Ether's Avenue

For discussion of liberty, freedom, government and politics.
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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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Silver wrote: June 15th, 2017, 2:38 pm The great tragedy of the American political scene is the great division among the people while those at the top are working in concert. Hence, we have strong Red Team vs Blue Team rivalries yet our indebtedness and slavery proceed in one direction -- to the bad. Government control of everything.

Case in point, Michelle just posted this:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=45749#p788598

I will start with this quote because I saw someone deny the other day that such an idea had ever even been proposed.

Page 127

Lamar Alexander November 1989 Kansas Education Conference

"I would think the brand new American school would be open year round-open from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. A second characterization might be that these schools would serve children from 3 months to 18 years of age. A shocking thought to you-but if you were to do an inventory of every baby in your community and think about the needs of those babies for the next four or five years, you might see that those needs might not be served in any other way-they have to be served in some way-and maybe around the school. Or if you study a little more, you might go back to think the school might need to serve the pregnant mother of the baby in terms of prenatal care.

After making the speech, Alexander was named U.S. Secretary of Education by President George Bush."
Silver, thou hast hit upon a point!
"The bosses of the Democratic party and the bosses of the Republican party alike have a closer grip than ever before on the party machines in the States and in the Nation. This crooked control of both the old parties by the beneficiaries of political and business privilege renders it hopeless to expect any far-reaching and fundamental service from either."
- Theodore Roosevelt, The Outlook, July 27, 1912
Two parties, one head. Or is it many heads?

We will not escape the trap of false dichotomy by voting for the same two parties that are connected to the same head.

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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"The person who uncritically embraces any party line is guilty of an idolatrous surrender of her core identity.... Neither liberal fairy dust nor conservative hardball addresses our ragged human dignity."
- Brennan Manning

Silver
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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iWriteStuff wrote: June 16th, 2017, 8:16 am
"The person who uncritically embraces any party line is guilty of an idolatrous surrender of her core identity.... Neither liberal fairy dust nor conservative hardball addresses our ragged human dignity."
- Brennan Manning
Here's the corollary to that:
If you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture that you are a victim of it. S. I. Hayakawa
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quot ... 53503.html

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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"Latter-day Saints in every country should be good citizens, participate in civic affairs, educate themselves on the issues, and vote. Our primary emphasis, however, should always be to make any necessary sacrifices to protect our own family and the rising generation."
- Elder Quentin L. Cook

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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just because I'm feeling nostalgic today....
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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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Silver
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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^^^ Oh, man, that's classic. ^^^

On the other thread, I'm told to tone down my rhetoric. Yet the treason committed by politicians on both sides of the aisle is on full display for he whose eyes are open.

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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Silver wrote: June 21st, 2017, 3:28 pm ^^^ Oh, man, that's classic. ^^^

On the other thread, I'm told to tone down my rhetoric. Yet the treason committed by politicians on both sides of the aisle is on full display for he whose eyes are open.
And to think, he's not even a stranger to Utah....
Ross Carl "Rocky" Anderson (born September 9, 1951) is an American attorney and politician. He served two terms as the 33rd mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah from 2000–08. He is the Executive Director of High Road for Human Rights.[1]

Prior to serving as Mayor, he practiced law for 21 years in Salt Lake City, during which time he was listed in Best Lawyers in America...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Anderson

Awake indeed! There are people sounding the warning all around us, if we care to listen.

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Re: Ether's Avenue

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"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."
- George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
It's never about the party - it's about the power.

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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“Secret combinations flourished because, as Helaman tells us, the Gadianton robbers ‘had seduced the more part of the righteous until they had come down to believe in their works and partake of their spoils’ (Helaman 6:38)... even as today.”
- Ezra Taft Benson
Are the righteous still being seduced by the Gadianton robbers? Have we studied the Book of Mormon enough to know when we are being led astray? Do we believe in President Benson enough to take him seriously even today?

