Kenders' Musings

But I just cannot let this "journalist" from the NYTimes toss out his extremely fearful, conspiracy theorist-like article that sounds, if one was to take him seriously, as if the Christians are marching through the streets in every major city and those that aren't Christian are afraid to go out at night for fear of being yanked into the bushes and prayed at.

I was going to take snippets of this article and respond to pieces of it, however experience has shown me that certain people (COUGHmoonbatsCOUGH) always accuse one of picking parts and arguing just those points, even if one does so because the rest is drivel, therefore I am going to shred this article.

Those of you on the right will be nodding in agreement in a few paragraphs I expect, however those of you on the left should quietly step back from the screen and and slowly cruise your pointer toward the back button, for the truth of not only how the left thinks and why they think that way, but the brutal reality below is certain to cause you to call your shrinks. I will not be held responsible for your therapy bills.

What's Going On?
By Paul Krugman
Published March 29, 2005

Democratic societies have a hard time dealing with extremists in their midst. The desire to show respect for other people's beliefs all too easily turns into denial: nobody wants to talk about the threat posed by those whose beliefs include contempt for democracy itself.

What about the contempt shown for those on the right that don't adhere to the nihilistic view of the socialist left in America? Shall we talk about contempt for democracy? The left has such contempt for democracy that two years after going to Iraq, with Democracy breaking out in the ME like an ebola outbreak in a B movie, i.e. spreading almost too fast to track, the left still won't admit that spreading democracy, even at the end of a laser guided smart bomb, works.....the proof is in their face, and the contempuous whiners still refuse to acknowledge it.

We can see this failing clearly in other countries. In the Netherlands, for example, a culture of tolerance led the nation to ignore the growing influence of Islamic extremists until they turned murderous.

The preceding paragraph is true, but equating the cause of the problems in the Netherlands to the growing voice of the right in America is a false comparision. The problems in the Netherlands were brought on by a policy of appeasement under the guise of "tolerance", the very same tolerance that the left so vociferously expounds here in the U.S., the very same policy that causes the left to look away when evil is done in other countries, muttering under their breath that "It's their culture, what right do I have to speak out?"

But it's also true of the United States, where dangerous extremists belong to the majority religion and the majority ethnic group, and wield great political influence.

First off in a democracy, or rather a Constitutional Republic, which America is, majority rules, within boundries. The "right" in America are NOT "dangerous" simply because, if the left were to be believed, the "Christian Theocracy" that is so feared by those on the extreme left is so far from becoming a reality, even in a very limited way, and to consider it makes one sound as if they forgot their meds.

The left however slides closer everyday to the socialist hell they would put us in, driving us down the deadend street that europe currently barrels down with such arrogant abandon. Fear that.

Before he saw the polls, Tom DeLay declared that "one thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo, to help elevate the visibility of what is going on in America." Now he and his party, shocked by the public's negative reaction to their meddling, want to move on. But we shouldn't let them. The Schiavo case is, indeed, a chance to highlight what's going on in America.

Before he saw the polls huh? After he saw the polls, the skewed polls, Tom Delay felt the same, and seeing the false and misleading information pour out from the MSM when the truth glares from even the simplest search about Terri makes me wonder just what passes for research these days with the "journalists" in the vaunted fourth estate. (sidenote. That estate is in disrepair, and now looks much like Tara at the end of Gone With The Wind)

The right does NOT want to move on, but to work within the heartless cruel realm of the law we must cede the battle for Terri and turn our attention to the laws that made this possible. However Mr Insanity is absolutely correct in saying that Terris' case is a chance to highlight what is wrong with America, and when I read the papers or listen to the news I know just what that problem is, where it came from and have the certain knowledge that it needs to be defeated. Fortunately for us, this great country has plenty of experience battling vileness and evil in many forms, only this time instead of being in another country the enemy is here, among us, speaking our language and using our system to usurp the greatness of America, slowly twisting it to a weak shadow of its' former glory, all in the name of "Humanism".

