UPDATE! I've been challenged by a Beck/Limbaugh right-winger

[OneGrassRoot]

Last edited Mon May 6, 2013, 05:07 AM - Edit history (11)

[font size="3"]UPDATE: For anyone who may have bookmarked this, I wanted to add a link to the OP for the COMPASSION CHALLENGE:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022803133

As always, thanks![/font]

* * *

Edit to add: If you want to get on board early, this page has icons for all Wishadoo's social media. I'll surely be blasting from all avenues on Sunday.

http://www.wishadoo.org/share-wishadoo/


If anyone wants to connect with me, personally, I would LOVE that!

My personal Facebook profile.

My personal Twitter account (I rarely use twitter but that's gotta change).

BTW, if any of you are feeling creative and energetic, I'm all ears as far as ideas you may have and how you envision a Compassion Revolution. I have my vision, but I always invite others to share theirs. I don't have a marketing/PR group or anything behind me: I have me, myself and I. And hopefully a lot of YOU!

How awesome would it be to get Thom Hartmann and other progressives on board, as well as high-profile social media peeps like The Rude Pundit on board? Compassion takes many forms.



I do NOT mean for anything I initially wrote (see below) to imply I'm a victim in any way, shape or form. In fact, those throughout my life who have dissed me and my worldview, and who have instead embraced that of Limbaugh/Beck, have inspired me to work even harder and stand even more firmly in my truth and my integrity. I'm anxious to show them I'm not alone.




* * * * * * *

As I approach 50 and evaluate the world around me -- and my place in it -- the question of "my value" has been very much on my mind given the struggle so many of us, especially over 40, are having in this capitalism-run-amok economy and society.

I have been challenged by someone who has a right-wing, religious conservative worldview to see how many people support my worldview, as he feels what I try to do to advance a world of more genuine compassion, cooperation and community has no value. To him, the fact that I struggle financially clearly indicates that I and my work have no value in this world.

Some of you may remember that in 2010 Glenn Beck dissed Wishadoo (and thus me) on his Fox TV show, insinuating Wishadoo is part of the communist/socialist/fascist/Nazi conspiracy because of the focus on The Common Good, compassion, yada, yada. My family is a Beck/Limbaugh family, so other than my mom, they have even chosen sides, and they side with Beck/Limbaugh, having always dissed my belief in humanity and, quite frankly, integrity.

I plan to launch an (initially) online COMPASSION REVOLUTION on Sunday, May 5th, and hope to prove every Limbaugh Republican who has dissed me throughout my life wrong...to show that I am far from alone, and that others are ready to not only embrace but work with me to more visibly and vocally stand up to show support for more compassionate, collaborative, joy-filled world.

I really, really, REALLY hope you'll join me and help me spread the word and get more people on board to show their support for the anti-Beck/Limbaugh/Robertson/Palin/Fox world many of us are working so hard to create.

I have so many projects in the works, just waiting to gather the troops, so to speak. I hope those who resonate will join this COMPASSION REVOLUTION and help me grow and develop this new movement.

Thanks in advance.




I'm female, but this Einstein pic and quote prompted me to share this morning.

[rurallib]

1. Looking forward to what you have coming Sunday

BTW - you are one of the people I consider a success in life!

[OneGrassRoot]

2. Thank you sooooooooo much, rurallib...

That's more appreciated than I can say.

[deutsey]

3. RFK, March 1968

One of my favorite quotes of his:

"Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that - counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.

"Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans."

[OneGrassRoot]

5. Yes! I recently discovered that quote...

I'm part of Riane Eisler's Caring Economy Leadership Program and recently discovered that quote and shared it recently:

[deutsey]

33. Because RFK said this

I'm sure this person would immediately tune it out.

Maybe have this Christian read Matthew 25:31-46 and ask which group they think they are in.

[OneGrassRoot]

36. Exactly.

It's such a shame that since the late 80's mere words have been so corrupted and twisted: liberal, progressive, compassion, cooperation, etc., etc.

[get the red out]

4. If he is an actual Christian

Then what value did Jesus put on money? He certainly didn't judge people's value by it, and he was compassion incarnate, literally if you are a Christian, figuratively if not. What was that like about a camel having more of a chance getting through the eye of a needle than a rich man getting to heaven? Something like that, I've never been a Church goer.

