I'll tell you then. Ours is good. He's not in business and his contributions aren't about business. He had nothing to do with citizens united. Theirs did. They're in business, their contributions changed after Citizens United.
I am opposed for smearing people due to religion or race. However, criticizing Soros for his policies is not anti Semitic. Sheldon Adelson is Jewish and a big supporter of Israel--does criticizing him for his support of GOP make liberals anti Semitic? Billionaires whether right or left have far too much power over society. That is one reason tax reform is needed. For example billionaires trying to destroy public ed through charter schools were not elected. If you are serious about getting money out of politics, you need to not take money from big donors of either liberal or conservative leanings. If you take money you should declare conflict of interest. Soros' ideas can be extreme and his influence manipulative and petty as his dislike of Gillibrand for her role in Franken's resignation., Soros gave 50 million to the ACLU to promote his policies and it is no longer an independent entity. Danial Bessner in the Guardian 7/18 points out the fundamental contradiction: "From a democratic perspective, though, this single wealthy person’s ability to shape public affairs is catastrophic... Presently, Soros’ cosmopolitan dreams remain exactly that. The question is why, and the answer might very well be that the open society is only possible in a world where no one – whether Soros, or Gates, or DeVos, or Zuckerberg, or Buffett, or Musk, or Bezos – is allowed to become as rich as he has."
I do know several very devout Christians who give a significant percentage of their income to worthwhile charities, and others who have no money to spare who donate their time as volunteers, but they are the exceptions.
One of my uncles is a retired fundamentalist minister, and he has never been known to give a penny to anyone outside his own church or his own children, yet he firmly believes he is a good Christian and "saved". He is such a miser that he doesn't even offer guests coffee when they visit, but he likes to drop in to other people's houses just before meal times and be invited to eat, and then he saves the price of a meal.
God, I hate misers. They really seem to think they can take it with them. It must be very frustrating for them when they get old and sick and are dying, and they realize that they can't, and that it won't buy them immortality.
Wow, thank you! That means a lot to me! I really wasn't trying to shake the money tree for them, but I'm touched that you responded this way. I threw a lil' extra something at them from you. Pay it forward someday when your ship comes in, if you wish. Never thought about that, but I think you're right about the church donations and the help-don't-help thing. I can be extra-naïve at times. Thank you for making my day!
I have heard similar bullshit from ignorant Americans, particularly Americans who brag about their Christian values. 99% of the time the truth is that they don't donate money to ANYONE outside their own church, not even to American charities, so all their talk of "helping Americans first" is just talk, primarily because the Americans who actually need some help are almost always people they don't approve of.
One of my fundamentalist Christian relatives managed to accumulate an estate of $1 million by living a life of obsessive miserliness, and when she died she left it all to her church, even though she had immediate family members who were in desperate need of a little financial help for medical or educational purposes.
If I had a penny to spare today, I would make a donation to Save The Rain, but I don't. However, I have put them on my "Places To Donate Money To" list and they will get one from me as soon as I can afford it.
I told a co-worker once about a charity that I sometimes send money to, Save the Rain, which quietly goes about the business of building low-tech, sustainable clean water systems in East Africa, mostly on schools, and does some other smart, efficient, and good work which you can read about here, if you are so inclined: https://www.savetherain.org/
And when I told the co-worker about it, she got an expression I've seen on other people's faces just before they are about to say or do something stupid; nostrils flare, head goes back, eye focus slides off to the side, jaw juts out, lips tighten--the "I'm stupid" expression. Then she said (you'll need to think in an Oklahoma accent to get the next part right) "I don't believe in sending money to people anywhere else in the world until Americans have everything they need." [needlescratch] Because it's so common here to see little girls drop out of school to spend hours every day walking to a filthy waterhole to transport buckets of water for their families' use. And to see people dragging themselves around in the dust on their unprotected amputated limbs. So I have this arrangement with myself that each time I tell someone about this charity, I have to make a donation, so I'm going to go make a donation now.
Also got away with AstroTurfing the Tea Party. Like we should have believed that thousands of fat, old white people would have levitated themselves from their couches and Lazee Boyz to their hind legs over the exploding deffysits even if a black man was WHOLLY responsible for them Plus the loss of millions of jobs and home foreclosures. And ya gotta love how they keep bringing up how Clinton knee capped the Glass-Steagall which OF COURSE caused the 2008 meltdown. But even the Cato Institute says G-S was irrelevant https://www.cato.org/public....
