Journal zogger's Journal: They control the game, the scoring and the umpires 30
This is a follow up to my previous entry (my closing commentary there), I neglected the link, but this is just so damn good it needs a stand alone entry anyway. The game is rigged, and everyone has to play.
No, we all choose to play (Score:2)
You see, it is only force if someone holds a gun to your head. If they give you the option of starving or being a slave, and you choose to be a slave, that's your fault. You could always choose to starve to death.
You see, coercion is only something that government can do to individuals. There is no such thing as economic coercion. Every trade in a free market is free, and everyone walks away with something they value more than they gave up. The starving man values a loaf of bread more than an eighteen hour
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Every trade in a free market is free, and everyone walks away with something they value more than they gave up.
I don't. You know why? Because I have responsibilities that while I'd rather not pay for, I'm forced to pay for by law.
Why shouldn't I be able to live in a city and burn my own garbage for heat and light, instead of paying some monopoly garbage man $40/month to haul it away? Why can't I avoid the sewer tax by running an open pit in my back yard?
And unless you can show me how to avoid t
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You know, I love how pure of an anarchist you are. Or at least profess to be. :)
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No, zogger's the anarchist. I'm the distributionist Catholic who loves subsidarity AND solidarity.
Anarchists don't need a community. Subsidaritists don't need a community either- unless they're also into solidarity.
At which point a neighborhood is a big enough community for anybody.
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You ever do any work with the Catholic Workers Movement? Those guys are awesome.
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A bit, my Knights Council supports the local Dorthy Day and Yolanda houses.
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I'm familiar with the work of the Knights of Columbus, and Dorothy Day. Yolanda doesn't ring any bells. The only person I can think of that might fit is Yolanda Panek, who worked with the YWCA.
Anyway, I'm happy that I'm learning about this side of you, it looks like you really do put your money where your mouth is. I used to work with the IWW as a labor activist, right after the Judi Bari bombing. The FBI set her up, basically pointed a few real whackos in her direction, after she started mixing environment
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Not sure who Yolanda House is named after- it's a battered women's shelter run by Catholic Workers in SW Portland- the location is a semi-secret due to the nature of the work they do. In fact, they're not in that location right now; they just got a grant this summer to renovate the kitchen, so my Council moved them all into a house in North Portland. This weekend, we *might* be moving them back- depending on if they got that grant to get the heating fixed or not. (If not, we'll be moving them back and my
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Ah, Portland battered women's shelter. That clinches it, it must be named after Yolanda Panek, who lived in Portland before her husband beat her to death.
I'm always happy to hear about the good works done by organizations such as the KoC. It helps offset the many negative anecdotes I hear about religions and people who claim to be religious. The good Christians tend to be too damn quiet, while the utter wingnuts yell the loudest.
There is a small but important strain of, dare I say it? socialism running thro
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There is a small but important strain of, dare I say it? socialism running through Catholicism. I'm not sure I'd characterize the KoC as 'right-wing.'
We recently had an argument on a truly right-wing Catholic blog about that; we ended up calling it "communionism", after the sacrament that most resembles socialism (and always did- a big reason why early Christianity grew so quickly among the slave and lower-class Romans was because of the free bread distributed at daily mass).
I classify KofC
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Caritas in Veritate? I don't think I've ever read an encyclical before. (shuffles off to vatican.va) Wow. That's pretty long and dense. I'm going to need to read this over the weekend.
I'm ashamed to admit that I've been slightly prejudiced against Benedict because he looks like, well, like Emperor Palpatine...
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All encyclicals are long and dense.
"I'm ashamed to admit that I've been slightly prejudiced against Benedict because he looks like, well, like Emperor Palpatine..."
My thought exactly from that infamous picture on the day Benedict XVI was elected.
But his stance against moral relativism, has won me over since.
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In my world view, everything is relative. There are no external, arbitrary measures. Every measure must be built inside the system, not applied from without. But there are levels, what is true on one level isn't on another. What is good for the family is not necessarily what is good for the tribe, what is good for the tribe may not be what is good for the nation, for all people, and so forth all the way up to to 'for all conscious beings.'