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Re: Ether's Avenue

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“Our great Constitution has been beaten and torn until now it hangs by a single thread, and that thread is our franchise to vote.”
- Ezra Taft Benson, Freeman Institute, Provo, Utah, 1976
I love modern prophets!!!! :) :D :p

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“There is one and only one legitimate goal of United States foreign policy. It is a narrow goal, a nationalistic goal: the preservation of our national independence. Nothing in the Constitution grants that the president shall have the privilege of offering himself as a world leader. He is our executive; he is on our payroll; he is supposed to put our best interests in front of those of other nations. Nothing in the Constitution nor in logic grants to the president of the United States or to Congress the power to influence the political life of other countries, to ‘uplift’ their cultures, to bolster their economies, to feed their people, or even to defend them against their enemies.
- Ezra Taft Benson, America at the Crossroads, August 30, 1969
What's that? The Constitution doesn't grant the authority to randomly intervene in foreign conflicts? President Benson makes it clear we are only to fight to preserve our national independence, not to right wrongs or seek foes. When did that change?

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Re: Ether's Avenue

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"There are good and bad qualities in all nations. All real Saints, when they receive the Gospel, will readily relinquish party spirit and national feeling, and count such things as the distinctive ornaments of Satan’s kingdom. Sustain those principles that do away with and destroy this feeling of nationality that is in the hearts of individuals."
- Brigham Young
Do we ascribe to beliefs that separate mankind into different classes or do we embrace the Gospel which sees them all as equals before God? Our Heavenly Father does not regard an American any higher or greater than a Syrian, a North Korean, or a Chinese citizen. All are alike unto God, who regards only the heart of the individual.

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Re: Ether's Avenue

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The Monologue Continues!
"There is something wrong with this patriotism, which is based on conflict. As Froissart tells us forcibly, under chivalry the only way to prove one’s nobility was by fighting somebody. The tradition survives, and to this day there are many whose patriotism is not a widening but a contracting circle, recalling the defensive-aggressive posture of the Roman trux et minax (dour and threatening), the walled towns and castles of the Middle Ages, the family shelter of the Jaredites in which “every man did cleave unto that which was his own; . . . and every man kept the hilt of his sword in his right hand, in the defence of his property and his own life and of his wives and children” (Ether 14:2), and finally, the narrowest circle of all, with every man “walk[ing] in his own way,” seeking his own interests amid the rich offerings of Babylon (see D&C 1:16). The passion for security ends in total insecurity, with the would-be patriot fancying himself as a lone frontiersman, facing the world with his long rifle, his keen eyes searching the horizon for enemies and finding them everywhere; until one day as he draws his circle even smaller, we find him coolly keeping his next-door neighbor and fellow countrymen in the sights of his trusty .22, lest the latter make a suspicious move in the direction of his two-years’ supply. Can that be patriotism? Yet the sincerity of such people cannot be doubted, and Brigham Young with characteristic insight diagnoses the nature of their condition:

"An individual . . . with [an] abhorrence of evil [joins the Church]. . . . He sets himself upon the watch to detect the failings of others, deeming that he is doing God a service in being so employed [for God and Country], and thus is he decoyed into the occupation of the great master of evil, to be the accuser of the brethren. And during the time thus occupied by him, he considers himself actuated by the purest of motives, arising from a detestation of sin. . . . Yet mark the subtlety of Satan in thus leading men into a false position. Such a course, in the first place, probably arose from the purest of motives, and perhaps the individual was instrumental in rectifying some error; he feels a satisfaction for having done so, his self esteem is gratified, and ere he is aware, he is seeking for another opportunity of doing the same, . . . continually set[ting] himself up as being capable of sitting in judgment upon others, and of rectifying by his own ability the affairs of the kingdom of God."

Patriotism of this type was the principal weapon used against the Prophet and the Saints; the stock charge against them was treason—they were a danger to America. What was behind it? Brigham knew: “I wish this fact to sink into your hearts, that when men or women have doubts, they also have fear; and when they have fear, they are in danger of what? Of themselves. Want of confidence is the parent of moral imbecility and intellectual weakness.
- Hugh Nibley, The Uses and Abuses of Patriotism
That's a lot to digest, but it is at least enough to question one's definition of patriotism. Can we be patriotic without searching out and destroying enemies to prove it? The answer is yes.

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Re: Ether's Avenue

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"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth."
- John F. Kennedy

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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“I have been afraid to ask God to kill my enemies, lest some of them should, peradventure, repent.”
- Joseph Smith
Are we quick to seek vengeance on offending nations? Is such an approach correct?
“Some pleaded our suffering from persecution and said they were justified in stealing from our enemies because they had robbed us, but such a course tends to destroy the kingdom of God."
- Brigham Young

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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"Liberties aren't given, they are taken."
- Aldous Huxley
Still true.

