already getting education about the real world and that she's not, say, particularly pleased about what she's learning, which'd be fitting for the world we presently have. Or maybe I imagined a little too much from your post in terms of what your daughter presently understands, or what she's been, so far, taught, about this world of ours. You speak of the possibility of her becoming radicalized, rather than informed, first, and then radicalized, so I interpreted that she likely is already informed, considerably anyway, and now it's just a matter of whether or not she becomes radical with the knowledge she's gained, so far, and the additional knowledge she'll be acquiring in the future. If she's already informed, albeit I don't know her age and can only guess that she's still of real child age, then she'll be gaining a lot more knowledge over the years, and knowledge is power, which radicals really need to be justly radical. Only justly radical people can be truly energetic radicals in the right ways.
So there's definitely potential for real good. Home parenting and, therefore, education is a very important factor and based on posts of yours that I've read in the past, I think she's in good hands.
Good. Still some red-diaper babies are being brought up. Me, and my nine siblings wer all blue-diaper babies rought up by right-wing, dysfunctional Irish-Catholic parents. With the exception of me and my former Fransiscan friar brother, they got the desired results.
I suspect that getting out of right-wing, war-machine dependent Virginia (especially northern Virginia) helped. My brother to the economically distressed parts of western Pennsylvania, me, to southern Appalacia, then Venezuela, back to Appalacia, then finally western Pennsylvania myself.
How shocking will judgment day be for those who are used to buying judges!
And how "shocking will judgment day be for those who are" bought judges, perhaps too? If not, then why not? After all, to "buy a judge" requires a willing judge, which means someone who should've never been allowed to become a court judge, but he or she accepted without any critically objective analysis of him- or her-self and this is not a basis for a qualified individual among judges of courts of law under the U.S. Constitution and BoR, Bill of Rights, as well as the international laws, etcetera, that the U.S. is co-signatory to and which the U.S. Constitution specifically states are the [supreme law of the land] in and for the USA.
So why shouldn't "bought" judges also pay the deserved penalty for accepting to be "bought", instead of acting in honourable and, therefore, courageous terms? Cowardice and greed among judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers, etcetera, are NOT to be treated as acceptable excuses!
The "buyers" and the "bought" should both be held to account, iow.
From Alice Schroeder's essay on Bloomberg:
"Henry Paulson, U.S. Treasury secretary during the bailout and a former Goldman Sachs CEO, let it slip during testimony to Congress last summer when he explained why it was so critical to bail out Goldman Sachs, and -- oh yes -- the other banks. People “were unhappy with the big discrepancies in wealth, but they at least believed in the system and in some form of market-driven capitalism. But if we had a complete meltdown, it could lead to people questioning the basis of the system.”
"There you have it. The bailout was meant to keep the curtain drawn on the way the rich make money, not from the free market, but from the lack of one. Goldman Sachs blew its cover when the firm’s revenue from trading reached a record $27 billion in the first nine months of this year, and a public that was writhing in financial agony caught on that the profits earned on taxpayer capital were going to pay employee bonuses."
The Goldman Sachs executives who are arming themselves against the rest of us have no doubt been asking themselves the same question that has been on my mind for some time: Will the victims of our corporate-controlled government suddenly get a clue? Will the broken people being forced from their homes and jobs stop killing themselves, their co-workers, and the sheriff's deputies, and turn their weapons on the real culprits?
"But if we had a complete meltdown, it could lead to people questioning the basis of the system.”
I.e., commodification of everything possible and social darwinism as morality.
Quote: "Will the broken people being forced from their homes and jobs stop killing themselves, their co-workers, and the sheriff's deputies, and turn their weapons on the real culprits?"
WHOAH. I haven't seen any articles at CD or any other websites that I use about people going to the extremes that you mention, so is or has this been happening, and if it has been and/or is, then to what extent; just a few cases, or many? I realise the economic crisis is bad, but haven't come across anything about what you say has been happening, so LINKS to support what you say would be fitting to provide. If I have this lack of information, then there may be other readers who also lack this, so LINKS wouldn't be only for me.
Type this into your google search box: foreclosure suicides. You will see plenty of stories.
Then enter: foreclosure deputy shot. Stories there, too.
Then try: foreclosure murder coworkers. More stories.
Then try: fired worker murders. Yup, stories there, too.
I just got home from work and am too exhausted and cranky to try out more searches for you. The stories are there, though, if you look for them.
