Guess what? “Owning an SUV” is not a protected right under the constitution. Being able to do whatever you want is NOT protected under the constitution. When what you do has consequences beyond yourself, and comes at the cost of someone else’s liberty or freedom, then you have absolutely NO right to continue doing it. At that point you are not a person fighting for their individual freedom, you are a tyrant: exactly what our fore-fathers were fighting against. And that is exactly what you are if you think that all the luxuries you enjoy as an American are somehow deserved and not the product of exploitation and plunder. I am very grateful to be an American, but at least I understand where my quality of life comes from, and I do whatever I can to ensure the goods I consume and the services I support are done as sustainably and as socially just as possible.

Your closed-mindedness and inability to see beyond your self never ceases to astound me. I know it is a waste of time even writing this. None of you will ever be able to even comprehend what I’m saying, much less examine your own pettiness and selfishness objectively. I doubt you’d even make the effort. All you’ll do is justify yourself with Faux News talking points and make it seem like you are the victim instead of the victimizer. But if things continue as they are and nothing is done to balance the increasingly unbalanced tyranny in this world, then eventually people like you will be revealed for what you are and hopefully brought to justice.

The assumption I was making before was that you were a friend to my enemy. My enemy being any one or anything that attacks what I love. I do not love hatred. I do not love fear. I do lot love slavery. And I do not love lies. So it hit me… you do not love hatred. You do not love fear. You do not love slavery. And you do not love lies. Not really sure what you love, but judging on our mutual friends it has to be close to what I love. Yet we agree on almost nothing.

So I think it best to both continue down our path whether it be peace or Truth or both. In the end one of us will prove to be correct the other will be better. Or we might both be a little correct.. and both be better off.

Have a great day.

jim

I want to quickly note that your tone in the last comment reminded me a lot of a school yard bully… defensive, emotional, crass, irrational. Trying to intimidate and belittle people is generally not the most effective way to have your voice heard… it’s a diagnosed sign of insecurity.

I wish you the best of luck finding spiritual peace (I assume that’s your goal if you practice CS) when your world view supports never ending combat and chaos…

peace be the journey!

-j

So why you are building green wallpaper and playing iwanabea a reality TV star, and taking great pride in your metrohippie wardrobe which by your own admission is excessive, my boys will be in Iraq fighting and killing the people that you so love. They and their brave small minded, Bush loving, God fearing, gun touting fellow hate mongers will be preserving your right to be a hypocritical, spineless, elitist.

You should go to bed every night thanking whatever God you might believe in that you were not born in any other country at any other time.

How can you be so ignorant to believe that the world would be a better place it there were no guns and no solders? By the way do us all a favor and send your local police station a letter telling them that you do NOT want any of the officers to EVER protect your home or your property. I am sure you don’t want some little girl’s father to give his life to protect yours… your life, as you in your own words said that you are not even willing to protect.

You may be a child of God, but if all men were like you there would be NO country where u could worship your God. Inflippin incredible!!! Your arrogance is only surpassed by your stupidity.

And do I think peace is possible. Hell no, there will never be peace. There will always be people who are lazy and selfish. Gangs and hoodlums. And because of that I will always support those individuals that understand the need for MY country to defend itself against these very bad people.

One last thought.. Pick the country that you believe is better then America and I will overnight you a plane ticket. It will be a one-way coach ticket.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

PS.. dont respond to me until you write that letter. So in other words. NEVER!

thought I would jump in and answer the four questions. How are ya by the way? Hope you have been having a good summer since we last talked.

1. The biggest threat America is facing right now is your ideology. Seriously, as well intentioned as you think you are and I truly believe you mean well, your ideology, a jumble of several things that range from Marx, Che Guevara and as you say Ghandi ultimately lead to the oppression of the very people you think you are championing. You only need to look at Cuba and other dictatorships that came to power on the type of social and political platform you espouse which curiously leaves out the notion of personal liberty.

2. Yes, the American dream could sustain itself for centuries if people like you would get out of the way and let us pursue it;-) What I want for the next generation is a much freer society then the one I live in today, so they can become entreprenauers and prosper way beyond anything I ever dreamed of. How’s that for some idealism?

3. I find myself preserving an ideal that people flock to this country in makeshift rafts from places like Cuba to take advantge of. I find myself preserving a country and system of government that you and other like minded individuals look down your nose at, but others have died for on the beaches of Normandy, and Iwo Jima and in Korea to preserve. If that’s the status quo you are referring to than my answer to you is yes.

4.Peace is my goal. You and I have different ideas on how to achieve, maintain and preserve it. Finding common ground with dictators, terrorists and other meanies of the world is a nice thought. Being a child of the seventies I would say wouldn’t be great if we could all dance around a maypole or run under a tye dyed parachute? But, there is one problem, while yes we may have things in common like love of family, religion etc, they also believe in wholesale slaughter of disidents and those disident’s families. Beliefs such as those over shadow any preceived good qualities that those people or groups of people posess. As a result, the only way to achieve peace with them is to show them what will happen to them if they aren’t peaceful… which is shall we say giving them an opportunity to rest in peace.

some good questions… thanks for this different approach!