By declaring that your work toward a more compassionate society is without value, he is actually saying that the original basis for his own professed religion is also without value. How can someone be a Christian on one hand and say that the basis for their own religion has zero value????? He can't even have linear thoughts!

Money is mostly gained in a capitalist extreme society like ours, through harm to others. This is not valuable. Christian conservatives despise compassion until it is needed by themselves or their loved ones. They don't like higher ed until their kid goes to college and gets loans, they don't like government assistance of any kind until a natural disaster destroys their home or town. They tend to be trying to justify their own intense selfishness in whatever way possible.

These people would rather listen to someone with the moral history of Rush Limbaugh than read about Jesus; because Limbaugh gives them permission to say they are the truest kind of Christian without practicing any of their own religious beliefs.

[OneGrassRoot]

6. I don't know.

Like you, that has puzzled me for decades.

To them, I'm a liberal, tree-huggin' heathen.

A neighbor told me a year or so ago, to my face (which is preferable, as I admire her honesty), that I am the embodiment of everything wrong with the US. I am why she fears for her teenage son and the kind of world he is growing up in.

She's fairly unstable and probably has a gun. Doesn't give me warm fuzzies.

[get the red out]

24. A lot of them are unstable in various ways

That's why they cling to what they do and are so easily swayed by fear tactics.

I keep thinking how I wish I was as industrious and successful as OGR! My God, you pissed Beck off personally, you hit the big time with doing good! That's like exhibiting enough goodness to have Satan curse you by name.

Seriously, I think you are very successful. You do things you don't know about, even when some of us don't always contribute to your efforts monetarily you make an impression and keep compassion in full view; that makes a difference, at least with me, because then I find when I can donate a few dollars to some need that pops up I am more likely to do so. You keep the idea of contributing to others in some compassionate way in view and that means more than you, and especially jerks like you are talking about, might think. How many $10, $20, $30 dollar contributions have been made because of your untiring work and influence? No way to know, but out there in the ether it's adding up I am sure.

[libodem]

28. No good deed

Goes unpunished.

[nikto]

58. You may...

Have to shoot her first.

Be Liberal.
Have gun,
Be ready.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Jesus? Cool, when are we gonna start that?

[get the red out]

25. Yep

The cognitive disconnect is amazing!

My Dad was a very devout Christian and a staunch Democrat (and liberal); he referred to the Religious Right as the "Religious Wrongs".

[ismnotwasm]

29. Ok, now that is completely cool

Consider it shared

[Bernardo de La Paz]

44. Another one for y'all:

The sermon, Republican version:

[Arkansas Granny]

7. Even as a non-believer, I find the idea of a "christian" who places no value on compassion,

cooperation and community to be disturbing. Good luck with your endeavor. I'll be looking for you on Sunday.

[OneGrassRoot]

13. Thanks, Arkansas Granny...

[Laurian]

8. Fantastic! I love people who actively work toward making

the world a better place rather than just complain about the way things are. I'm looking forward to supporting you in this newest endeavor.

PS: I love your "Good News" posts. In these challenging times, it's so easy to overlook the good things happening around us.

[OneGrassRoot]

14. So glad, Laurian...

Thank you very, very much!

[jimmyolsenblues]

9. The consumer world we live in

quote - the fact that I struggle financially clearly indicates that I and my work have no value in this world. -quote
It all depends on where you start and who's shoulder's you stand on.
Bill Gates' children have more options than a child born in Chad or Nigeria.
The consumer greedy world we live in is very hard for a teacher, or someone who can only find a minimum wage job.
College is not cheap. Hard to read books in the public library if you can't concentrate cause you are hungry and have no money for food.
So many children are being born into poverty.
Here is the funniest ironic thing about the religous right.
Do you think Jesus would approve of someone being a millionaire.
Do you think the teaching of Jesus wants someone to accumulate that wealth without helping the poor.
Do you think Jesus wants children to starve while people have a 3 car garage.
Do you think Jesus wants you to buy a plastic fish to put on the back of your new car.

Success is only what you want it to be.
If success is a roof over your head and food in your belly, don't let anyone tell you different.
Helping others is the only way to true happiness.
No selfish person is ever happy.