Unemployment always causes a upsurge of domestic violence and suicides. When US Steel and Bethelehem mines left southweswestern Pennsylvania to die in the 1980's, one of the charitable things my brother's Fransiscan monastery did was visit the homes of the distraught next-of-kin and clean up the mess from the the suicides.
USAns have a terrible habit of getting screwed, then blaming and sometimes violently attacking everyone except the people who screwed them. A person will be swindled, paid poverty wages then discarded by a private capitalist boss, but blame "big government", "taxes" and those even poorer than them for their woes. It's sick.
petrkrop, you asked a good question. My opinion is, not yet. So far, 75% of the public is not comfortable, but not suffering. I really don't know what would constitute a tipping point. I do believe if it occurs, it would be ugly, as obviously these rich bankers do. They're getting scared. I read that slave owners were afraid of revolts. For good reason.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
Quote: "I read that slave owners were afraid of revolts. For good reason".
That's also why the real ruling "elites" want us to continue to believe that we live in real and respected democracy, which, if we did, then Dennis Kucinich would NOT have been [unconstitutionally] banned from even one, much less SIX, of the Dem. Party presidential candidate debates that he was prohibited from participating in during ... last year, 2008, f.e.; and this is only for an example, among others we could or can refer to. The real ruling "elites" know that they can't be honest and just come out and declare that the U.S. no longer is (and long hasn't been) a real democracy. They can't just come out and tell us all that what we really have is a corporatocracy or corporate oligarchy, aristrocracy, .... They have to strategically continue the pretense of respecting democracy all while they actually make it clear or obvious (enough anyway) that there isn't one. Their actions betray their true nature(s) and there's no way that they can really avoid this when people pay truly careful attention.
People who don't pay careful and critically objective attention awfully miss a lot of what's really going on!
It's not for meaningless reason that it's LONG been said that it's not the words, but the actions, that count. Only when the words and the actions of a person are consistent, especially repeatedly, do the words become really meaningful when these persons say or speak on something new; or on an old or existing topic. Otherwise, it's the actions we need to pay attention to. And this is why we could know that Obama was not fit for the U.S. presidency, while the same applies to Hilary Clinton, John McCain, John Kerry, and others. Dennis Kucinich has made some mistakes during his political career, however his mistakes are explicable and he's proven to be someone who learns from past mistakes; and this is a quality that's necessary in real leadership. To err is human, but to obsessively refuse to correct oneself when one's past mistakes are clear or obvious is disqualifying. He's learned, though; and we need this in political representatives!
We have to accept that erring is human. What we mustn't accept is electing corrupt, known-corrupt, incorrigible, ... people to political or any public office. An awful lot of politicians fit this sort of profile, but Dennis Kucinich and some others do NOT; and this includes some Dems and Repubs, as well as some, a couple or few anyway, independents.
The Dem. Party leadership "pins" (as in "king pins"), however, haven't learned. Even if they're nicer in some respects than the Repub. Party is, they both work for ruling corporatocracy. If the Dem. Party leadership had any real value at all, then it would NOT have accepted that Dennis Kucinich be barred from participating in [any] of the Dem. Party presidential candidate debates last year, but the "leadership" of the party stayed "blessedly" silent; "blessedly" for G.E., the MIC, etcetera, that is.
But unless those party "leaders" hijack the elections in order to put themselves in these offices, repeatedly, VOTERS are to be blamed! And these idiot, moron, shallow, spineless, soulless, ... "DUMB ANIMAL" voters should all be put on boats and shipped back to wherever their ancestors, or they, themselves, came from. After all, they make themselves among the worst enemies the country has. Who in the world asked Noah to save such "dumb animals"?! Tell him he's FIRED!
It's only because of such ROTTEN political office holders and voters that the real ruling "elites", presently, can prevail. Otherwise, they wouldn't stand a chance!
That's good enough reason to return Noah's ship full of the "dumb animals".
No offence to Noah; well, if he ever existed and if he did, then if he ever helped to save any creatures at all, besides himself, wife, family, and some animals for the family's needs, anyway. I'm just using his story or the myth about him for adding a little humour. (Not funny? Sorry. I tried; and "you can't blame some for [trying]". After all, trying is (sometimes; maybe not in this case though) better than not trying.)
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
-----------------------------------------
This is another fake TJ quote. It actually comes, believe it or not, from a ca. 1900 anti-socialist (cue stopped-clock reference) pillock named J.B.Barnhill
Thanks for setting this guy's annoying fake quote straight.
