"Rabbi, is there a proper blessing for the POTUS?"
"Hmm, but of course...Dear God, bless and keep the POTUS--far, far away."
Great movie (great review, too). I now must not only by the Blu-ray release but a Blu-ray to play it on (I already have an antiquated 5:1 sound system).
Yet, we “Christians” may have jumped the shark when we thrust folks like James Dobson and Jerry Falwell to the social/political fore and thought quoting the KJV was the last word in a debate with evolutionist. Meanwhile, as our families fell into ruin, the mass of that awful middle shifted from one side of the moral fence to the other. That being the case, should we be surprised when after the salt’s gone bad and we’ve become a caricature of our collective selves that we’re derided with stuff like this?
I say, “so be it.”
But I also contend that along with diversionary frontal assaults of certain web-based polemics, we green up our collective grass by tending our individual gardens and once again become something desirable to the now seething masses. The reformed Middle will then take care of the rest.
When I saw BW in the video my first thought was, “she’s an 80 yr old prostitute.”
Here is a square-jawed, once marginally attractive woman who, in using the cover of a dignity and honor from a now by-gone era, did what she needed to do to get to the top. And what did she do specifically? While pretending to be a person of character, she exposed those who were, in fact, exactly like her for her own gain.
“This is not about me, dear,” to the roar of approval from the choir loft.
But it is about her, and the mistake in this video was not that BW is like Ms. Hahn, but exactly like Jim Bakker.
I wasn't sure where you were coming from with your reply, but after reading your other replies I believe the point you're trying to make has merit but it is far removed from my comment. To clarify, what I see, and I may be wrong, is an alpha-leader-wanna-be in the form of a grocery store GM who's become somewhat inebriated with the power he has over high-school kids. That this situation came to the fore because of the circumstances says nothing about soldiers returning from combat, perhaps a bit about this society’s general contempt of our Military and a whole lot about certain people who would inflict misery on others for the sake of their own tawdry tale.
That I believe the POTUS is cut from the same cloth as that GM is beside the point as well.
I know the underlying premise of the story is how far we've strayed from respecting our neighbor and our country, but really, this story is a hoot. A big time GENERAL Manager at a small time grocery store in a small time town decides to school a seemingly well-adjusted kid with this nugget of moral wisdom,
“He said I had a duty to my customers to be at work, and I needed to change when I would be sworn in."
I mean, who doesn't know helping Granny Smith bag her apples is way more important than national security?
But then again, all he had to do was get a doctor's excuse.
Did she just say (it took me a few tries to get here), "healthcare is like interstate commerce--everybody uses it even if some choose not to pay; we've just made a law that everyone now must pay."
And then it dawned on me--folks like Sebelius actually believe they are making EVERYONE pay for healthcare, that, like RF energy and highway infrastructure, is a product every US citizen has the right to own.
Either I had an "ah-ha" moment or I need a few tums.
Isn’t this the same Immelt who’s firmly clamped to the Health Care teat so he can sell his patient information technology to doctors and such? Is he not the same CEO who took a tidy $140B bailout for his suspiciously underfunded capital group? Surely he’s the same visionary who kneels at the throne of the Green God to receive funding for his hugely expensive and impractical wind turbines. And isn’t he the same genius who just purchased 25,000 ghastly overpriced, high risk, first production year GM Volts?
And I’m supposed be happy and relieve that Obama appointed him to this position why?
And lastly, to quote Mr. Jefferson: “If they [the people] approve the proposed constitution in all its parts, I shall concur in it cheerfully, in hopes they will amend it, whenever they shall find it works wrong. This reliance cannot deceive us, as long as we remain virtuous; and I think we shall be so, as long as agriculture is our principal object, which will be the case, while there remain vacant lands in any part of America. When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become corrupt as in Europe, and go to eating one another as they do there. [emphasis mine]
I perceive Jefferson was also a prophet.
Additionally, it strikes me that Jefferson felt he had a much different view of the Constitution then you attribute to him. In his letter to J Madison on 20-December-1787, he enumerated both his likes and dislikes. He was pleased the separation of powers but was manifestly unhappy that it contained no Bill of Rights. His chief concern was the new government not be too “energetic”, while the people remained informed. Continued--
Secondly, perhaps you could provide conclusive citations as to which founding fathers were “absolutely” deists. I do know there were certain acrimonious feelings towards the various manifestations of Christianity but I know of no father who adhered to your “clock” analogy. In fact, Jefferson, in his letter to Adams on 11-April-1823, spelled out his disdain for the likes of Calvin, the damage Christian’s do their argument of God as the First-cause, but then goes on to declare his own firm belief in that same God, and His direct role in Creation and the necessity to maintain its order—and co-opts Adam’s in the process. It strikes me that Jefferson’s complaint with Christianity, as with his contemporaries, was centered on how priests and preachers perverted it for their own gain, rather than its fundamental doctrines. Continued--
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Creation