Charlie Kock (he's kicked his dear bro to the curb) largely brought us Citizens United which gives Korporations unlimited DARK campaign contributions.For one hundred million dollars Charlie owns the Economics Dept at George Mason University. This ensures a steady output of PhD cranks espousing Randian Libertarian-ism. Writing papers, attending conferences and being on policy boards. No more relying on the wretched Heartland Institute for economic backup.
This could be why some people donate anonymously. No good deed goes unpunished, but with a bit of luck and careful management one might not suffer as much if they make it difficult to pin the good deed on them.
Our minds are so addled and poisoned by our endless distorted memes that we don't even know how to properly criticize our billionaire overlords. I believe many on the right use Soros as a bogeyman in much the same way the left holds up the Koch's as poster boys of Oligarchy. It's hard to say Citizens United wrecks everything and then turn around and say you can't criticize Soros and not be an anti-Semite., It's almost as if this is a corollary to the oligarch's trick to get the little people to fight among themselves with identity politics. Now they have us fighting over which oligarch gets criticized and which doesn't. Gosh darn it, our billionaire benefactor is good and true and yours is satan! What the heck are we coming to?
yes, and I included him too. So on the basis of "Joos bad and undermining America" they just conveniently ignore Adelson, who actually is undermining America.
It's not a brain disease. It is, however, a seriously dysfunctional way of behaving that is at least partly learned, like partner abuse, insatiable greed, and the like. Certainly some brains must be more susceptible to this than others - I was raised a biblical literalist, Young Earth Creationist, etc., but it didn't take.
I am hard pressed to call 30 percent or so of the general population crazy in the sense that bipolar or clinically depressed are. But they certainly aren't right in the head, either.
It may be analogous to diabetes type II in this sense: adult onset diabetes is the result of genes adapted for a hunter gatherer lifestyle expressed while living the modern diet and exercise lifestyle. It may be that the Fundamentalist genes* were not dysfunctional when growing up in the paleolithic environment.
* If there are any, then they'd likely be many genes interacting. I understand that we'd be talking about the particular form, or alleles. of genes which we all have in common. In the same sense of "athletic genes" - clusters of alleles determining characteristics which we associate with a particular sport.
"Five Dollar Feminist" is a sick person. I hope she is very disappointed by next week's election results.
I'll tell you then. Ours is good. He's not in business and his contributions aren't about business. He had nothing to do with citizens united. Theirs did. They're in business, their contributions changed after Citizens United.
I am opposed for smearing people due to religion or race. However, criticizing Soros for his policies is not anti Semitic. Sheldon Adelson is Jewish and a big supporter of Israel--does criticizing him for his support of GOP make liberals anti Semitic? Billionaires whether right or left have far too much power over society. That is one reason tax reform is needed. For example billionaires trying to destroy public ed through charter schools were not elected. If you are serious about getting money out of politics, you need to not take money from big donors of either liberal or conservative leanings. If you take money you should declare conflict of interest. Soros' ideas can be extreme and his influence manipulative and petty as his dislike of Gillibrand for her role in Franken's resignation., Soros gave 50 million to the ACLU to promote his policies and it is no longer an independent entity. Danial Bessner in the Guardian 7/18 points out the fundamental contradiction: "From a democratic perspective, though, this single wealthy person’s ability to shape public affairs is catastrophic... Presently, Soros’ cosmopolitan dreams remain exactly that. The question is why, and the answer might very well be that the open society is only possible in a world where no one – whether Soros, or Gates, or DeVos, or Zuckerberg, or Buffett, or Musk, or Bezos – is allowed to become as rich as he has."
You're very welcome.
I do know several very devout Christians who give a significant percentage of their income to worthwhile charities, and others who have no money to spare who donate their time as volunteers, but they are the exceptions.
One of my uncles is a retired fundamentalist minister, and he has never been known to give a penny to anyone outside his own church or his own children, yet he firmly believes he is a good Christian and "saved". He is such a miser that he doesn't even offer guests coffee when they visit, but he likes to drop in to other people's houses just before meal times and be invited to eat, and then he saves the price of a meal.
God, I hate misers. They really seem to think they can take it with them. It must be very frustrating for them when they get old and sick and are dying, and they realize that they can't, and that it won't buy them immortality.
Wow, thank you! That means a lot to me! I really wasn't trying to shake the money tree for them, but I'm touched that you responded this way. I threw a lil' extra something at them from you. Pay it forward someday when your ship comes in, if you wish. Never thought about that, but I think you're right about the church donations and the help-don't-help thing. I can be extra-naïve at times. Thank you for making my day!