1. I assume you are you referring to me bearing arms and killing others in the name of my beliefs? There is no such scenario where I would take another life. I simply don’t believe this mentality serves a purpose of elevating man… Of course there are causes I would passionately fight for… any struggle for equal rights, civil, womans, gay, etc. I am inspired by the Gandhian approach of non-violence… it’s hard to deny its effectiveness.

2. Again, not diminishing the value of those who serve… my aunt is a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and has served all across the world, including a stint in Iraq last year. She has taught me first hand of the amazing individuals that make up our armed forces… they however do not accurately represent the intentions of our military complex. It’s completely out of control… globally, we are spending about $1.3 trillion dollars a year on defense.. America alone contributes 45% of this world total! This is more than the next 15 countries spend on military, COMBINED! I believe this is not a sound use of our energy, $, and resources. Imagine what our $590 billion a year could do for health care, clean energy, new transit systems, eliminating poverty, etc. $590B divided by 300M people = $1,966 per American, per year. We’re throwing our money down the drain on an old fashioned model of defense. We cant fight terrorism with armies… it’s an ideological battle, not a physical one! This is why I don’t support our current military standings… it’s about prioritizing our values. Should we spend all our money building walls and giving this illusion of safety, or spend it building bridges that create a better world? I vote for the 2nd and this is MY fight…

You and many others will argue that it’s not that easy, that we need to ‘take the fight overseas or we’d have it in our own backyards’, that ‘freedom isn’t free’, etc. I’m not naive to the point of saying ditch military altogether, clearly our world is not stable enough for this. I do however feel that if we spent more time investing our creative energies into bigger picture solutions, our need for military would diminish over time. Isn’t peace everyone’s goal???

3. Would I ever kill another person? I feel this question a bit extreme, but I understand why you would ask it… I would be a hypocrite if I were to give you any reason saying that I would, and this would support your justification for killing others in the name of protecting American freedoms. Consistent with what I’ve said all along, I don’t intend to kill anything… your ‘my daughter or her killer’ scenario is no exception. Obviously I would do everything in my power to avoid this situation, but never would the thought of taking this man’s life enter my mind. If I were given the option of jumping in front of the bullet to save my daughter’s life, I would choose that. If this man were to take the life of my daughter, it would be a perfect opportunity to apply the power forgiveness.

A couple questions back at you:

1. What is the biggest threat you feel America is facing right now?

2. Do you feel our current paradigm (the proverbial American Dream) can sustain itself for the next 100 years? If not, how do you see it evolving to meet the next generations’ needs?

3. Do you find yourself fighting more for the preservation of the status quo or for discovering new ways to solve our current problems?

4. Is peace your goal? Do you believe it is even possible with differing ideologies out there, or is conflict inevitable?

-j

1. Is there any US conflict that you would have ever fought for?
2. Why should my boys and several million brave men and women sacrifice their lives for your country if you are not willing to do the same?
3. Is there any situation where you would kill a human? For example, would you kill a man who was about to murder your daughter so you could save her life?

Jim

thank you for your ideas! Clearly you have invested interests in your perspective… I appreciate the courage your two sons have for being in the military… I’d be lying if I said I appreciate why we are fighting overseas though… I personally believe it has more to do with special interests than defending freedoms… and by having this view does not make me a ‘coward’ or ‘anti-American’… it makes me a critical thinker who doesn’t want people dying for unnecessary reasons. Also, I’m a little confused by your comment above that said ‘It is not (America’s) job or responsibility to do the work for other countries who have neither the will nor the courage to claim their own rights’… What are we doing in Iraq then??? Clearly it’s not about preserving freedoms as Iraq never posed any threat to attack us. If you’re saying it’s not to help them claim their democratic rights, then what’s left?… Special interests!

Not really following your Holocaust references… I wasn’t arguing that we need to support every ideology out there… I was just suggesting that if we try to understand other cultures better and the positions they are in would help us achieve diplomacy, saving lives, saving money, etc. Playing the ‘I’m right so you must be wrong’ and ‘us vs them’ cards is damaging our relevance in a rapidly globalizing world.

And running with your 6 million number you kept referencing for a moment… We don’t read in history books that American troops killed 4.5 million Koreans in the Korean War (3 out of 4 were civilians) and 2 million Vietnamese (again, most were civilians) in the 60’s and 70’s… combined, that’s more than the Holocaust. Again, my objective is not to be anti-American with this statement, just objectively trying to value each human life equally… I hope that you can understand my perspective, given that you quoted yourself a moment ago that ‘killing an innocent man is wrong.’

