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Tag(s): ACLU; Compassion; Freedom; Issues; Law; Laws; Legislation; People; People; Politics; (more...) RIght Wing Lies; Religious Hypocrisy; Religious Persecution; Responsibility; Right Wing; Right Wing; Right Wing Hypocrisy; Right Wing Media; Right Wing Mindset Culture; Right Wing Selling Off America; Right Wing Spin; Right Wing Strategies; Right Wingers Endangering America; Right Wingers Ruining America; Right Wingers Selling Out America; Rights; Scandal; Spirituality; Spirituality; Teaching; Truth; Violence; Wars (less...)
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December 4, 2007 at 12:07:25

Promoted to column top on 12/4/07:
How Misguided Spirituality is Informing the Religious Right + Fascist Politics

by Kathryn Smith Page 3 of 4 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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Info about the ACLU free speech forum which was just held in September '07, including a 25 page report.

Why is a free speech forum even necessary? Repeat: Religious controls, monetary gains, and power-based agendas are at stake. Hence the necessity to control free speech and in the process, to ultimately control thought itself. The tools of such thought control are the media and the overly-punitive legislation.

Government secrecy is the cornerstone of abuse: To protect those religious, economic and agenda-based controls is the fundament on which virtually ALL post-911 legislation is based.

Witness: Patriot Act National Security Letters, FISA by-passing of judicial review, warrantless arrests without probable cause in the Patriot Act. Presidential immunity from war criminal status in the Military Commissions Act (torture bill) guarantees the success of the agenda to appear to be “Strong on terror”, while protecting the secrecy of the President’s violent crimes to the “terrorists” in Guantanamo who, it so happens, have mostly been proven innocent. www.centerforconsitutionalrights.com ; www.aclu.org .

The ACLU’s extensive documentation of the Administration’s over-invocation of the “state secrets” claim is proof of more crimes to be hidden. An FBI document showing wiretapping targets is posted to the ACLU’s website, showing how the FBI blacked out nearly 70% of the document’s contents prior to its release.

Overly-punitive post-911 legislation which specifically targets vocal people is guaranteed to eventually duplicate free speech-quelling practices of dictatorships abroad. Tianenmen Square may be the penultimate example to us Americans of such dictatorship, but in fact is the accepted norm to citizens living in authoritarian governments. It is the ordinary person, not merely the big fish in the pond, who know that they all have to shut up. Why? Once again…religious controls, economic gains, and agendas which protect the politicians (and not the people) lie at the root of the government-induced violence used to silence the people.

Witness the recent increase in tasering in the United States of America.
We are already more than half-way on the road to authoritarian government.

And to recognize the roots of such authoritarian principles---and how to deal with the psychology behind it--- is fundamental to holding the Constitution-eating cancer in check. Given how ignorant many Americans are to the ways in which dictatorship works, and to its manifestations, it is important that we join the public debate and help to open up peoples’ eyes. Many well-meaning people believe that the government SHOULD teach our children ethics in the schools and SHOULD crack down on words such as “I will kill you” because victims of violence are caught by the free speech defenses, and because of every other SHOULD and every other GOOD REASON in the book. In so doing, these well-meaning people also forget one fundamentally important fact: Governments will never protect our best interest, as assumed by all these “shoulds”. Because every human being is capable of dark and light. Denial forgets that fact.

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." -- John Adams, 1772

Lashing out in violence against the do-good citizens is called dictatorship. Welcome to it.

But only if we remain silent, as would appear to be the American custom. Discouragement governs the masses: That’s a calculated strategy, my friends! It’s a lie! Don’t buy it! Wrong-doers in public offices hate to have their crimes exposed: That’s why they clamp down on us! They are scared brainless! Scared of us! And guess what. We outnumber them by tens of millions to one. We DO have power as a collective voice, and we DO have power to unseat politicians from office! Kidding? Notice how many politicians are resigning to avoid scandal?

That’s just exactly why they came up with the ridiculous notion of terrorist American neighbors suddenly coming out of the woodwork. Make no mistake about it: S. 1959 “A Bill to Establish the National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism, and for other purposes” was established specifically to prevent us from going on an exposee. Which of course, would result in politicians dropping off like flies, just as they have been as scandal after scandal has surfaced. It’s just one more way to assure government secrecy, protecting the politicians instead of the people.