The saying he who dies with most toys wins.
Or women will only be attracted to man who can provide financially for them.
Or [quote]the fact that I struggle financially clearly indicates that I and my work have no value in this world.[/quote]

I really find this topic interesting.
Because I started at 18 in a better financial position then I am at now at 43.
And my high school reunion is Tomorrow. LOL.
I grew up on the better side of town, my mom died when I was 7 and my dad died when I was 18 in 1987.
Who cares if financially I didn't have to worry about paying my rent. I want my parents back.
Financially at 18, I had more than most people in the world.
A billion people today do not have access to clean water.
I should be more grateful for what I have at 43.
But honestly, I just wish my parents lived, and the world can keep all the wealth.

I think life or the human soul craves what it can't have.
If you have beauty you want people to respect your intelligence and vice verse.
If you have money in your pocket you wish you had friends and family that liked you not for the money in your pocket but the person who you are.

[OneGrassRoot]

12. Nice to "meet" you, jimmyolsenblues...

and welcome to DU.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Good luck at the reunion tomorrow; they tend to stir up a lot of self-reflection for people. I'd like to know how you feel about things on Sunday. I hope it goes very, very well!

[get the red out]

27. "he who dies with the most toys wins"

I've never seen a U haul behind a hearse.

[spanone]

10. k&r..

[OneGrassRoot]

15. Thanks for the k&r, spanone. :) n/t

[spanone]

18. you're welcome.....!

[Cleita]

11. I'm with you 100% OGR and don't let those amoral and unprincipled

psychopaths get in your face. You know who you are and the fact that they have to diss you shows that they are envious of you and even a little afraid. People like you make them look in the mirror and they don't like what they see staring back at them. I hope in the end, those of us who hope for a compassionate and unselfish society, will prevail and those Beck/Limbaugh, etc. followers will be reduced to a few and fade away into the shadows where they belong.

I wish you the greatest success in your endeavor because our wounded world needs it.

[OneGrassRoot]

16. Gawd, I hope so...

It's always been hard for me to have perspective on society as a whole, because throughout my life I've been "blessed" (cough, cough) to always find myself surrounded by those with the Limbaugh/Beck view of humanity and the world.

I'm grateful for them though: They've shown me, all along the way, precisely the type of world I DO NOT WANT and the kind of person I DO NOT WANT TO BE.

Contrast can be helpful.

Thanks for your support, Cleita.

[russspeakeasy]

59. +1000

[Arcanetrance]

17. Try not to let those people get to you

They have to look down their noses at you because you challenge the world view that justifies how they act. If they let what you do infect their mind they would have to look at themselves and what wrong with them and maybe they're nothing more than assholes

[OneGrassRoot]

35. I usually don't let it bother me...

but when it was posed to me in the way it was -- as a matter of the value of me and my work -- that hit hard and triggered a lot of introspection.

And rebellion.

[Arcanetrance]

37. What you do has more value than anything that person can dream of

[OneGrassRoot]

39. ...

Thank you.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. Good luck with your project. That Einstein quote is powerful.

What cost to be "a success" the way most people define it? What is so great about three cars parked on the driveway because the two-car garage is stuffed with expensive goodies and the children run wild because of lack of parenting?

The right wing is so hypocritically proudly saying constantly that people and especially children are so important, but they are willing to damage people (they don't like or anonymous people) in the name of ideology and corporate welfare, especially military-industrial and prison-industrial. They squeeze schools and shaft veterans. The last is the most shameful because it is so diametrically opposed to all the "Support the Troops" and strong defense (offense) rhetoric.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. Some jerk has colorized that Einstein photo with crayons.

The original photo is a black & white masterpiece by Yousuf Karsh:



http://www.californiaindianeducation.org/native_profiles/albert_einstein/

[OneGrassRoot]

21. Thanks for sharing that pic! :) n/t

[NoMoreWarNow]

23. you don't owe them any explanation

if they can't see the good you are doing, that is their problem. fuck them! The important thing is whether you are at peace with yourself!

[OneGrassRoot]

38. I know. I'm a rebel at heart...

so when the idea of responding with a show of unity via a COMPASSION REVOLUTION came to mind, THAT inspired me.

My original DU name was "timeforarevolution." It's just that my idea of a revolution usually differs from others.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

26. What do you want me to do?

[OneGrassRoot]

40. Ha!

Stay tuned!!!!

Are you active online beyond DU? Helping me to spread the word is the first step: mobilizing this Compassion Revolution to get as many people as possible to stand up and speak out, saying they support this worldview!