It’s clearly an uphill battle if I were to try and change your opinion to be more like mine… This is not my goal… My goal is to get people to think bigger picture with less emotion and ego. I believe people have much more in common than we have differences… by focusing on the differences, we are allowing ourselves to stay in a paradigm of hate, greed, and oppression. And I would warmly welcome a conversation with the parents of the 5,000 individuals who died in Iraq… my heart goes out to them! I hope you would do the same for the 100,000 Iraqi individuals that have died in the same battle! After all, a tear from an Iraqi mother is no different than a tear from an American mother…

…Wasn’t this a platform to discuss Climate Change?

-j

(Stock) Really, there are six million dead Jews who might disagree. Tens of millions of others who have been murdered and oppressed because some ego maniac with a bigger army decided his ideology was “superior”

(Foss) This idea that there are right and wrong perspectives and beliefs is the source of every major global conflict that has ever arisen.

(Stock) WOW… call me old fashion. I believe and understand that there is right and there in wrong. Here are a few real simple ones. 1. Slavery is wrong! Freedom is Right! Killing an innocent man is Wrong! Loving a child is Right! Imprisoning a man who rapes a women is Right! Killing a teenage girl who is the victim of rape is very very wrong!! Allowing freedom of speech is Right! Imprisoning those who speak out against their ruler is Wrong!

(Foss) It is damaging and threatens any opportunities for diplomatic solutions.

(Stock) Remember those six million Jews? Yea the dead ones.

(Foss) And clearly history has taught us that you can’t jam ideologies down people’s throats. This ‘I will win’ mentality is not productive. Incredible.

(Stock) In your earlier post you state proudly that you are a pacifist and would not hurt anyone or anything. Please call my two sons and thanks them for serving in our army, for defending the United States of America and for being willing to give their lives for you and your right to sit on your cowardly ass attacking our great country. But before you call them (which you will never do) please call the mothers of the over five thousand men and women who have already paid the ultimate price.. I dare you.. ok just one mother, and thank her for the service of her son who will never see his own children play in a baseball game, graduate from high school or get married because he volunteered to defend your country so you could work to turn it over to the tree huggers, the UN and the French.

(Foss) I don’t want to undermine the value of personal rights… I certainly cherish and utilize mine.

(Stock) You bet your ass you cherish your rights… the rights that you would not have if it was not for America and our brave men and women!!! Think about what America would be today if everyone 70 years ago was as internationally and humanly insightful as you.. let me give you a hint..it would sound something like this.. Ich wohne in Verwendung, was mit der Bezeichnung Amerika.

(Foss) But if you step back for a second and look at your given ‘rights’ from a global, objective perspective, it becomes easy to recognize that they can come with high costs. For example, your right to shop for the cheapest stuff at Walmart often means that factories half way around world have to aggressively cut costs to maintain their Walmart contract… this generally means child labor, unsafe working conditions, polluting factories that spew waste into rivers, etc.

(stock) Really??? When these factories open there are thousands of applicants for each job. Instead of misrepresenting the facts you might ask yourself why these millions are living in abject poverty?? Again I will help you out a bit. Oh yes, they live in oppressive countries under oppressive rulers. They have few if any of those “personal rights… I certainly cherish and utilize”

(Foss) Our decisions here in America have a chain of negative effects that we rarely choose to follow.

(Stock) So you want us to believe that Wal-Mart is lowering the standard of living in these countries??

(Foss) The question then becomes… if you know that your choices have negative impacts, will you continue to make them?

(Stock) Hell yes I will keep buying from Wal-Mart. But I guess you would like to pass a law that requires American companies to make everything in America… Brilliant!!!

(Foss) For many people, their answer is yes because they don’t have the courage or energy to understand the bigger system… they play the unanimous card and fight for the maintenance of the status quo… they don’t bother to step out of their comfort zone and think about the rights of half of the world’s population that live on less than $2/day.

(Stock) OMG, if it was not for the USA these people would be living on NOTHING a day. How would that make you feel.

(Foss) I’m gonna take one of your statements and play with it for a second… you said you ’stand for making sure that no one ever gets to take away what belongs to someone else.’ Well, what are human’s basic rights… what belongs to them?… I would say access to fresh air, drinkable water, a roof over their heads, food on the table, fair working conditions, and basic freedoms of choice. Well, in a nutshell the American Dream (and other developed nations) are taking these very rights away from less developed nations of the world in the name of economic progress. How can you say you’re a defender of freedom when the system you support is a major oppressor?

(Stock) When did America become responsible for providing every citizen of the world with the same standard of living and basic human rights that we have obtained through hundreds of years of trial and error, great suffering and sacrifice..”seek ye truth.. it should cost you something” America has paid her price and Americans are reaping what they have sown. It is not our job or responsibility to do the work for other countries who have neither the will nor the courage to claim their own rights.

(Foss) inly appreciate your passion and drive towards maintaining freedoms. However, like I mentioned earlier to James, what worries me about your perspective is that not only is it limited and rather exclusive, but it is reactive and not based off of promoting real solutions. Your fight is more about preserving than creating and therefor becomes defensive and representative of like-minded special interests.
peace be the journey. \

(Stock) Live FREE or DIE)