And we simply can’t let this happen. Because if we do, we are doomed.

Please act now, and immediately, by calling your Senators and urgently opposing S. 1959.

But very, very importantly, I think in order for our campaign to be successful, it is necessary and even vital to practice the compassionate understanding of the fear which motivates our freedom-gobbling politicians. By dealing with them softly and gently, we may be able to also soften the viciousness of their revenge on our truth-telling. Truth is a potent hackle-raiser, so the key to success in fighting the “Homegrown Terrorism” (coming from our government) which we now are facing, would be to brainstorm about how to assert our boundaries, expose the truth for what it is, while also doing so in a way which considers the fear response of the other side as we do so. Because it is out of fear that they so viciously retaliate. Compassion for that fear, and approaching the issues accordingly, would be key to undercutting the vicious agendas planned to do us in. Even where legislation may pose a legal threat, spirituality still has the power to transcend. The interactive laws of heart and spirit will always trump written laws.

One last observation to tie in spirituality with current political practice. Do you notice all the psychological projections going on, all in the name of the war on terror? “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism” probably applies much more to our Government than it does to our citizens. And to much greater percentages of them than is the case with citizens. By denying their own shadow, politicians are seeking to quell their own darkness, everywhere in all the world around them! They run away from the truth within…and see it in others. Because that in-sight torments them, they must quell it at all costs. Which is only to run into one’s own shadow again, and again, and again…while continuing to terrorize others in the attempt to put an end to one’s own inner reality. Which, of course, will never work.

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4 comments

I thought it time for a revision to the biography. Where I seem to have "disturbed" a fair number of posters here at OEN to the point they've asked me not to write about their comments, feel free to call me "troll", "shill", "neo-con lapdog", "jack-booted thug", or "bad hat Harry". They've all been applied to me over the past year because I have challenged people to think beyond the emotions of an issue and review all the available data – not just the cherry-picked stuff. Of course, this appr...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Tom MurphyI thought it time for a revision to the biography. Where I seem to have "disturbed" a fair number of posters here at OEN to the point they've asked me not to write about their comments, feel free to call me "troll", "shill", "neo-con lapdog", "jack-booted thug", or "bad hat Harry". They've all been applied to me over the past year because I have challenged people to think beyond the emotions of an issue and review all the available data – not just the cherry-picked stuff. Of course, this appr...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Grant me the serenity!

This is a lengthy article that appears to "gloss over" the friend's far more important transformation. While I know how the friend described it as "making peace with your dark side", this implies that there is a light side to offer as an alternative. If all we had to manage was the dark, then the world would be nothing but shades of black – which in essence is black.

Clearly then, there is a logical necessity for "God, the light, purity, la-la".

What the friend, though, is describing is a typical 12-step program that teaches one how to deal with life's experience on life's terms. A big part of any 12-step program is admitting that you're powerless over a particular "thing" and then turning your will over to a Higher Power, as you understand it to be. Therefore, a 12-step program is very much about the spiritual, as the friend credited the reason for her own transformation – spiritual guidance.

Where the article digresses is that it lays claim to another person's moral inventory when it should be focused on it own. And another person's inventory is a region that we have no basis to claim – let alone control.

As part of a 12-step program, there's usually two guiding principles. One – always check your motives for why you are acting and/or responding in a particular manner (i.e., have I addressed legitimately "my side of the street" on the issue?), and two – emphasize your acceptance of an issue over your expectation(s) associated with the issue. You can only control that which you have control over, which is limited (fortunately for some and I think unfortunately for the great majority) to yourself.

Once you practice these two principles, the rest is cream cheese. The Serenity Prayer summarizes this approach nicely:

"God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference."

Now, if you take this approach and apply it to the article and its assertions – many that they are (i.e., one page spiritual, four pages condemnation), the article appears to be just as guilty as the religious people it castigates.

Who then, if any, is the better? I think it's the friend; she seems to "get" it.

by Tom Murphy (3 articles, 4 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 1792 comments) on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 3:35:42 PM

Voluntarily retired California county elected official.
Shirley BianchiVoluntarily retired California county elected official.

