31 August 2011. A Point of Unity… Betcha Ya Can’t Guess Where This Snap was Taken! C’mon… Be a Sport! Guess Before Reading…

First impressions can be misleading, not just in people, but in buildings as well. The above image is of…

St Mark’s Basilica in Venice!

Yes, sir… a genuine, 100 percent, no-bullshit-really-real Catholic church. St Mark’s dates from 1071… so, one can see that RCs and Orthodox were once much closer than they are at present. It’s as impossible for institutions to recapture the past as it is for us for us as individuals to relive our childhood or adolescence. One can’t erase history… nor should we attempt to do such. We are what we are… our experience has made us what we are… both as people and as “Church”. The sooner that we realise that, and stop the infernal and pointless “dialogue”, the sooner that we can be friendly and useful neighbours to one another. After all, we’re called to “love” our neighbour… not “convert” them (which is, after all, the point of “ecumensim”… a barely-disguised effort to bring others to one’s own POV)!

BMD

31 August 2011. Conservatism, or, the Tea Party… Which Do You Prefer?

TR… a TRUE conservative… and he was friends with John Muir, too (oh, dear… get the smelling salts… Whiteford and JP just fainted)…

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The great corporations, which we have grown to speak of rather loosely as trusts, are the creatures of the State, and the State not only has the right to control them, but it is duty bound to control them wherever the need of such control is shown.

Theodore Roosevelt

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Recently, a friend sent me this one:

The USGS has determined that the epicentre of the Virginia earthquake was in a graveyard just outside of DC. The cause appears to be our Founding Fathers rolling over in their graves.

That’s not only a “funny”… it’s morbidly true. Eric Cantor claimed that “cutting taxes and easing regulations” would bring in a New Age of Sweetness and Light. (see: http://news.yahoo.com/gop-jobs-plan-104000591.html). Here’s the deal… you can follow TR or you can follow Eric Cantor. The first made it clear that business had to heed government; the latter makes it clear that government should suck up to the corporations and toady to their rapacious bosses. The first was in sync with the Founding Fathers… Eric Cantor isn’t. Why aren’t responsible and sane Republicans speaking up? The Iron Chancellor put it this way:

Courage on the battlefield is common enough, but you’ll often find that quite respectable people lack civil courage.

Otto von B nailed that one to the wall (he was also the Father of Single-Payer Healthcare and Extended UI Benefits, for your info)! If responsible Republicans continue their silence towards the Tea Party, the Rightwing Media Machine, and Talk Radio, one has to assume that they agree with them, deep down. Stand up or shut up, I say. It’s what I do… I practise what I preach…

BMD

31 August 2011. You Can’t Make Shit Like This Up…

THIS is the world of the rightwing nutters… Orthodox people should realise that THIS is what JP, Webster, Potapov, Dreher, Mattingly, and Whiteford want to impose on Christ’s Church…

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I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, “Are you going to start listening to me here?”

Michele Bachmann

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I’ll guarantee you Obama was hoping this was going to be a disaster as another excuse for his failing economy… If he’s out there blaming tsunamis, if he’s blaming earthquakes, and whatever natural disasters there are, this one was made to order, but it just didn’t measure up.

Rush Limbaugh

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How many warnings do you think you’re going to get, and how many warnings do you deserve? … If you’ve waited [to prepare and stockpile food], this hurricane is a blessing. It is a blessing. It is God reminding you… as was the earthquake last week… it’s God reminding you you’re not in control. Things can happen.

Glenn Beck

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FEMA‘s “system of bureaucratic centralized economic planning… is a policy that is deeply flawed… I want to transition us out of this dependency… The whole idea of FEMA is a gross distortion of insurance. It’s so far removed from the market and what insurance should be about… There is no magic about FEMA.

Ron Paul

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We will find the money if there is a need for additional monies [for FEMA disaster relief. But] those monies are not unlimited, and what we’ve always said is we offset that which has already been funded.

Translation: No disaster relief funds without equivalent spending cuts.

Eric Cantor

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All the above taken from:

http://theweek.com/article/index/218719/6-controversial-reactions-to-hurricane-irene

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Here’s something related:

Former VP Cheney Defends Practice of Waterboarding

Former Vice President Dick Cheney says there’s no contradiction in advocating harsh interrogation tactics against suspected US enemies and opposing those practises when used against American citizens. Cheney was asked about a hypothetical case in which Iran would decide to use waterboarding on an American suspected of spying. Cheney replied, “I think we’d object on the grounds that we have obligations to our citizens”. Cheney, who’s promoting his new memoir In My Time, has been associated with waterboarding, considered by many to be torture. Asked on NBC television‘s Today show if he was embracing a double-standard, he said, “These aren’t American citizens”. In the interview that aired Tuesday morning, Cheney also conceded he’d been a lightning rod for criticism during the Bush administration. “I’m Darth Vader”, he said, referring to a movie villain.

