Mr. Charles Pierce:
… But this is the argument in season over these holidays. That the poor must suffer in order to be redeemed. That hunger is a moral test to be endured. That only through pain can we hope. What doesn’t destroy you, etc. Santa Nietzsche is coming to town. The idea that we should — hell, that we must — act out of charity for each other through the institutions of self-government is lost in the din of a frontal system of moral thunderation aimed at everyone except the person who is out there thunderatin’ on behalf of personal-trainer Jesus, who wants us to work, work, work on that core. That was the way that government operated once before; the specific institutions that Scrooge mentions, and with which the Spirit eventually reproaches him in his own words – the prisons, the union workhouses, the treadmill, and the Poor Laws – were all government institutions based on the same basic philosophy that drives the debate over the food stamp program today.(We even seem to be going back to debtor’s prisons.) We have speeches on self-reliance given by government employees to people who increasingly have only themselves on whom to rely, day after grinding day. It is a way to keep the poor from having a voice in their own self-government… There will be a reckoning, one way or another. But it can be staved off by platitudes, and by verses from Scripture wrenched from the obvious context of the Gospels. The sepulchers brighten whitely while the bones inside grow increasingly corrupt. This is what this Congress believes, as it goes home proud of itself and its members dress themselves to sing the midnight carols with no conscience sounding in counterpoint, and this is Christmas in America, and it is the year of our Lord, 2013.
Corner Stone
Hmmm, who owns this budget deal?
Villago Delenda Est
If the actual Jesus of Nazareth came back today, the “Christian” Right would be demanding his crucifixion.
Some things just don’t change..
Linda Featheringill
Righteous rant.
tybee
…and ye shall know them by their love…
ranchandsyrup
OT pic of our oldest with her new scooter and fairy wings made by talented Grandma.
schrodinger's cat
@ranchandsyrup: Very Cute!
becca
Hair shirts for the 99%!
It’s what’s for Christmas!
MikeJ
Steam is obviously overloaded with people trying to connect to play a) new games they got for xmas or b) connect new computers to get their old games.v Either way, I can’t connect to Steam to play my new games, dammit.
Pull the plug. The entire concept of video games is a failure. Nobody will ever play video games because I can’t connect to Steam right now.
ranchandsyrup
@schrodinger’s cat: Thanks!
Chris
The calls for sacrifice and suffering for the greater good would be a lot more convincing if they were supposed to apply across the board. But somehow the people at the top aren’t supposed to tighten their belts.
Corner Stone
Burn motherfuckers, burn.
April
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/24/1265171/-From-Twilight-to-Nightmare-to-Hope-a-Christmas-Story
SInce you all are dog lovers, I hope that link will get some attention. Short version: after a year of effort a possible hoarder was force to shut town a horrible fake sanctuary in the town of Forks (think Twilight) WA. The guy had over one hundred dogs, many of them stacked up in crates for years. Awful, Anyway the guy, an asshole to the last , loaded all the dogs up in a semi and drove out to the desert in Arizona where he agreed to release them to an east coast based rescue. The rescuers are out there now, on Christmas day caring for the dogs and ring to find places where they can go to be rehomed. Many are abused and traumatized. The rescuers need donations. There’s a link at the end of the article or you can Google Guardians of Rescue. This is a genuine emergency and the rescuers sure could use yur help. I’m in for one hundred. (I have a stake in this because I am one of the protesters that worked to expose this guy in spie of the protection he received from Forks authorities. Please help). MERRY CHRISTMAS
Schlemizel
As that asswipe from Forbes explained so well just a week or two ago handouts are hurtful and do damage to the receiver as well as the giver. Real love is withholding the handouts and teaching the glory of work and sacrifice to gain a larger good.
In a just world he would be at the end of a very long line when the blade is dull.
Villago Delenda Est
@MikeJ:
Nobody goes to the beach anymore…it’s too crowded!
JustRuss
@MikeJ: I look forward to the many MSM stories decrying Valve’s failure and imminent demise.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Schlemizel:
I guess my mom shouldn’t have spent her day serving Xmas dinner at the local homeless shelter because all of those homeless kids would have been better off going without food. It would have built their character.
/wingnut
thundermonkey
That was a nice video, I checked it out since I am a fan of the song’s author through his work with Richard Thompson and greatly enjoyed it. If you google you can get the the lyrics for it from goldenhindmusic.com. I would post link, but comment system isn’t allowing it.