Displaying 1,171 To 1,200 Of 3,237 Comments What Will Be The Focus of President Obama’s SOTU Speech Tomorrow? Maybe I will do it more often! Made me laugh. Thanks. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On January 27, 2014 @ 9:41 pm Comprehensive and undoubtedly very much on the mark. Let me add this: THE topic of the SOTU 2014 will be- Who Do You All Want to Be in Control of this Nation’s Federal Government in 2015 and 2016? This is about who holds the Senate and the House after the midterms. That’s the whole game, the big enchilda. Whether he is the lamest of lame ducks depends on how much or how little influence he has on Capitol Hill. SO….everything tomorrow will be about electability of Democrats and undermining Republicans….. Animate OUR base, enrage theirs, push every hot button you can reach. Bring it on, baby Bring it on! » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On January 27, 2014 @ 5:37 pm Remembering Martin Luther King – 2014 for them hate is good politics…from the moment the Grand Old Party went down the road of the Southern Strategy it embraced racial and class politics and all that goes with it. I think that they are doomed unless their is a moment of profound enlightenment. BUT since they are opposed to being both profound and enlightened that seems most unlikely. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On January 21, 2014 @ 9:02 pm From Wiki: On Friday, April 5, the White House dispatched some 13,600 federal troops, including 1,750 federalized D.C. National Guard troops to assist the overwhelmed District police force.[2] Marines mounted machine guns on the steps of the Capitol and Army troops from the 3rd Infantry guarded the White House. At one point, on April 5, rioting reached within two blocks of the White House before rioters retreated. The occupation of Washington was the largest of any American city since the Civil War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Washington,_D.C._riots#Military_intervention Where were you all of this? I was in SC when this happened. A senior in H.S. – the rumors of black uprising were everywhere but Southern blacks (in the Deep South) were led by their clergy and knew that rioting would give White Supremacists all of the excuse they needed to launch a campaign of overwhelming suppression. Grandparents were recruited far and wide to be sure their grandkids did not over react. The SC National Guard was called out but ended up having little to do. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On January 21, 2014 @ 7:39 pm The decision to embrace division, anger, hatred, greed…..wrapped in the polite language of a party platform. Every utterance by someone in the GOP in praise of MLK (while usually subverting his message) made me shiver. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On January 21, 2014 @ 7:29 pm I think you identify the core of MLK’s life…to gather the people into a crusade in the name of what is righteous…..today he would, as you suggest and as too believe, calling America to a reinvention of itself based on its founding principles and addressed to a very wide ranging agenda. Imagine King at the head of an Occupy Movement! He was an inventive strategist as well as an inspiring orator. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On January 21, 2014 @ 7:25 pm Hi Nirek….I was in college during the war, burned my draft card, picketed the draft board daring them to call us out. I was an anti war activist….I think King very much affected me in that….My dad was career Navy. WWII through the Vietnam War. He was pro-war until it became clear that Tonkin Gulf never happened and then he turned. He kept quiet about in the service but he was no longer an “America! Right or Wrong” guy. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On January 21, 2014 @ 7:22 pm We share these memories. I remember when Dr. King was killed (part of the trilogy of Jack, Bobby and Martin) I remember how cool my parents were and how after our maid left for the day they would speak of the riots by “those people”. For a while there it looked like every major city in the land was going to go up in flames and then Martin’s disciples won out. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On January 21, 2014 @ 7:17 pm Thanks….I was scared to death. It seemed like a hoot until we got to Alabama and then reality set in. The organizers of the march were glad to have us but they were also very aware of how uninformed we (and our minister) were when we decided to take our road trip It was their presence to us that I remember not our presence to them. Those folks took us in. That has my underling reference to blacks ever since. So, I too take heart in the words of Dr. King and what they called forth from us once upon a time. I hope they will continue to inspire but I fear that nearly 50 years out MLK is a fading national memory. And that’s my pessimism at work…but you know that. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On January 21, 2014 @ 7:14 pm Hey Ad Lib…a fine reflection. King My local Episcopal Church decided to support the Cathedral in St. Louis.Christ Church Cathedral honored the birthday of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in their program: “Let Freedom Ring 2014,” its fifth annual daylong reading of Dr. King’s writings and speeches. The group from my church was there from 3 to 5 PM today. Pepople cam to Speak and to Listen—and let the words, were accompanied by a visual display of pictures of the civil rights leader, and music, wash over us. We had signed up to do some of the reading as did others. But others just showed up. They come up to the front, approach the reader coordinator and indicated they wished to have a turn. Some of the reading was magnificently delivered and some was in starts and stops with some difficulty. The day closed with a 30 minute service. The Cathedral is an inner city parish but is congregation is very mixed. We heard excerpts from his sermons in his own voice, recordings in a darkening great church with images of the man in the midst of his work. We sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic, listening to a stirring piano and organ orchestration of We Shall Overcome and then sang it together. At the end we recited the Pledge to Non Violence that Dr. King asked all who marched with him to sign. It reads: ======================== 1. Meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus. 2. Remember always that the non—violent movement seeks justice and reconciliation — not victory. 3. Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love. 4. Pray daily to be used by God in order that all men might be free. 5. Sacrifice personal wishes in order that all might be free. 6. Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy. 7. Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world. 8. Refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart. 9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health. 10.Follow the directions of the movement. I commit myself to this pledge, having seriously considered what I do and with the determination and will to persevere. ==================I remembered that pledge…I took it in Selma in 1965========= » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On January 20, 2014 @ 6:58 pm HOW DR. KING CHANGED THE LIFE I was 18 years old in the Spring of 1968 and heading off to college in September.I was a white kid living in South Carolina.In my mostly white “technically” integrated school, I heard a lot of talk from other students about that “PUT THE N WORD HERE” who was “a rebel, a malcontent, a rabble-rouser, a communist” and much more. My parents and their friends were well educated and professional. Their language about him was less offensive but still largely negative. They said that he was not doing “things” the “right way” and that all he was causing was “trouble for his own people.” I did not agree. Nor did most of my friends.You see, I and five of my friends and a youth minister had traveled to Selma, Alabama on March 24, 1965 when I was a sophomore to take part in a march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital, Montgomery the next day. Our parents did not know where we were going. We had sold them a bill of goods about doing some volunteer work in Georgia.We were scared. Two previous attempts had been blocked by the courts, by the police and by angry mobs. But the minister was someone we trusted. This third march succeeded and at the end of a long march with angry crowds of white folks on both sides screaming threats at us, and smaller crowds of black folk standing in silent support we made it to Montgomery. We were safe. March organizers put us in the midst of a large church group and we walked with them, singing, chanting, and holding up signs. The signs were about integration, the war in Vietnam and the plight of poor people. It was no longer just about black people.At the foot of the steps of the state capital, we stood and heard Dr. King deliver one of his most powerful speeches: “How Long, Not Long”.These words from that speech remained in my heart from that day on. “How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long,but it bends toward justice.” As a progressive today I continue to march with him. Rest in Peace, Dr. King. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On January 20, 2014 @ 6:11 pm NEWTOWN: One year later and seemingly no wiser You make a good case for the legitimate need to own a gun. Here is a good run down on the NRA’s shift… http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/the_nra_once_supported_gun_control/ One the things that one hears is that gun violence is down. That is true. It is. http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/08/us/study-gun-homicide and http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/08/01/us-gun-violence-murders-down-suicides-up-cdc-reports Puzzling. Still we lead the world in gun ownership and gun violence. Ultra right zealotry is doing today what ultra left zealotry did in the 1960’s. Of course the internet, 24/7 news coverage, video imaging and altered reality in virtual worlds, and the breakdown of community/family/hyperindividualism have gone a long way in creating the fertile ground for the kind of violence we are experiencing. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 7:29 pm We do need better mental health identification and treatment….AND…..we need fewer guns in the hands of licensed person, and gun registrations. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 6:54 pm Choice….wonderful, deeply felt response. Heart rending. I kept the Time and People Magazine editions dedicated to the victims of Newtown. I also kept the Atlantic’s great followup in which they named all of the victims in the weeks before and after Newtown. MSNBC has a story on line that keeps updating the list of those gunned down in America. Empathy is different from sympathy. Sympathy can be token; easily given and easily forgotten. I have heard pro-gunners voice their “sympathy” and there have been times when the tone seemed sincere BUT it means nothing unless they can identify with the victims, living and dead, and ask: “What then must we do?” The NRA of my youth was very concerned about these issues. I was taught to shoot by the NRA and a BIG part of that teaching was gun responsibility and accountability. In those days you needed a license to own a gun and every gun was supposed to be registered. The NRA supported these laws. Today, the NRA is a lobby representing gun makers, retailers and traders. Empathy gets in the way of the real mission of its leadership. I cut up my NRA card long ago and I have gotten others to do the same. The NRA still holds events in this area. They seek support from the community in doing them. My coop boycotts the events. By the way, all but three members of our 25 person coop is a gun owner, including me. SO, all my hope to Claire, and to the other victims of armed mayhem who did not make headlines. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 6:39 am I am a gun owner- a pistol, a rifle, a shotgun. I live in the country, far from police intervention, where hunting is a way of life. When I bought my first gun I had to have a license to do so. The gun was delivered to a local police station where I picked it up showing my license and then registering the gun. I had taken gun safety and shooting courses FROM THE NRA already which was a strongly suggested part of getting a license. I am 63. If is was ok when I was 18, why not now. The police did not know everyone who bought a gun but in those days they knew a lot more people than they do now. There was a sense of who should and should not have guns. There were expectations about gun safety and the police regularly seized weapons from homes where things had become unstable. The NRA in those days was very much concerned with the broader issues of gun safety and I know of cases where NRA intervention kept people from getting guns because they were “the wrong sort”. I also recall that the NRA supported legislation that put the “weapons of war” on blacklists. The NRA has supported registration and licensing. But all of that has been set aside as its boards became more and more dominated by representatives of the arms industry who faced falling sales as fewer people lived in the country and fewer sought out gun ownership. The answer- more and more guns in the hands of fewer and fewer people. The gun lobby is indeed that- it is not a right to bear arms lobby but a lobby dedicated to the freedom to sell guns without limits. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 6:29 am I agree. I have been repeating this point in response to a number of comments. I am a gun owner- a pistol, a rifle, a shotgun. I live in the country, far from police intervention, where hunting is a way of life. When I bought my first gun I had to have a license to do so. The gun was delivered to a local police station where I picked it up showing my license and then registering the gun. I had taken gun safety and shooting courses FROM THE NRA already which was a strongly suggested part of getting a license. I am 63. If is was ok when I was 18, why not now. The police did not know everyone who bought a gun but in those days they knew a lot more people than they do now. There was a sense of who should and should not have guns. There were expectations about gun safety and the police regularly seized weapons from homes where things had become unstable. I also suggest that our cultural disposition differed and that there was a culture of community that I find lacking today. That too is part of the broader picture you are talking about. I don’t know what more security looks like. I wonder how he got the shotgun into the school? I believe every student, teacher and staff member in a Colorado middle or high school now passes through a screen- of security, of metal detectors….what failed here. The response was certainly far better. Don’t give the shooter time to rain down carnage, but the cops were also lucky that they got to him so fast and that he panicked. We now know that he had been disciplined for making threats against other students on his debating team….HIS DEBATING TEAM!….and blamed the coach for the action….HOW IN THE WORLD DOES AN 18 YEAR OLD DECIDE TO KILL SOMEONE OVER SUCH A SET OF EVENTS? I wonder what else we will learn about him? SO…..I think we need to dry up the sources as best we can, but the harder work is much, much, much, harder. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 6:24 am I thank you very much. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 6:17 am I am a gun owner- a pistol, a rifle, a shotgun. I live in the country, far from police intervention, where hunting is a way of life. When I bought my first gun I had to have a license to do so. The gun was delivered to a local police station where I picked it up showing my license and then registering the gun. I had taken gun safety and shooting courses FROM THE NRA already which was a strongly suggested part of getting a license. I am 63. If is was ok when I was 18, why not now. The police did not know everyone who bought a gun but in those days they knew a lot more people than they do now. There was a sense of who should and should not have guns. There were expectations about gun safety and the police regularly seized weapons from homes where things had become unstable. I also suggest that our cultural disposition differed and that there was a culture of community that I find lacking today. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 6:17 am My last section was meant to point that out. An expansion of the field of action. I should have made this quote from my essay more prominent: “One year later and I know so much more about how handgun violence touches many more than acts like Newtown day after day after day.” Thanks for pointing out the need to do this. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 6:13 am “Why are we so angry?” Indeed, an important question. I am a gun owner- a pistol, a rifle, a shotgun. I live in the country, far from police intervention, where hunting is a way of life. When I bought my first gun I had to have a license to do so. The gun was delivered to a local police station where I picked it up showing my license and then registering the gun. I had taken gun safety and shooting courses FROM THE NRA already which was a strongly suggested part of getting a license. I am 63. If is was ok when I was 18, why not now. Some keep lighting candles in the darkness, but they get blown out; they burn down and they shed little light when there are so few of them. The angry, the fear, seem to have overcome reason. AND what is craziest is that those who call themselves law and order conservatives close their eyes to how our laws empower the lawless to procure guns through third party buyers » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 6:10 am Oh, I was referring to Noah. Adam should have referred to Adam Lanza, the shooter. Sorry for the confusion. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 6:03 am The loss of our children as a result of actions that could have been prevented and that call for action on our part is most pronounced challenge to acceptance of the status quo and yet here we are once more and that call will likely go unheeded. Some keep lighting candles in the darkness, but they get blown out; they burn down and they shed little light when there are so few of them. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 6:00 am Huffington Post Goes NSA on Its Members In response to your post: “The only logical explanation, in my opinion, is that this is entirely a scam run by FB in order to generate new subscribers and nothing else. What else could it possibly be? FB is in the business of making money and nothing more. It has proven, time and time again, that it will do anything to further that goal, often at the expense of its own subscribers, who have seen their privacy violated repeatedly, most often through changes in their privacy policy, how privacy settings work and are enabled, and through unexplained “glitches.” Why should anyone be FORCED to take those risks to comment on a site that has absolutely nothing to do with what FB is designed to do?” Since the kind of account I set up gives them none of those advantages and since I was able to disconnect the HP FB account from HP at the preference page and then associate it with a Zero account like I describe, it is not a very good strategy. Still, I suspect they are counting on a lot of people not thinking it through. “I also take issue with your claim that it is somehow unfair to grandfather in previous users.” I am sorry but it is unfair. It is setting up two classes of members based on nothing more than timing. I could not endorse it. Either the policy was worth implementing or it was not. I argued it was not but said if they were going to do it then they should be willing to take the flack that would come their way when they applied it to all. “I was a member for a little over a year and generated almost 2,000 fans. Except on rare occasions, I followed the rules and treated both people of like mind and so-called “trolls” with a basic level of respect. Like almost anyone else, I had my moments but I always let the person I was replying to set the tone. In fact, I was given a timeout after a right-winger complained that I was being rude. After asking HP to read HIS comments and to see what context my replies should be taken in, they reinstated me and banned him. That’s exactly how it should work and had that policy been applied evenly, it would have.” I agree with you here. In fact, this is what I proposed. Moderators should be reviewers of flagged posts. Let the community be the filter and put it on the community to follow the standards in applying those standards to their own writing and the writing of others. Of course, you will get a certain number of false flaggers who will flag because of a disagreement over position…so you educate them and failing that remove their ability to flag. AND with those that get flagged comments, if the moderator backs it up, removes a comment, then the poster gets an e mail auto notification that comment X was removed because it violated standards. They either learn or keep it up and get banned. THIS would work but HP seemed unable to engage the idea fully. I am still pushing this. “True trolls are easy to spot and the community is quick to flag them. The entire problem with HP was its inherently flawed moderation system which apparently designated certain people as moderators, based on some mysterious criteria, who were then allowed to accept and delete posts basically at will, seemingly with no oversight to ensure that they were doing so in a fair and balanced way.” Initially there were non-staff moderators. This has not been the case for two years now. They are trained and supervised. “I can not tell you how much I resent being forced to leave a site that I worked hard to both add to and use in the manner that was expected of me. I put up with randomly rejected and deleted comments, people that I reported for flagrantly violating the rules who were allowed to remain, people telling me on an almost daily basis that their replies to me never show, and all the other idiosyncrasies that HP imposed on us because, overall, it was worth it in the long run. I did nothing to deserve being effectively banned and I will not forgive them for doing so.” In this you are speaking to a common experience that I think is the result of moderator overload more than any ideological censorship. I have plotted a number of such cases. My system also deals with this. I respect your opinion and welcome your counterpoints. Perhaps we will speak again. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 7:45 am Hi- thanks for your thoughts. Yes, the exchanges here are great and they are of a far higher quality than at HP. Still HP is a very different place (far larger in scope, number of members, nature of the membership) and it is governed, both informally and informally by a different set of forces and rules. It is for that reason that I have decided to stay in both camps. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 7:27 am Pundits posted long comments. A campaign by a group of us led to whitelisting, no moderation before publication, and that has been great. A wider effort to address how moderation has been done was under way when this verification campaign began and……well, you know. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 7:22 am HP “white listed” all comments from Political Pundits five months ago. They represent all sides of the political spectrum. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 15, 2013 @ 6:42 am Evening HLL- Sorry it took so long to get back to you…busy day. Yes, I think we make a difference by arguing from the facts toward a logical point and one of my reasons for staying at HP is that that is where those who do not agree with us go. I have had some, not a lot, but some moments of conversion and I have had quite a few times when points made during a discussion have provided another person with additional info they found valuable and endorsed their standing position. HLL- I don’t think HP is trying to shut us down. I really don’t. But the site is so big, so unwieldy and so global now that I think it may be approaching a point where it cannot be well managed AND I think that there is a difference of vision among the decision makers at the top. It all leads to chaos. As to the invasion of privacy. Since I planned on providing them only with that which they said they wanted- a connection between a HP account and a verified FB account which is linked to an e mail and a mobile phone- that is what I did with an empty FB account- nothing in it, locked down with every privacy setting I could use. BUT, I do understand that many did not think it through like I did and I think they have a very legitimate gripe and worry. It bothers me a lot. I have been present for the exoduses as well and each time have seen valued members depart. I hate it and I hate that HP seems to do little to effectively consult and communicate. They got some very good advice about this most recent change and ignored most of it. But HP is the largest of the platforms and it is still influential. I intend to be among the influencers. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 13, 2013 @ 6:36 pm Here is what I wrote: “A lot has been made over the broken promise to grandfather in those who already had accounts, but tons of those belong to the very trolls who are targeted in this AND setting up a two tier membership like this would have created a lot of resentment. SO, I, a long time member, said…..”good for one, good for all.” That was my position. You misrepresent it. I did not want some at HP exempted from the verification process just because they had been there for a while. That seemed unfair. I also did not see the sense in leaving those already registered at HP unverified since a number of those that the HP management seemed concerned with were already registered. I never said a thing about the nature of the verification process. I actually opposed the use of Facebook to start with suggesting that HP create its own verification process that did as Facebook does- link an account to a verified e mail and phone number. I have read the studies that show that anchoring accounts in this way reduces the chances of one person setting up a number of bogus accounts which in turn cuts down on spamming and trolling. From the first I planned to do as I did and never asked anyone else to do anything else. I planned to use a front name. I planned to use an adopted birth date. I planned to use my FB first name and my FB last name. I planned to have an empty FB page/account AND to set up the privacy settings in such a way that it would still be hard to go to my account. I accepted HP’s desire to link my HP account to a verified FB account which meant that FB verified my e mail and my mobile phone. That is all I accepted and I was up front about it. I made if very clear several months ago that any effort to compel the use of my legal name would result in my leaving HP. I was joined by many others in this. Now….let me be honest. I find your willingness to accuse me of being dishonest and hypocritical very disturbing. Unfounded and based on a complete misreadng of my comment and assumptions based on what you thought I had said or done with management at HP. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 13, 2013 @ 6:23 pm Did you get my message about navigating problems here? » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 13, 2013 @ 2:49 pm Hi Nirek…yeah sad days for the Post….really sad…I have a zero value FB account- nothing in it and it is still locked down. I do not like FB as a concept so I was able to do the verification without jeopardy. I am going to hang on at HP and see what happens but the Planet is where I go for real conversation these days. In that I very much concur. » Posted By MurphTheSurf3 On December 13, 2013 @ 2:04 pmComments Posted By MurphTheSurf3
I hereby pledge myself—my person and body—to the nonviolent movement. Therefore I will keep the following ten commandments:
OF A 15 YEAR OLD WHITE KID LIVING IN SC.
“Why should we have to sign up for an entirely unrelated site in order to post on HP? The ONLY answer is that Facebook duped HP with false promises of controlling so-called “trolls” when, in fact, since anyone can create a fake FB account and use it until it is discovered, the so-called verification process, in itself, is a sham. As you said, HP could have enacted a similar process very easily on their own.”….I have read the industry articles on this and they do show that the closer one gets to the real identity of posters the less likely the posts will be inflammatory….the trouble of course is that there are topics which require a level of rhetoric or which are, by their nature “hot”, that efforts to tamp down the flames actually limit honest interaction. So, HP has chosen to do what others have done, get a bit closer. The linking of HP accounts to FB accounts is all about the FB process of putting a name into contact with a mobile phone number and a e mail. The logic is that those using multiple sham accounts will not be willing to have multiple phones. Again the studies seem to say that this is so. I do not get it either but the data is real.
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