I'll post the applicable Compassion Revolution links on Sunday, but for now people can go ahead and connect as follows:

http://www.wishadoo.org/share-wishadoo/


Thank you, DITWL!!!

[southernyankeebelle]

30. I am willing to bet you will be sitting at god's right hand chair come judgement day.

You are doing what god would want us to do. Just keep plugging along you don't need to justify yourself to anyone. There are people who appreciate what you are doing. They are the scum at the bottom of the lake. You are the angel that looks after others. Keep up the good works and let us know what your up to.

[OneGrassRoot]

41. ...

Thank you most kindly, southernyankeebelle.

[southernyankeebelle]

46. your welcome. It's true.

[Skidmore]

31. OGR, my first contribution is that

I blasted my FB folks with your blog site address. I know quite a few good people, and then I know a few incalcitrant B/L types too. Anyone who can, should distribute your blogsite address via e-mail or on social media.

[OneGrassRoot]

34. Thank you so much! Hey, here is a page w/several links...

This page has icons for all Wishadoo's social media. I'll surely be blasting from all avenues on Sunday.

http://www.wishadoo.org/share-wishadoo/


If anyone wants to connect with me, personally, I would LOVE that!


My personal Facebook profile.

My personal Twitter account (I rarely use twitter but that's gotta change).

Thank you so much, Skidmore!!!

[d_r]

32. I was thinking the other day

I had a student in an accident right before final exams.

Sometimes a person needs the world to give them a break.

When that happens to somebody, you can be cool or you can be a jerk.

I'd rather be on the right side of that.

When I look at your website, that's what you are doing.

To think that somebody would denigrate that says a lot more about them than it does about you.

[OneGrassRoot]

42. Thank you, d_r...

Well said.

[LaydeeBug]

43. Do you want to beat him on his terms or on yours?

Because your quote proves your terms in and of itself.

But, were it me, and I'm not too fancy, I'd want to beat that emm effer with his own rhetoric

How old is he? Work? You allowed him to make the parameters of this debate all about how HE defines success, and all about YOU acquiescing to *that*.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK *that*.

Just sayin'.

[OneGrassRoot]

45. Actually, I don't even see it as being about "success" at all.

Having ALWAYS been surrounded -- throughout my entire life -- by those with the Limbaugh/Beck type of worldview, I often wonder how many others really do see/feel/think as I do?

I surely haven't seen it reflected around me in a significant way where I have lived throughout my life in various areas in the US.

A lifelong social entrepreneur, I've tried to create it, as you all have seen, but it's always been an uphill battle. And that's okay. These things often take time.



By Wall Street standards, this person is quite successful. Much older than I am as well.

I'm not acquiescing to anything. He actually inspired me to fully embrace my rebellious nature and see how many others (outside of DU, of course) are with me, or with him/Limbaugh/Beck.

It's a choice of two different worldviews.

It's all good.

[LaydeeBug]

51. But *he* does. You see, this guy can DISH IT, but can he TAKE IT?

He thinks he is rich, when in fact, he is only wealthy. I didn't mean to suggest you were acquiescing, but that his parameters expected you to acquiesce, and that is wrong.

[OneGrassRoot]

52. Gotcha!

No...in my experience -- again, not to beat a dead horse but these interactions have been going on for my ENTIRE life -- they don't hear.

They see and hear what they want to see and hear, and they most DEFINITELY do not really want to hear me.

I've been calm, I've been shrill, I've tried every tactic and approach but, really, they don't want to hear me.

So, I try to show them instead.

[dgibby]

54. If you want to toy with him,

just smile sweetly and thank him for inspiring you to become the wonderful, successful person you are!

[OneGrassRoot]

55. ...

[Scruffy Rumbler]

47. Go OneGrassRoot!

I am a few months away from 50 and am astonished by what I see in our culture today. I was taught caring and compassion were the true worth by which someone is valued. The amount of money one made/had was not the benchmark by which we measured success, but what you did with what fiances you had.

A few years ago, I met a man from a very well to do family. I won't go into details, but I met him after he was the victim of a homophobic attack that left him in a comma for several months and required him to learn to walk, talk and read/write all over again. He was visiting me when he and I had lunch with his niece and nephew. I was stunned when the conversation turned to what humanitarian projects the two were working on for the year. It turns out he was from a very liberal, very southern family and it was expected that each year they would focus their talents and resources toward a project that benefited the greater good. That is what I was taught, as an American, to believe in. NOT the greed is good mentality of the '80s.