Spirituality

The spirituality that Ms. Smith is referring to derives from the Enneagram, which posits that there are 9 ways in which human beings learn to comprehend the world around them when they are children. As the people mature, these nine points become firmer, and contain both light and dark. There are many excellent books explaining the Enneagram, so it would be pointless to attempt to do so in a limited space. But for every dark side in a persons psche, there is also a light side. Let me use for example a person who appears as a Five. This person can disassociate from the turmoil that is going on around them and make objective, rather than purely emotional, judgements. That is the 'light' side. The dark side is that a Five doesn't want to become a 'part of the main', preferring to remain in the background, and not 'become involved' in others lives or activities. This is, of course, an extreme oversimplification. Further, one cannot tell another what that person's position is on the Enneagam. Every person must discern this for him or herself.

Fundamentalism of any religion or political position, if carried to the extreme, is giving into the of the Dark Side. 'It was interesting that Dick Cheney used the term when he explained how we need to fight terrorism - by going to the dark side. Rather frightening, to say the least.

by Shirley Bianchi (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 95 comments) on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 4:16:19 PM

This quote summarizes the nature of my concerns and the content of personal experiences which stir my activism:

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement on human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves". --Paul Revere, House of Commons
Kathryn SmithThis quote summarizes the nature of my concerns and the content of personal experiences which stir my activism:

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement on human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves". --Paul Revere, House of Commons

Crediting or discrediting the progressive movement:

Hello friends

Having written about how compassion can probably soften the vicious retaliation from our power-greedy politicians to our truth-telling , and that heart-level connections will always trump written laws, I must say that because I hate fakeness and two-facedness more than anything in this world, i don't pretend to have it mastered, myself. I confess that I am indeed so angry and so stirred by what is going on politically, that I know for a fact that I am not emotionally capable of being cool in my verbal approach where post911 politics and legislation are concerned. And that is a fact which I work with ,not through, at this point: That's why I write instead of speak. So to all others who are similarly emotionally affected, I don't blame them one bit.

That said, and based on experience, I think it is vitally important to the credibility of the progressive movement that we learn how to be compassionate and soft in our approach, even when the things we are talking about are heinous. Teddy Roosevelt said it very well: "Speak softly but carry a big stick".

So perhaps buying a copy of Thom Hartman's "Cracking the Code" would be the most strategically important thing any of us on this forum can do, for the sake of the causes at stake. America as the Land of the Free has all but gone down the tubes, and the rescue operation must be very skilfully done if there is any hope of it being successful.

I am concerned that many of our rude postings and emotional rants will only discredit our movement, thereby undermining the cause. And with all that is at stake, we simply can't afford to let that happen.

In this Season of Giving I hope that readers on this forum will help OpEdNews, a treasured resource in fighting the war for America as the Land of the Free, by purchasing a copy of Cracking the Code. Let's kill two birds with one stone: Help OpEdNews to continue its vitally important work while also furthering the pivotally important advancement of our own cause.

THank you all for all you do and for your caring and concern!

by Kathryn Smith (99 articles, 2 quicklinks, 42 diaries, 432 comments) on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 3:41:04 PM

An oversight which I wish to qualify:

Hello friends

YOu are right to point out to me something which I missed in this article: The reality of the light in each person.

That was an oversight but not an intended aim of this article. Sorry for any implied under-estimating of our human race:

In fact, I believe not just with my head, but truly with my gut, that every one of us is light in our cores. We all are motivated by truth and love. It is the harsh realities of life, and the tweaked expressions of that love and that truth, which end up being dark, ie going haywire.

I believe every one of us is born beautiful from within, and that light is available from within at all times. Things we do and beliefs we form may mask that light from ourselves, the world, or both. But since it is who we are, at our core, it also is always there, even if covered or dormant in some people.

And I agree that light is an important matter to emphasize, especially when transmuting the dark. It is only when that light goes out of balance, ie we deny our shadow and/or judge it, that at that point it becomes "la-la" and can result in the "morality" we see running roughshod over our country, at this point.

THank you for pointing out this oversight, and for your comments. And please know that I agree with you. Best wishes, Kathryn

by Kathryn Smith (99 articles, 2 quicklinks, 42 diaries, 432 comments) on Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 12:57:07 AM