I have heard similar bullshit from ignorant Americans, particularly Americans who brag about their Christian values. 99% of the time the truth is that they don't donate money to ANYONE outside their own church, not even to American charities, so all their talk of "helping Americans first" is just talk, primarily because the Americans who actually need some help are almost always people they don't approve of.
One of my fundamentalist Christian relatives managed to accumulate an estate of $1 million by living a life of obsessive miserliness, and when she died she left it all to her church, even though she had immediate family members who were in desperate need of a little financial help for medical or educational purposes.
If I had a penny to spare today, I would make a donation to Save The Rain, but I don't. However, I have put them on my "Places To Donate Money To" list and they will get one from me as soon as I can afford it.
I told a co-worker once about a charity that I sometimes send money to, Save the Rain, which quietly goes about the business of building low-tech, sustainable clean water systems in East Africa, mostly on schools, and does some other smart, efficient, and good work which you can read about here, if you are so inclined: https://www.savetherain.org/
And when I told the co-worker about it, she got an expression I've seen on other people's faces just before they are about to say or do something stupid; nostrils flare, head goes back, eye focus slides off to the side, jaw juts out, lips tighten--the "I'm stupid" expression. Then she said (you'll need to think in an Oklahoma accent to get the next part right) "I don't believe in sending money to people anywhere else in the world until Americans have everything they need." [needlescratch] Because it's so common here to see little girls drop out of school to spend hours every day walking to a filthy waterhole to transport buckets of water for their families' use. And to see people dragging themselves around in the dust on their unprotected amputated limbs. So I have this arrangement with myself that each time I tell someone about this charity, I have to make a donation, so I'm going to go make a donation now.
How long has Drumpf been looking in the basement for signs of love?
Also got away with AstroTurfing the Tea Party. Like we should have believed that thousands of fat, old white people would have levitated themselves from their couches and Lazee Boyz to their hind legs over the exploding deffysits even if a black man was WHOLLY responsible for them Plus the loss of millions of jobs and home foreclosures. And ya gotta love how they keep bringing up how Clinton knee capped the Glass-Steagall which OF COURSE caused the 2008 meltdown. But even the Cato Institute says G-S was irrelevant https://www.cato.org/public....
Charlie Kock (he's kicked his dear bro to the curb) largely brought us Citizens United which gives Korporations unlimited DARK campaign contributions.For one hundred million dollars Charlie owns the Economics Dept at George Mason University. This ensures a steady output of PhD cranks espousing Randian Libertarian-ism. Writing papers, attending conferences and being on policy boards. No more relying on the wretched Heartland Institute for economic backup.
They'd rather have the Koch brothers and Adelson buy it.
This could be why some people donate anonymously. No good deed goes unpunished, but with a bit of luck and careful management one might not suffer as much if they make it difficult to pin the good deed on them.
Maybe I should have read the comments first. I'm at least the 14th person to make the same joke.
I don't know that he's a hero. He still hasn't sent me my check for marching all those times.
Our minds are so addled and poisoned by our endless distorted memes that we don't even know how to properly criticize our billionaire overlords. I believe many on the right use Soros as a bogeyman in much the same way the left holds up the Koch's as poster boys of Oligarchy. It's hard to say Citizens United wrecks everything and then turn around and say you can't criticize Soros and not be an anti-Semite., It's almost as if this is a corollary to the oligarch's trick to get the little people to fight among themselves with identity politics. Now they have us fighting over which oligarch gets criticized and which doesn't. Gosh darn it, our billionaire benefactor is good and true and yours is satan! What the heck are we coming to?
yes, and I included him too. So on the basis of "Joos bad and undermining America" they just conveniently ignore Adelson, who actually is undermining America.
It's not a brain disease. It is, however, a seriously dysfunctional way of behaving that is at least partly learned, like partner abuse, insatiable greed, and the like. Certainly some brains must be more susceptible to this than others - I was raised a biblical literalist, Young Earth Creationist, etc., but it didn't take.
I am hard pressed to call 30 percent or so of the general population crazy in the sense that bipolar or clinically depressed are. But they certainly aren't right in the head, either.
It may be analogous to diabetes type II in this sense: adult onset diabetes is the result of genes adapted for a hunter gatherer lifestyle expressed while living the modern diet and exercise lifestyle. It may be that the Fundamentalist genes* were not dysfunctional when growing up in the paleolithic environment.
* If there are any, then they'd likely be many genes interacting. I understand that we'd be talking about the particular form, or alleles. of genes which we all have in common. In the same sense of "athletic genes" - clusters of alleles determining characteristics which we associate with a particular sport.