Random Politics & Religion #00

It is this attitude that the modern socialist has completely forgotten and it is exactly why it is doomed to fail before it ever takes root.

Anyone found an official confirmation that Russia reduces jobs at its ministries by 110,000?
If so will it be in one cut or by no rehiring once elder people retire?

As one who likely meets the definition of "modern socialist," I can say that your blanket statement is incorrect, even if it applies to a majority.

However, the pride in a job well done can only go so far when there are bills to pay.

Another flaw is people want to be absolved from choices that they have made that make their lives more expensive.

loans, kids, cars, more home than they need, neighborhood they can't afford, etc

lot's of reasons people choose to enter an agreement with a lender then *** that they don't make enough money to pay their bills that they agreed to pay willingly.

Ted Cruz took to the Senate floor Friday and charged that Mitch McConnell told a “lie,” escalating his campaign against GOP leaders and challenging the traditions of the usually decorous chamber.

In a scathing floor speech, the Texas firebrand accused the Senate majority leader of breaking his word to him and the rest of the GOP conference over McConnell’s plans for the controversial Export-Import Bank, the country’s chief export credit agency. In Cruz’s telling, McConnell privately promised him and other Republicans that “there was no deal” with a handful of senators who were seeking to revive the bank in exchange for their votes to advance a major trade bill in May.


McConnell, he said, became “visibly angry” when Cruz challenged him on the matter during a meeting in May.

“Like St. Peter,” Cruz said, “he repeated it three times. He said, ‘The only thing I told the proponents of the Export-Import Bank is like any other senator in this body, they could offer any amendment they liked on an any amendable vehicle, but I gave them nothing.’”

That day in late May, Cruz said his staff informed him that McConnell was “lying” to him, but he said he believed the Senate GOP leader that “he wasn’t lying to us.”

But after McConnell took procedural steps Friday to move to a proposal to revive the Ex-Im bank, Cruz said on the Senate floor: “I cannot believe he would tell a flat-out lie.”

“What we saw today was an absolute demonstration that not only what he told every Republican senator, but what he told the press over and over again was a simple lie,” said Cruz, a fierce opponent of the bank. “The majority and minority leader, arm-in-arm again, should not team up against the American taxpayers.”

Interesting that he would do this on the Senate floor instead of just on a radio show or something.

I wish they'd just start throwing hands on the senate floor. For too long, America has lagged behind the rest of the world in televised politician fistfights. We must close that gap for the good of the country.

In an effort to make a statement against religious monuments on government property, members of the Satanic Temple of Detroit unveiled a statue of a goat-headed winged statue in Detroit on Saturday night.

The 9-foot-tall bronze statue of Baphomet made its public debut at a ticketed event in an industrial building near the Detroit River. The monument was revealed shortly before midnight as hundreds of supporters cheered and chanted “Hail Satan.”

Members of the Satanic Temple of Detroit viewed the unveiling as a victory; “a celebration of a group effort” that has taken several years to complete.
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Not all Detroit residents were as pleased. The statue has been a point of contention in the Motor City for months, and demonstrations against it continued up until the last minute. Around 100 protesters turned out Saturday afternoon to pray and denounce the monument, calling it “disrespectful” to other religions.

Jex Blackmore, the director of the Satanic Temple of Detroit, says this backlash is the product of years of “deep misunderstanding” about Satanism.

“Satanism and the term ‘Satanic’ has been used a political tool to demonize individuals who have rebelled against systems of authority and power,” Blackmore said in a heated segment of WJBK-TV’s “Let it Rip.”

The Satanic Temple of Detroit is non-theistic and does not celebrate the Judeo-Christian representation of Satan, Blackmore said. The group’s website defines Satan as “a symbol of man’s inherent nature, representative of the eternal rebel, enlightened inquiry and personal freedom rather than a supernatural deity or being.”

The Temple originally applied for the statue to be installed in 2012 near a Ten Commandments monument on the Oklahoma State Capitol grounds. After that application was denied, the Temple decided on Detroit, where the Satanic Temple is said to have a stronger-than-average congregation.

Blackmore said Saturday that temple members planned to transport the sculpture to Arkansas, where the governor recently signed a bill authorizing a Ten Commandments monument on the State Capitol's grounds.

This isn’t the Satanic Temple of Detroit’s first controversial demonstration. Last Christmas, the organization set up a “Snaketivity” scene outside the Michigan State Capitol in support of LGBT rights.

Blackmore said in an interview with MLive that these efforts are often seen as “trolling” for shock value. But she insists this is not the case.

“We are interested in positive and effective change,” Blackmore said. “And we're interested in positive conversation.”

Rev. David Bullock of the Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church expressed skepticism of Blackmore's stated intentions, instead saying that the statue makes a mockery of other religions.

“The statue is supposed to create a dialogue. Well, statues don’t talk. If you want to have a dialogue with other faiths, why not send an email in advance or knock on the door?” Rev. Bullock argued on “Let it Rip.” “It’s not creating a dialogue at all. It’s actually polarizing a large number of folks in the city of Detroit."

A large number of folks, maybe – but not all. Minister Todd Sanders of Strictly Biblical Bible Teaching Ministries says he believes the situation could be a great educational experience.

“The church can benefit from this because we can view this as an opportunity to get at the truth in terms of what the Satanic Temple believes,” Sanders told WWJ-TV. “I don’t think it’s anything we should be afraid of at all.”

The monument is the handiwork of Mark Porter, a New York City-based sculptor. He admitted to finding the task creepy at first, but growing more comfortable as time went on.

"I started thinking about it: Why don't I like it?" Porter said to the Detroit Free Press. "And then after looking at that every day for a year, it's just whatever. It could be Mickey Mouse.”

Sorry, Christian Science Monitor.

And the concept was proposed last year sometime, but the statue just got unveiled.

Now all they need is a place to put it.

Diplomacy and Twitter go together like sausage and semolina.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said last week’s movie theater shooting in Lafayette, La., proves America’s gun-free zones are “a bad idea” and that moviegoers should be allowed to be armed.

“I think that it makes a lot of sense to send a message across this country,” Perry told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday when asked if the former governor believed allowing moviegoers to take guns inside the theater was a way to prevent such violence. “If we believe in the Second Amendment, and we believe in people’s right to protect themselves and defend themselves and their families.”

Police say John Russell “Rusty” Houser opened fire Thursday during a screening of “Trainwreck,” killing two people and wounding nine others with a handgun he legally purchased before turning the weapon on himself.

Iran's ayatollah tweets graphic Obama pic

Where are the politicians that are lobbying for us to allow guns into government buildings hmm?!?

I kind of want to see politicians dueling again.

With Gundams?