If it is his claim, I will not counter it.

But given what I defined as liberal, I can think otherwise perhaps.

OhDear

If Trent Lott said he was the child of poor black share croppers would you not counter it?

I am not saying anything about chandon.

Well DB, I have not countered your claim to have grown up with the nickname Patches either.

OhDear

see?

I love that song.

Thank you so much! I enjoy your presence here and your wonderful perspectives.

I believe you reside in the UK? I could be wrong. I follow politics very closely, my motto being "know your enemy"

True, I did group the conservatives in a judgemental light, however, it is those types of individuals who scream the loudest. Rarely do I hear anything positive about LGBT and their issues coming from the conservative side, although I am sure there is, somewhere, anwhere...

I abhore comments being made about those "godless liberals" from individuals like Coulter, Robertson, Buchanan, Bush, Dobson, Romney, etc... I also abhore the situation in the middle east that originated from a pack of lies and doomsday scenarios cultivated by the individuals I mentioned above. These individuals also portray the Democratic political party as "godless liberals" because of their stances on abortion, SSM, the war machine, the economy, immigration, and the diminishing basic civil and human rights granted to the citizens of this country.

I am a freedom fighter by my life experiences and I am active in my community to serve the greater good by serving as a fiscal agent for a county environmental organization and as a treasurer for a not-for-profit organization that addresses the needs of the under represented aging LGBT population.

In my state, Ohio, in 2004, a law, Issue 1, passed banning any legal recognition of SSM and common law marriage for heterosexuals and this law passed by 64%. I believe Ohio was probably the first major state to pass such a nasty and discriminatory law. This led to a wave of other states to pass similiar laws. Issue 1 was sold to the voters of Ohio by religious zealots as a means to stop the "homosexual agenda" from "destroying" the sanctity of marriage. I believe the sanctity of marriage had already been destroyed by heterosexuals due to the divorce rate, extramarital affairs, spousal abuse, etc...

So, if I offended you by making a judgemental blanket statement about conservatives, I apoligize. The above is just to let everyone know where I am coming from and what I try to do improve human rights issues for all.

BTW, I do consider myself a moderate liberal..... and against organized religion- after all, religion is supposed to be a personal relationship with god.

-Kevin

Kevin,

You need not apologize to me at all. I was not offended. And I am so not conservative, though I think in my personal lifestyle I would seem so.

I was only meaning to say that there is a vein of fundamentalism that can be the source of discord and it can be found in any political or religious mindset.

Also the word Godless, needs to not be relegated as negative. People associate godless with immoral or amoral at best. Godless simply describes those who have formed a worldview apart from a belief in a god. And there are many or maybe even more ethical disbelievers than are believers!

Let's not borrow from Anne Coulter's vocabulary.

And finally, Chandon, I hail from Wisconsin. Where today it is below zero.

OhDear

I agree the word Godless is a negative connotation. I dont like the word and when i hear it the short hairs on the back of ny neck bristle.
And, I wish the more ethical disbelievers had a louder voice just to quelch the other side.

BTW, I love Wisconsin! I used to live in Minneapolis/St Paul and I miss that region terribly. And, its a balmy 21 degrees in Cleveland and the sun is shining.

Oh Dear

I think that it is important for our citizens to get an intellectual life after their school daze are over. The following is a message that I try to introduce to everyone who will listen. Do you think this is a liberal message or a conservative message or not a political message?

Hey! Get a Life--An Intellectual Life

Hobbies are ways in which many individuals express their individuality. Those matters that excite an individual interest and curiosity are those very things that allow the individual him or her to self-understanding and also for others to understand them. Interests define individuality and help to provide meaning to life. We all look for some ideology, philosophy or religion to provide meaning to life.

When examining psychosis the psychiatrist advises either the establishment of an interpersonal evolvement or for finding interests and perhaps new patterns of thought. Many of us find that our work provides that means for identity and personal fulfillment.

None of us have discovered our full potentialities or have fully explored in depth those we have discovered. Self-development and self-expression are relatively new ideas in human history. The arts are one means for this self-expression. The artist may find drawing or constructing sculptures as a means for self-discovery. The self-learner may find essay writing of equal importance. Consciousness of individuality was first become a possibility in the middle Ages. The Renaissance and further the Reformation enhanced the development of individual identification.

The word “individual” moved from the indivisible and collective to the divisible and distinctive. In this we see the development of an understanding of self-consciousness thus illustrating the dramatic change taking place in our developing understanding of the self as a distinct subject not just a cipher in a community. This was part of the Renaissance.

I recommend that each of us develop the hobby of an intellectual life. We could add to our regular routine the development of an invigorating intellectual life wherein we sought disinterested knowledge; knowledge that is not for the purpose of some immediate need but something that stirs our curiosity, which we seek to understand for the simple reason that we feel a need to understand a particular domain of knowledge.

I believe your post, as advice, can be counted as neither conservative nor liberal.

However, to be focused on self, may in fact, be conservative. And to be liberal is to be more otherly-minded.

One can be liberal or generous as I think of it as a practice rather than a policy, and be focused on others, obviously generous then.

Or can be focused on self and yet demonstrate generosity. Perhaps for reward. And that is a religious endeavor. Seemingly more aligned to conservatism.

But as far as your advice goes, Coberst...I must say, "I am just a simple country girl, without much ambition in the intellectual field."

OhDear

I have come to learn that the modern liberal is one who points out the inequities and evils of capitalism but shuns away when someone suggests we actually do something about it.