30 August 2011

AP

As quoted in Yahoo News

http://news.yahoo.com/former-vp-cheney-defends-practice-waterboarding-113726000.html

Editor’s Note:

Mr Cheney said, “I think we’d object on the grounds that we have obligations to our citizens”. He’s hoist on his own petard, isn’t he? If this doesn’t show you that the rightwingers are nothing but godless and self-absorbed “might makes right” nihilists, nothing will. Don’t let their cries of “Jayzuss” fool you…

BMD

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Here’s the proper reply to all of the above horseshit:

Irene and Heartless GOP/Tea Party’s Politically Motivated Disaster Budget Offset Demands

Excuse me, but if a government doesn’t take care of its people in a time of true crisis, what exactly is its purpose? GOP/Tea Party House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Presidential Candidate Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) both competed Sunday for “heartless bastard of the year” honours by declaring on US national television repeatedly, the USA shouldn’t be in the business of bailing out those whose property was damaged by Hurricane Irene unless further politically motivated budget cuts and offsets were found beforehand? Now FEMA’s budget will become a fall GOP/Tea Party blackmail-laced political football just like air safety was at the beginning of the summer. Moreover, all of this because spending on so many disasters has already used up all of their money. Excuse me for rarely using an obscenity, but what the fuck are they thinking?

This was Cantor’s third foray into this murky pool this calendar year alone having earlier made similar remarks following last week’s earthquake, which largely and karma- or comically (your choice) affected his constituency home district! (They just are so proud of him!) He started this meme before the bodies were discovered, recovered and buried following the horrific levelling this spring of Joplin MO, Tuscaloosa AL, and other parts of the south and Midwest USA by tornadoes. Every time he opens his mouth, I’m completely gobsmacked by what spews out.

Can you imagine in 1953 (and again in the 1980s), the Dutch Tweede Kamer saying to thousands of people flooded and clinging to rooftops by the failure of the dyke system, we’ll get out there to rescue you when Parliament is done debating offset cuts. Hang in there? Not only did the government help those people, it built the world’s most sophisticated system of water and tide management dykes to prevent a recurrence. In the USA, the Army Corp of Engineers still can’t protect New Orleans and admits the levees there will likely fail again.

Or, what if the Japanese Diet followed the same GOP/Tea Party logic and said after the tsunami, “Sorry, you’ll have to wait because we need to find budget offsets before we dispatch rescue crews to help you find your loved ones washed away, and that gentleman clinging to your roof 60 miles out to sea, we need to have a discussion on whether or not to expend the fuel to save you? Oh, you farmers harmed by nuclear radiation? No subsidies for you until we take it out of the school system’s budget, those collective bargaining extravagant teachers are the cause of all things evil?”

Even Communist China, after the massive Szechuan 8.0 earthquake had killed 70,000 people, mobilised unprecedented government efforts to help survivors. They’ve rebuilt and made 500 billion dollars (14.45 trillion Roubles. 346 billion Euros. 306 billion UK Pounds) in investments in trains and infrastructure, while Cantor’s party cannot even debate let alone approve funds or taxes to build/save existing crumbling bridges and roadways?

As British PM David Cameron is learning the hard way, mindless cuts and austerity come with a price. Cutting police and tying their hands behind their back with paperwork created a disastrous riot situation a few weeks ago. What if, instead of ideological cuts (that haven’t saved a penny and, indeed, have cost the treasury money) out of the box 15-months ago, the PM instead said to Deputy Dawg PM and human paintball target Nick Clegg, “We’re not going to cut anything until you do what Al Gore did in 1993 and ’94. As Deputy PM, I want you to go department by department and take on the Civil Service. Your remit is but one thing, cut all waste, fraud, and abuse across the UK government. Then, we’ll tally it all up and see what we need”.

Labour would’ve been hard pressed to fight any of those actions and might even have signed on for the good of the country. OK, that last line was a bridge too far… but the poisonous nature of politics today isn’t solving any of the big issues needing “courageous” attention, Minister. The UK and US are on a slippery slope to decades of decline unless real leadership is found across the board. At least here in the EU though, when people are in true need from a disaster, we rally around and help each other.

So, to the grieving parents of the 11-year old boy killed when a tree fell on his apartment in Newport News, Virginia leaving them bereaved and homeless; the hundreds of homeowners whose houses and roofs were destroyed or taken away by the powerful sea; and the 2 million people on the east coast without electrical power… if Eric and Ron have their way? You’re on your own. Since I started with an obscenity, I’ll blow the publication’s £1 in the swear jar for each usage wad in this one article. “Compassionate conservatism, my ass”. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

29 August 2011

Denis Campbell

UK Progressive

http://www.ukprogressive.co.uk/irene-and-heartless-goptea-party%E2%80%99s-politically-motivated-disaster-budget-offset-demands/article14150.html

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Editor’s Note:

Let’s start with an aside to Orthodox Christians… Rod Dreher, Freddie M-G, Terrence Mattingly, Jonas Paffhausen, Stephen Freeman, Patrick Reardon, Victor Potapov, Alexander Webster, and John Whiteford are all rightwing fanatics unworthy of our support. They stand in opposition to what our Church actually teaches… they prefer to support the godless and Satanic programme of the American rightwing… they want to smash their boot full-force into the faces of the poor and unemployed in order to curry favour with their richer parishioners (in Fathausen’s case, his father was a “real estate developer”, one of the more feral varieties of “middlemen” out there). Don’t tell me how “nice” they are… Ray Velencia, Sam Greene, Panteleimon Metropoulos, and Gleb Podmoshensky were “nice guys”, too (you can’t tell the goodness of someone by their seeming niceness… the ignorant children haven’t learnt that yet).