It sounded like typical right-wing crap to me, but I didnt get around to looking it up. I don't want government to fear the people, I want the government to BE the people and serve the people under a whole new social contract:
"From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs"
Good luck with that. I don't think handguns stop bullets.
Who's talking about handguns being able to stop bullets? Duh?
Erm, they're buying them for "self-defense". Having a gun isn't likely to stop someone else with a gun from shooting you.
It is absolutely no surprise the corporate media loathes to revive the somewhat successful language of the last century's progressives, as it was partially effective against the Robber Barons. Sometimes the best lessons are the simple ones from history.
You're right, the best lessons are often the simple ones from history, which is why those are the lessons that are carefully excluded from the "education" most of us get in our schools. The people struggling to get minimum-wage jobs have no idea about the history of the labor movement in this country. They don't know about the bloody struggles to unionize, and how the victories that were gained have been stolen away.
They have no idea of the power of solidarity, no idea of the power they would have if they turned off the TV and joined together.
But the people at the top of the economic heap understand those concepts very well, and work to keep them hidden.
Here's a simple thing to do: teach the kids a new (old) song, "Solidarity Forever." It's a wonderful thing to hear a child singing, "Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite...", and it leads to great discussions. It is safe to do this in classrooms, since this is an historical American song! Power starts with awareness.
(sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic")
When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run,
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun;
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one,
But the union makes us strong.
CHORUS:
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
For the union makes us strong.
Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite,
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight?
For the union makes us strong.
It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade;
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid;
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made;
But the union makes us strong.
All the world that's owned by idle drones is ours and ours alone.
We have laid the wide foundations; built it skyward stone by stone.
It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own.
While the union makes us strong.
They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn,
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn
That the union makes us strong.
In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold,
Greater than the might of armies, magnified a thousand-fold.
We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old
For the union makes us strong.
I prefer:
(I dearly hope everyone who includes themselves among the working-class left knows the melody)
Arise, you prisoners of starvation!
Arise, you wretched of the earth!
For justice thunders condemnation:
A better world's in birth!
No more tradition's chains shall bind us,
Arise you slaves, no more in thrall!
The earth shall rise on new foundations:
We have been nought, we shall be all!
'Tis the final conflict,
Let each stand in his place.
The international working class
Shall be the human race
'Tis the final conflict,
Let each stand in his place.
The international working class
Shall be the human race!
We want no condescending saviors
To rule us from their judgment hall,
We workers ask not for their favors
Let us consult for all:
To make the thief disgorge his booty
To free the spirit from its cell,
We must ourselves decide our duty,
We must decide, and do it well.
'Tis the final conflict,
Let each stand in his place.
The international working class
Shall be the human race
'Tis the final conflict,
Let each stand in his place.
The international working class
Shall be the human race!
Or, you can sing Billy Bragg's version if you like...
He who picks up a Bible in his left hand will soon be picking up a gun in his right.
More handguns mean more potential accidental self-shootings ... they should be mandatory for all the banksters, just in case.
And more potential non-accidental self-shootings.
my first reaction to the title...suicide is painless...
Anyone in a position to confirm that sort of can't.
How distressing that Goldman-Sachs employees, seemingly untroubled by conscience, should be fearing retribution for doing God's work!
Sad that in our corporate state ignorance has become official policy. The public must be kept from understanding how the system is built on a house of sand, and that we must keep emptying our pockets to buy more sand.
Sure hey're buyin' guns, but when they really get serious they'll call on Blackwater!
If I were as afraid as these thieves have every right to be the lack of a permit would not prevent me from carrying a gun.
If everyone these thieves have hurt confronted them at once a gun would be about as useful as a rabbit's foot.
Maybe some of these legislators who in effect handed over to these bastards the job of making any laws they wanted should be worried too. Congresspersons earn a very good salary. They work for us. They took our money as well as bribes from corporations to allow us to be robbed. They were for sale to anybody: agriculture, big oil, big coal, anything big enough to pay them big money.
Methinks the oligarchs sense a great fall in the near future. Let us hope...
Nevertheless, these insolent coastal-urban types do not deserve, nor are they entitled to, the second amendment guarantee of gun ownership.
They abdicated their ethics and their citizenship a long time ago.