Thanks for doing your part to show us the way. Thanks for your call to action! And thanks for all the goodwill you and Wishadoo have generated in our world!

[OneGrassRoot]

48. Wow!

There really IS a LOT of good out there. A lot, a lot, a lot.

I want to, somehow, show how much there really is. I have a lot of tools lined up, ready to go and be used, to show this.

I'm getting very excited. Thanks for sharing, and for supporting me and Wishadoo!

[hfojvt]

49. I don't understand

why a conservative Christian would be against a world of compassion, cooperation and community.

Or further, why they would want to say that &quot you) and (your) work have no value in this world."

Why wouldn't they proclaim that EVERY person has value? As a child of God. As a person for whom Jesus died.

As for your work. Do you have another job or do you make a living off of wishadoo? Are you struggling financially or is wishadoo?

There is a sense in which high income does show a certain utility. For example if I am a plumber and make lots of money as a plumber, that is because I am helping people with their plumbing problems. I have a valuable skill that people are willing to pay for.

However, in another sense, I am taking advantage of desperate people. They don't want to pay somebody $50 an hour, but they have broken pipes, sewage backing up, or some other such fairly serious problem, and I take advantage of them in their hour of need by charging them an arm and a leg.

Myself, I had a bookstore for seven years. A store that never made a profit, but my purpose was NOT to make a profit, it was to sell good books at low prices. I accomplished that, although certainly I would have liked to sell more books, and my lack of sales, to some degree showed that the town where I lived did not have much desire for the service I provided with my store, for one reason or other. In some ways libraries and thrift shops were already offering the same services and sort of at lower prices.

But there is no question that at least SOME people were taking advantage of my services. So although it never supported me financially, my store was not totally useless, just perhaps not as useful as Amazon.

[OneGrassRoot]

50. I do not have answers to the initial questions you pose.

The inner conflict so many people struggle with is beyond me. I have tried to understand how many (not all) conservative Christians I know can act in ways that show they have no respect for Jesus as the bible conveys (I'm not religious myself). They would loathe Jesus, it seems, being the ultimate bleeding-heart liberal.

No, I do not make a living off of Wishadoo or related off-shoot projects; I am barely able to keep paying hosting fees and have been able to do so through the kindness of a handful of generous souls who have contributed.

I very much want to get to the point that these projects which serve The Common Good also support my existence, however. Most of we creatives are always working toward that goal.

In the meantime, I have always worked no less than 60 hours a week for the last 20 years as I raised my daughter. Doing writing, editing, transcription, marketing/PR for the same clients, amazingly, for the last 20 years.

Last January my income was literally cut in half as one huge client shut their doors. That's the risk of being self-employed, as many here know.

Try as I might to find other work -- in any field, quite frankly -- I have found ageism to be very, very much in play.

Trying to find more work is a full-time job in and of itself, so it also doesn't leave much time, energy or resources to build Wishadoo and these other projects as they deserve. I empathize TREMENDOUSLY with the many people helped by DUers via Wishadoo, as I am in the same daily struggle regarding shelter, utilities and food. No safety net, no exaggeration.

I have never been a materialistic person. I had a one-week vacation in 1998 (two hours away...lol), and that was the only vacation I've had since 1990. No kidding.

I don't think I'm very different than many here (and out there) who have worked hard our entire adult lives to find ourselves struggling.

We simply want to thrive, rather than have all our energy sucked into surviving in this system.

We'll see what this Revolution holds.

[hfojvt]

53. that is one huge drawback to being self-employed

no vacations, certainly not a paid vacation.

It was after I closed my store that I got to make a long driving trip to my grandmother's old house and then later make a trip to Europe. I wasn't making a lot more money, I just had a lot more time.

Plus, you don't really have a job reference either. Well, you have clients. As a retailer, I didn't have those.

Perhaps you could connect with former classmates who have the ability to hire.

[Moostache]

56. Thank you for starting something I truly hope succeeds!

I went and signed up and started sending it out on Twitter (I don't Facebook...just not my thing).

I've been fortunate throughout my life, and its past time to start paying it back at a better rate.