Take killing another human being, for example. Murder, we all agree,
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That's the difference between me and most liberals- I'm not. I like objective, outside of the box measuring sticks to measure my progress by. And that's what being a Roman Catholic gives me- a blueprint for utopia.
It's a utopia we may never reach, and that's OK too. But the point is, to keep striving for the ideals, while being reasonable and rational on how to get there.
That's what Islam lacks- their God, theologically, isn't reasonable. Allah doesn't follow any rules, his commandments
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You make my point for me:
I like objective, outside of the box measuring sticks to measure my progress by.
You like an objective measure. You chose to use it. It isn't objective and it isn't outside the box because you chose it. The box is your head. There may or may not be things outside of it. Those things may or may not be objective. You have no way of knowing, for sure, because all you have and all you are and all you experience is inside your head. Maybe it is a reflection of an objective external reality, maybe you are a brain in a jar being fed preprogrammed illusions.
You believe
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Well, for that matter, all beliefs are arbitrary to the core- they start with the assumption "I think therefore I am" and go from there.
That goes for science as well as religion.
Having said that, there are degrees within that. Some things, we can be more sure of than others. We've built at least four different forms of logic to tell truth from fiction- where all four meet, I'm morally certain that we're either all dreaming this (in other words, we're a networked computer simulation) or there is a reality.
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The thing about logic is that it manipulates false premises just as readily as true. One can have an entirely logical argument, completely correct in all respects, that starts from false premises and, in a completely valid fashion, reaches false conclusions.
In both cases my actions would be the same, too, because I see no difference between realities run on different substrates. So one is run on a computer, and the other is run on a quantum mechanical system. Until the computer glitches or we find a back do
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I just read the wiki page about distributism to see if they mentioned the Mondragon Cooperative, and sure enough they do. It's the first thing I think of when I think of successful distributism. I can't think of a better example of a 'third-way' system that mixes capitalism and socialism into a functional whole.
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Father Arizmendi and Father Michael J McGivney had two big things in common that allowed them to do what they did:
1. no family obligations- for both were celibate priests
2. A great love for those unable to work, for whatever reason.
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Meaningful work is vital to the human soul. We all need to feel useful. We have a desire to demonstrate our worth to others through our actions. Denying a person the ability to contribute to the greater good in a meaningful way dehumanizes them. People who feel unable to contribute often lash out, trying to force a place for themselves in society. When everyone feels they have a place, a function in society, a synergy arises which encourage (IMHO) love and charity in everyone. In other words, when some peop
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No, spot on. You'll learn more when you read Caritas in Veritate- the Popes have been saying much the same since Rerum Novarum, over 120 years ago.
Give people a place, a way provide for themselves, and give everyone a place regardless of ability- and the rest will come, says the distributist.
I'm about to post a journal on another interesting set of arguments I just found on myths about the middle ages period in Europe. Most of what we now know as distributism, was present in feudalism for a thousand years
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Most of what we now know as distributism, was present in feudalism for a thousand years.
Yes it was, and it worked very well for them. Look at the cathedrals built during that time and think about how much extra wealth these communities must have had to build them.
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Especially considering they didn't have the advantage of Portland Cement and cinder block brickmaking.
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That's right. And they had no central authority planning and funding these huge, multi-generational projects. Each community built its own grand cathedral with its own surplus wealth.
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BTW. How's that privatization of Social Security project coming along, anyway? Hey! Don't trust the Gubmint wit yer savings! Come and invest that at our rigged gaming tables!
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I need to start using the sarcasm tag.
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Me, too. I was joining in an imaginary conversation with assumed points of view.
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Remember how 2 short years ago, Bushie was really pushing America to get their SS "reformed" (abolished), in favor of Wall St.?
I bet you don't see that talking point in the agenda, anymore. Not for another few months... :-)
cash out (Score:1)
I would have taken it...a big social security cash out. All my back loot, freaking 45 years worth, plus my forward loot according to average actuarial tables. I would have bought gold, silver, ammo and some other tangibles stuff, and done just as well as top market insiders. (I mean I have done that, just would have done it on a much larger scale) If they insisted on buying stocks though, nope..just would have let it ride then. I mean I can do it, trading, I think I would have the skills to at least do bett