As for the general tenor of the people quoted above… they’re “people without chests”, as C S Lewis so famously put it. They DEMAND that all the rest of us sacrifice so that they can live in comfort and ease. They, on the other hand, not only will NOT sacrifice anything, they intend to take MORE. If you listen to Rightwing Talk Radio (any of ‘em… they’re all the same), you listen to Satan’s propaganda, pure and unrefined. That’s why we must fight this corrosive hate with all our forces (an aside to Orthodox: that’s why we must fight JP, Potapov, Webster, and Whiteford… it’s why we must destroy the influence of their lies)… it’s why we must see to it that we silence such filth and make them harmless. If not, Satan laughs… and he’ll do so by using “religion”… fancy that…

BMD

MP Takes Control of St Nick’s in Nice and Halts All Commercial Activities on the Premises

Lydia Plas (1933-2010)… persecuted by the Paris coterie for exposing their scams in Nice at St Nick’s… pray for her soul…

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The Moscow Patriarchate sent its first two clergymen to St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice, which recently came under its jurisdiction. A priest and a deacon took over the parish’s administration, securing the keys and title deeds, with orders to cease all commercial activities on parish property (in particular, charging tourists to visit the cathedral). This is in order to ensure “the proper performance of services, and to give a worthy reception to parishioners, pilgrims, and visitors to the cathedral”, according to a statement received by Interfax-Religion on Wednesday from the Diocese of Korsun, which controls the MP’s parishes in France. As reported on 19 May, a French court confirmed Russia’s ownership of St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice. For its part, the Russian state decided to transfer the parish property to the MP in perpetuity free of charge.

The Diocese of Korsun stated that it’s open to dialogue with the Russian Exarchate of the EP, whose clergy currently serve the parish, but it emphasised that the Orthodox Cult Association of Nice (ACOR), which was the hostile party in the litigation with Russia, “can in no way be identified with St Nicholas Cathedral parish and the community of Orthodox believers in the region. It’s a well-known fact that the number of MP faithful in Nice significantly increases with each year”, the diocesan statement said. The Diocese of Korsun emphasised that they won’t prohibit access to the church building to anyone. “This is a house of prayer; from here on in, it’ll be open for free admission to all comers. All traditional Orthodox parish and liturgical life at the Cathedral will continue”, its statement said. The MP Bishop of Korsun and the head of the Russian Exarchate of the EP will address all canonical questions. “We hope that they’ll be resolved in a spirit of peace and mutual understanding”, the diocese’s statement said.

31 August 2011

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=42043

Editor’s Note:

One must note that the OCA (and SVS, in particular) vehemently backed the Paris cabal in its legal tussle with the MP. Now, the inevitable has occurred. KMG has taken over, and his first order of business was to abolish entrance fees to the cathedral. This means that the Paris gang has just lost its largest source of income. They’d been using St Nick’s as a cash cow for years… and letting the building go to rack and ruin. In short, this unthrifty bunch shall haemorrhage to death as they attempt to meet their payroll and keep up their expensive establishment (especially, St Sergius Institute… I hope that it closes… good riddance to bad rubbish). Since the time of ADS, three of the four rectors of SVS (ADS, Meyendorff, and Behr) came from the Renovationist coterie in Paris. SVS has always supported this poxy bunch to the hilt. If like calls unto like… and birds of a feather DO flock together… can we hope that SVS will got the way of all flesh, too? Gabriel de Vylder lost his gravy train… shall he go to his OCA pals for support? I’ve news for him… they don’t have a pot to piss in either, and they’ve got greater pretensions than he has (which is saying quite a lot). It’ll certainly be interesting!

In related matters, pray for the soul of Lydia Plas, as the Paris gang persecuted her for exposing their machinations in Nice. His Holiness noted her passing… her efforts weren’t in vain. Also, remember John and Monica Iliff, the parents of Eric Iliff, whose case was the object of a cover-up by Vanya Behr and the SVS cabal, and Kristi Koumentakos, whose private life was held up to public obloquy (through the improper airing of private e-mails) by an OCA clergyman with Fathausen’s full drooling approval (sources tell me that he demanded that Kristi “forgive” Ray Velencia… who’s still listed on the OCA clergy page even though he’s supposedly gone over to the GOAA). As we’ve seen proper resolution in the case of St Nick’s, can we hope for justice here, too? God only knows…

BMD