One thing that's going on is a climate of fear for those who try to enforce laws that religious extremists oppose. Randall Terry, a spokesman for Terri Schiavo's parents, hasn't killed anyone, but one of his former close associates in the anti-abortion movement is serving time for murdering a doctor. George Greer, the judge in the Schiavo case, needs armed bodyguards.

The climate of fear spoken of is indeed there, however it isn't manifesting in the police, sheriffs and other law enforcment officers that have laid seige to the hospice where Terri slowly starves to death. That fear manifests in the protesters outside that hospice. It manifests in countless posts and the comments that fly around the ether of cyberspace, bemoaned and decried as the loss of Americas soul. It manifests in the admonition of "Don't let this happen to you, get a living will." It manifests in the hearts of those that don't believe that dying by starvation is peaceful and painless, causing them anger almost beyond words and a desire to see justice done.

If any fear manifests in the left it is the slow creeping fear that maybe they aren't correct, the small weak whisper of conscience that calls out to them when their world falls silent and the wisdom of their heart is able to scream through the secularist wall of separation that has been built between their heart and their mind by a society gone wrong

Another thing that's going on is the rise of politicians willing to violate the spirit of the law, if not yet the letter, to cater to the religious right.

The spirit of the law? The letter of the law? Both have been tossed out by Greer The Scrutable. That rise of politicians weren't catering to the religious right, they were answering the insistent calls of their conscience that yelled at them "STARVATION IS WRONG!!!" If Terri were a vegetable why not clear up the questions posed by so many so loudly? If she were a vegetable what would she care? A few more weeks to Terri would not make a difference one way or the other. If however, she is not a vegetable, as so many believe, then starving her is cruel and unusual punishment. If she has shot michael to death 15 years ago, with no criminal record, with Gloria Allred and NOW standing behind her, she would have been out by now.

That last thought is a sad one isn't it?

Everyone knows about the attempt to circumvent the courts through "Terri's law." But there has been little national exposure for a Miami Herald report that Jeb Bush sent state law enforcement agents to seize Terri Schiavo from the hospice - a plan called off when local police said they would enforce the judge's order that she remain there.

The same people, as has been pointed out so much lately, that decry the "meddling" by congress and warn of dire consequences both political and legal were state or federal troops to go in and treat Terri as the hostage she is are the same people that screamed until Janet Renos' stormtrooopers charged into a house in the middle of the night and yanked a terrified young boy from a closet at gun point.

Hypocrites all. 

And the future seems all too likely to bring more intimidation in the name of God and more political intervention that undermines the rule of law. 

The religious right is already having a big impact on education: 31 percent of teachers surveyed by the National Science Teachers Association feel pressured to present creationism-related material in the classroom.

Let us talk about intimidation in the name of secularism shall we? The left, with the ACLU as their legal terrorists, have been beating back the right for many years now, intimidating us with the threat of lawsuits under the guise of Freedom of Religion. Political intervention is being practiced by the left everyday in court rooms across the land, using activist judges to overturn the rule of law and the peoples directives to further their socialist ideals. Ideals that I don't have to tell you include the destruction of organized religion, to be replaced with the religion of the socialists, Humanism, where a life is only valuable if it can contribute, where the only moral question ever posed is "Is this action good for the state?"

As for creationism related material in the classroom it can be presented as a litmus test to science. Every group of people that ever had their myths and legends survive to modern day for scrutiny and dissection has a creation story, almost all of them remarkably similar. Read Joseph Campbells' "The Power of Myth" for a more indepth take on this subject.

But medical care is the cutting edge of extremism.

Yes, medical care, or rather the withdrawal of it, is the cutting edge of extremism, and if this extremism is not beaten back we will continue down a dark road where once you have served your time in thsi life and all usefulness is gone from you a pill will be given to you to make room for one that is more productive, one whose life has more "worth" to the state.

Yesterday The Washington Post reported on the growing number of pharmacists who, on religious grounds, refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control or morning-after pills. These pharmacists talk of personal belief; but the effect is to undermine laws that make these drugs available. And let me make a prediction: soon, wherever the religious right is strong, many pharmacists will be pressured into denying women legal drugs.

