Carl,
As a believer, I don't get hung up on that either. I love the Jesus stories.
I also love the Holden Caulfied story. It got me through being thirteen. Then
there's the Andy Duframe story. The hero of The Shank Redemption tells me that
when you need to, you can beat the system. Don't think you vfind a better alter
ego.
Abby
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2018 1:10 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: News of the day
As an Agnostic, I don't get hung up as to whether Jesus was Divine, or whether
He was Real, or whether He was a Composite of all that we Humans hoped to
become.
To me, Jesus was the latter, and His spoken Word symbolizes the Positive Side
of Human Nature.
After so many years, how can we honestly know who Jesus the Man really was?
When I think of how many stories are woven into the lives of our Forefathers,
like those of George Washington, stories that raise them above the Rabble, and
place them onto an Ivory Pedestal. And those folks lived less than 250 years
ago! Imagine what they will sound like after another 1,000 years.
So it's the message that lives on. Jesus was probably as real as Homer or
Alexander the Great, but it was the meaning of His words that were the
important thing, like the meaning of the fight between Goliath and David, or
the battles of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. All of it tells
me that Mankind has had a very long struggle in attempting to overcome his Base
Nature, to rise above our base human grub, and emerge as the beautiful
Butterfly that flutters within the breast of every Man, Woman and Child.
Carl Jarvis
And frankly, that is the battle we all should be involved in, if we have any
hope of being around in another 1,000 years.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/29/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
OK.
I have a question about Jesus, however. If he actually existed, how do
we know anything about what he was really like and what he said? Could
he be just a symbol of human aspiration?
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2018 11:38 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: News of the day
Without going back and reading what I wrote, I thought I said that the
two Bushes, Kennedy and FDR were members of the Ruling Class.
And when I condemn "The Ruling Class", it is always with the
understanding that it is not each individual, but rather, it is the
collective abuse of the current Ruling Class. Here in America, the
Ruling Class is and has been from the day the ink was put on the
Constitution, White Male Landholders.
When I talk about, "The Working Class", I do not intend to suggest
that everyone who is within that category is hard working, honest,
caring and disadvantaged. What I see as the Working Class are those
people who are underwriting the goals of the Ruling Class, and
supporting their life style as well as defending their Right to be the
Ruling Class. But within the Working Class are a growing number of
people who no longer wish to do the bidding of the Ruling Class. When
that number grows it could well bring about the overthrow of the long
established Ruling Class. And so, the Ruling Class has gone about
protecting its position. The development of the Military/Industrial
Complex is the brain child of the Ruling Class, not that of the
Working Class. Control of the public media and of the Press is
another defense of the Ruling Class. Our Public Education is also a
control by the Ruling Class, even as the efforts are going forward toward
privatizing education.
Of course, human beings being such diverse creatures, there are many
good people scattered up and down our Class Structure. And by the
way, most of the "good" people are mixed bags. For example, I
consider myself to be a good person, a member of the Working Class,
critical of the government, critical of the long established Ruling
Class and its Colonialism, concerned that nations are becoming
subjugated to powerful international corporations, a strong believer
and supporter of Human Rights and human dignity, and yet I spent my
life working to "protect" the position of the Ruling Class. As I
said, I pay my taxes which go toward murdering innocent people around
the world, I worked for most of my life as a government employee,
supporting the Establishment that I criticized, and doing my best to care for
myself and my wife and our families above and beyond those of others.
Finally, I am well aware that it is Human Nature that turns a dominant
Group of People into an Oppressive, controlling Greedy, self serving
Master Race...like the American Empire.
Even those among us who understood that we need to find a way to
control our own Human Nature, people like Jesus, even Jesus became
entangled in the Human Web, mixing His philosophies into the religion
and the government of the day. And both religion and government
seized upon His teachings and corrupted them for their own use as a
controlling tool.
Even Jesus was a product of His world. Taken alone, His teachings are
powerful. But they must be modified and carefully controlled in order
to be of use to those wishing to continue in power.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/28/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well first of all, FDR, Kennedy, and the 2 Bush's were members of the
ruling class, not wannabees.
Second: I don't want to shock you or anything. However, it is
conceivable that an individual who was born into a family that is
part of the ruling class, might be a really good, kind, moral human being.
I'm not saying that the people whom you mentioned were, but really,
to condemn every person who is born into a wealthy family is as
prejudiced and discriminatory as condemning all poor people by
assuming that they're all lazy or stupid.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2018 8:52 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: News of the day
In my lifetime I have not seen a single president who would serve as
an example to me. Even my great hero, when I was young, FDR.
All of these men served, to one degree or another, the Ruling Class.
Most of these men were not even of the Ruling Class. But oh how they
longed to belong. FDR, Kennedy and the Bushes would probably be
allowed in. But the rest? Pretenders. Lackeys. Shills!
My three heroes are unknown to most Americans. First, my dad, Clyde
Fletcher Jarvis; next, Al Fisher; and lastly, Paul Robeson. Men of
principle. Men who knew how to stand tall for the causes they
believed in.
If our species survives, it will be due to Jarvis, Fisher and Robeson
and many, many other unsung heroes, not the Trumps and Bushes or the
Clinton's and Obama's, who took their pieces of gold and bent to kiss
the hem of the Koch Brothers royal robes.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/27/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I read a really long article about Obama last night, about what he's
doing.
What he's doing is what he's always done, taking care of himself. I
may have already mentioned it on this list. So there are members of
his party who are very distressed with him because they feel that he
should be leading the "Resistance", doing more to fight what Trump
is doing. I find it interesting that the well known political figure
who is doing all he can to fight back, Is Bernie Sanders. He is
making speeches and introducing legislation. He visited Puerto Rico
after the hurricane. He made a statement about the Israelis shooting
the demonstrating Gazans. Obama played Golf with other rich people,
traveled to foreign countries, and has been making speeches for high
fees like $300,000. There's a podcast called, Reveal from The Center
For Investigative Reporting and PRX which I resubscribed to yesterday.
They did a report on immigration and I learned that under Obama,
families were also separated, nothing as drastic as what is
happening now, but it was happening. I was releaved that in the
report, they managed to make a gentle statement about how the
problems in South and Central America from which people are fleeing
to the US, are a result of US policy. It was comforting to know that
this is being said on podcasts other than those on the far left.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2018 7:32 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: News of the day
They say that it's always darkest before the dawn. But that bright
light is probably the end of civilization.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/27/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Justice Kennedy is retiring. Sometimes, he voted with the liberal
justices.
Now that he's retiring, Trump can appoint another right wing judge.
We already had 3 terrible supreme court rulings today, upholding
the Muslim ban, destroying union funding, and ruling against a
California law that required crisis pregnancy centers to tell
patients that abortion is available in California. The supreme
court will now have a
6 to 3 right wing majority.
If you can find a way to hear today's episode of Intercepted, you
should do so. It is the recording of the live show they did on June
21 with Sy Hersh and it's excellent.
However, Seymour Hersh confirmed my belief that we are now a
Fascist state, that it's impossible to impeach Trump, and that
Trump may very well win a second term.
Miraculously a very young, Puerta Rican social democratic female
with out big money, won the democratic primary in NYC against a ten
term well funded machine Democratic congressman.
Each day, I encounter evidence that my aging brain is becoming more
scrambled.
Miriam