Sorry, but I MUST take exception to your posting..... I find your train of thought dangerous to any free society. We may agree that these people are unethical, and even that they may deserve to be taken to task, BUT until such time that each is found guilt of a felony, the Second amendment and the protections of the Constitution are due to ALL.
One of the things that sets us apart from other cultures is that we are suppose to accept that all people are equal under the law until such time that they have been given fair trial and found guilty of a crime. To advocate that a "right" should be denied without due process is to advocate for a dictatorship. (IMHO).
Do I believe that some of these bankers should be 'charged' and 'tried' for crimes that would eventually deny them the right to carry? YES! Do I believe that the institutions should be broken up into smaller, more user-friendly entities? Again, YES. But we should follow the process that we have established, lest one day we find ourselves in the same situation for much lesser offenses. peace
nobody 7:48 ---- Your correct, but Obomber disagrees when it comes to KSM, saying he will be convicted and executed shows utter contempt for law constitution and non brain dead citizens.
At least the Soviets had the decency to make believe their show trials were just.
His Highness Lord of Poverty and OBomber of Asia does not even fake it.
Also when Bear Stearns folded some investors threatened the CEO's children.
The poor guy had only been CEO for two months, talk about being left holding the bag.
Trust me on this one thing Glenn.... I AM NO OBAMA FAN. I'm willing to give the man a chance to do the job, and so far he has been a major disappointment, but he still has time for redemption.... I guess. I supported Ron Paul in the primaries and Ralph Nader in the general election.... had more to do with 'honesty' than absolute political dogma.... peace
"Sorry, but I MUST take exception to your posting..... I find your train of thought dangerous to any free society. "
Brother, we are not free lol. The laws are biased toward the ruling class, they will not be found guilty by 'their' piers, and if some due, it's only the tip of the iceberg. Justice will come to these sob's in the form of the masses pulling them out of their mansions and hanging them on the next tree. No, I'm not advocating violence, but please, get out of the fucking bowl of chocolate pudding that your mind is swimming in.
BTW, I'm glad that 'your' society is free! We must be living in different universes.
One could say that ANARCHY is the only TRUE form of freedom, no rules except the survival of the fittest/fastest... Though often subverted and perverted, our system of law has usually worked. I don't doubt that there will some day be a revolution here, but it will NOT be led by pot-bellied, beer guzzling men standing in the unemployment line. The revolution will start from within the ruling class itself, not by rioting masses as you suggest (in my opinion). The history of revolutions show that although the 'masses' may indeed be the ones to fight and die, it is a faction within the elite that planted the seed of revolution and eventually reaped the benefits.
"Justice will come to these sob's in the form of the masses pulling them out of their mansions and hanging them on the next tree." You may be right, but it will NOT be "justice", but rather "vengence". As Howard Cossell once said, "what is popular is not always right, and what is right is not always popular". One can usually not determine 'justice' from one frame of reference.
I'm sorry that you feel that people who prefer to follow the law have their minds in a bowl of chocolate pudding, but you have the right to believe as you wish. I will continue to advocate following the course of legal action and will continue to confront those, who advocate usurping the Constitution and law to exact vengence without justice. BTW, people should pay really close attention to some of the changes in definitions being made within the US CODE. peace.
Yeah, a handgun could be useful but, if there are really motivated people going after them then a handgun would be of little use and when they have to go somewhere their best bet would to spend some of their money on private contractors but it would be best to be sure that they haven't fucked any of those 'good ole steroid monkeys' as it would be embarrassing as hell for one of your security guards to shoot you.
If you were a circa first century Roman Emperor your chances of dying of natural causes were rather slim, and it was commonly the praetorian guard who carried out the act.
I'm vaguely comforted by previous comments that prove I'm not alone... but I gotta admit that I'm scraping the bottom of the schadenfreude barrel here: wistfully hoping that some reasonably prominent asshole bankster or two will do us ALL a favor and accidently harvest themselves while cleaning or (mis)handling their sparkly new deluxe iGuns with those cutting-edge killer apps.
This is a predator herd that badly needs substantial thinning, yet occupy eyries in the topmost limbs of the capitalist food chain impregnable to natural thinning mechanisms. So any little bit helps!
I am painfully aware that this type of vindictive thinking is contrary to the culturally prescribed festive holiday mood. Sorry about that.
It's not the proudest and most edifying item on my Wish List. But here I stand; God help me; I can do no other: it's on there.
· Yr Obd't Servant