This is actually the less government intervention that we talk about. This is a private business, not a government business, and each person should be allowed to base what they sell on the criteria they choose, not on what the government says.

And it won't stop there. There is a nationwide trend toward "conscience" or "refusal" legislation. Laws in Illinois and Mississippi already allow doctors and other health providers to deny virtually any procedure to any patient. Again, think of how such laws expose doctors to pressure and intimidation.

Again, a health care provider is not bound by law to service you in every little whim, and their job is to keep you healthy or bring you back to health. If a health care provider denies care that causes harm there are avenues to correct that. Assumption that doctors need more regulation to ensure that every medical treatment is available to you is absurd, as doctors, most of them, right now anyway, do everything in their power to heal. Let this "right to die" movement gain more steam and less doctors will adhere to their hippocratic oath.

But the big step by extremists will be an attempt to eliminate the filibuster, so that the courts can be packed with judges less committed to upholding the law than Mr. Greer.

The judiciary is in dire need of reform. Supreme court judges have been using international law and opinion to base rulings on, activist judges overturn the will of the people, in deference to the left, on a constant basis. If anything UPHOLDING the law is teh one thing activist judges do NOT do.

We can't count on restraint from people like Mr. DeLay, who believes that he's on a mission to bring a "biblical worldview" to American politics, and that God brought him a brain-damaged patient to help him with that mission.

There is simply no rebuttal for this. Wait, yes there is. Mr. DeLay isn't basing anything on a "biblical worldview", he is basing it on common decency and moral fiber, two things that the majority of the far left lack.

What we need - and we aren't seeing - is a firm stand by moderates against religious extremism. Some people ask, with justification, Where are the Democrats? But an even better question is, Where are the doctors fiercely defending their professional integrity? I think the American Medical Association disapproves of politicians who second-guess medical diagnoses based on video images - but the association's statement on the Schiavo case is so timid that it's hard to be sure.

No, what we need is a return to compassion and common sense, along with a stand by moderates, but for the moderates to stand against extremism of either stripe, left or right, would place them firmly at the other end of the extremists, at least to the public perception it would. I believe that the term "religious extremism" has been warped to include anyone that is fighting a battle from a moral standpoint and I wouldn't be surprised to see some of those on the left that have stood with us against the murder of Terri to be vilified as turncoats and even worse by those on their side of the street.

The reason that doctors have not taken a collective stand is because doctors, for the most part, don't hand out diagnosis' based on what is written by non-doctors, and while many probably have their own opinions about this case they keep quiet, as their training has taught them to haev the facts before making a diagnosis.

The closest parallel I can think of to current American politics is Israel. There was a time, not that long ago, when moderate Israelis downplayed the rise of religious extremists. But no more: extremists have already killed one prime minister, and everyone realizes that Ariel Sharon is at risk.

Ya gotta love those moonbats that just take your argument and unwittingly toss it to you, all cleaned up and ready to play with eh? Isreal did downplay the danger of religious extremists, especially the powerless religious extremists with a propensity for strapping high explosives to themselves and killing a few kids on their way to Allah. Those on the right simply wouldn't kill themselves for their cause. It is against EVERYTHING that the right stands for. Blow up the other guy? It's been done. But the danger is not from religious extremists riding roughshod over the right to die movement. It is the right to die movement riding roughshod over the disabled, the frail and the elderly.

It is the extreme godless religion of the democratic socialists that are the danger here.

America isn't yet a place where liberal politicians, and even conservatives who aren't sufficiently hard-line, fear assassination. But unless moderates take a stand against the growing power of domestic extremists, it can happen here.

Yes, fear the religious right, but not the vocal bible thumping religious right. Fear the religious right that is the majority of America and those allies they have of any stripe that still live by a moral code that says "Life IS Precious". But do not fear that we will take up arms against you, (though since most of us have guns and most on the left don't I can see where your fear springs from), fear rather that we are RIGHT,a nd that we DO have a majority that stand beside us. Fear us because your traitorous brand of evil will NOT be allowed to stand, and you know it.