My parents have remained married to this day and they raised me, my brother and my sister in a well-off neighborhood, sent us to private schools and provided college educations to all three of us without ANY college loans or debts to hold us back. They gave us such an incredible advantage that to complain about circumstances or opportunities would be the height of hypocrisy, and I try to remember that always (even though I fail from time to time).

I never knew deprivation or want as a child - my parents saw to it that my siblings and I came first and our family life was front and center throughout. In what would sound like a very stereotypical Republican lifestyle, my father has remained a lifelong Democrat and liberal, going so far as to shake me back into the fold after I had earlier in life become seduced by the idea that my personal success was paramount and anything that took away any of MY STUFF was inherently evil. His example set the standard, which I had forsaken; and his passion for making me understand exactly WHY he was able to do what he did, and provide me what was provided, had nothing to do with right wing ideology or bullshit, and everything to do with choices - and making opportunities available to others.

I have been blessed to have a career that - while it was derailed in 2008-2009 like so many others - has regained its footing, and is again on the upswing, with a lot of potential for advancement and more importantly fulfillment and a worthy contribution to humanity's general welfare. My wife and I have incomes that, when combined, put us firmly in the upper reaches of the modern middle class, and allows us to care for our 5 children in a manner that no one would describe as anything less than comfortable.

I have already beaten renal cancer once - in 2008 - and have lived 5 years cancer-free as of this week. Discovered by a fluke confluence of factors in the earliest stages and while completely encapsulated, my prognosis now is the same as someone who has never had cancer (although most life insurance companies tend to disagree strongly on that point...lol). An attentive X-ray technician in a local hospital did more than necessary for an emergency room patient who could have just as easily been ignored. If happenstance or chance had looked askew at me for just a single moment that day, my condition would have gone undiagnosed until after it had spread and become symptomatic. I would have died under 95% of the scenarios available, yet I drew the inside straight so to speak and beat the odds.

I have survived a career derailment and unemployment, but only because in my darkest hours and most self-pitying moments, I had someone there to support me and guide me back. That would be my wife, whom I love as much today as I did the day we married 17 years ago, a true partner in every sense of the word, and the glue that keeps me from running off the tracks more frequently.

We have 5 beautiful children and a gaggle of "extended-children" through their friends that spend time with us.

We have a home, that while in need of upkeep and repairs, is still the center of our family's universe and reminds me daily how horrific the theft of people's homes by the banks during this depression REALLY is...how damaging and demoralizing and dehumanizing.

To say that my cup runeth over in comparison to the plight of millions is an understatement.

Having received so much already, and having officially arrived in middle-age (post-40), I have spent a lot of time contemplating what is worthwhile and important to me moving forward - and what I want to further instill in my children as the only lasting legacy I will leave behind on this planet. I have come to grips with the fact that I will never be Jack Welch or Bill Gates or Steve Jobs and I also won't be famous either. The accumulation of additional material wealth for wealth's sake has absolutely no allure to me. I have no interest in competing with my fellow men to see which of us can amass multiples of excess and deprive our other fellow men of anything - just for the numbers on a check or in an account.

The folly of selfish exploitation of our fellow man is something I would LOVE to spend the second half of my life highlighting and discouraging. Looking forward to what comes next...and you are absolutely not alone. Trust me, your worldview and outlook have more appeal to more people than the hateful diatribes of the Limbaugh-Beck morons of the world. Even in places that on the surface might not seem likely allies...

[OneGrassRoot]

57. What a wonderful testimonial.

Your family sounds fabulous, Moostache. Really. You are all aware of your good fortune and blessings and don't take anything for granted.

That probably goes back many generations. I love that.

I'm also so glad you had an attentive ER x-ray tech. CONGRATULATIONS on reaching the five-year mark. That's BIG!!!!



Thank you also for joining Wishadoo and already throwing your support behind this idea. It is GREATLY appreciated!!!

It's nice to know I'm far from alone.

[Curmudgeoness]

60. It really doesn't matter what people like Beck and Limbaugh think.

It is what you do to reinforce your own beliefs, even if you are the only one with that belief. But you are not alone! They will never cede a victory to you, even if you prove them wrong, so don't mind them at all. They can go to hell.

[NYtoBush-Drop Dead]

61. Lush and Dreck...

best of luck to to you!

[OneGrassRoot]

62. Thank you! :) n/t

[OneGrassRoot]

63. UPDATE n/t