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men."
- Samuel Adams
Welcome to your daily brushfire!

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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What if George Soros, Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were all spotted in the room?

OUT AND ABOUT IN THE HAMPTONS -- Lally Weymouth held her annual summer party last night at her house in Southampton.

SPOTTED: Jared and Ivanka chatting with Joel Klein and Alan Patricof, Kellyanne Conway on the dance floor, Boyden Gray, Chris Ruddy, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and wife Iris, Katharine Weymouth, Mary Jordan, Richard Cohen, Margaret Carlson, Gillian Tett, Steven Spielberg chatting with Steve Clemons and Robert Hormats, Carl Icahn, Tom Lee (famous for doing a leveraged buyout of Snapple and now lives in Princess Radziwill’s house), David Koch, John Paulson, Dina Powell, Richard Edelman, George Soros and his wife Tamiko Bolton, former Florida Gov. and Sen. Bob Graham (Lally’s uncle), her cousin Gwen Graham (who is running for Florida governor), Maria Bartiromo, Ray Kelly, Bill Bratton, Jeff Rosen, William Drozdiak, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.).
Oh that's nothing, right? As the Dailywire.com writes:
This should surprise absolutely no one. It must be noted that attending the same gathering as someone with whom you disagree isn't wrong, nor is it a sign that you are colluding with them.

That said, it shouldn't come as a shock that these people — Soros, Conway, Kushner, etc. — were all partying together. They are the Washington elites. The majority of those in the D.C. political world are homogeneous. They may play enemies on the great American stage, but behind the curtain, this acting troupe is thick as thieves.

This is actually a good lesson on perception. We, as voters, must be able to discern who is simply playing the game, and who is truly trying to change Washington for the benefit of the people.

The men and women who are doing everything they can to bring the United States back to constitutionalism are in the minority. It's our job to recognize the value in these people, and vote for them. It's also our job to see the actors for what they really are, rebuke them, and remove them from office.
Food for thought. Again, Republicans and Democrats: the Left and Right Hands of the Party of Gadianton.

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Re: Ether's Avenue

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The Soros/Kushner connection is well-documented so party on, right?

Trump Supporter Acute Cognitive Dissonance Syndrome (TSACDS) is getting worser and worser, poor things. Next they'll be bigly denying the sun rise and that water's wet and other stuff that rational people accept as mere facts.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-advi ... 1493717405

Trump Adviser Kushner’s Undisclosed Partners Include Goldman and Soros

Investments show ties to major finance and technology names

By Jean Eaglesham, Juliet Chung and Lisa Schwartz
Updated May 3, 2017 12:14 a.m. ET
Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, is currently in business with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and billionaires George Soros and Peter Thiel, according to people familiar with the matter and securities filings.

The previously undisclosed business relationships with titans of the financial and technology worlds are through a real-estate tech startup called Cadre that Mr. Kushner cofounded and currently partly...

RELATED VIDEO


Jared Kushner’s Businesses Raise Conflict of Interest Issues
Businesses belonging to real-estate magnate Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President-elect Donald Trump, may present conflict-of-interest issues if Kushner ends up taking a job in the new administration. Photo: AP (Originally published Nov. 28, 2016)

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Re: Ether's Avenue

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“Rights are either God-given as part of the divine plan, or they are granted by government as part of the political plan. If we accept the premise that human rights are granted by government, then we must be willing to accept the corollary that they can be denied by government.”
― Ezra Taft Benson, The Constitution: A Heavenly Banner

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Re: Ether's Avenue

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“To all who have discerning eyes, it is apparent that the republican form of government established by our noble forefathers cannot long endure once fundamental principles are abandoned. Momentum is gathering for another conflict-a repetition of of the crisis two hundred years ago. This collision of ideas is worldwide. Another monumental moment is soon to be born. The issue is the same that precipitated the great premortal conflict-will men be free to determine their own course of action or must they be coerced?”
― Ezra Taft Benson

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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Where do you gather your information? Who determines what news you consume? Do you know? Here's a quick chart to show you who dictates what you see and hear on the media:
ownthemessage.jpg
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Do your own research. Seek truth. Be informed.

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Arenera
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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iWriteStuff wrote: July 12th, 2017, 10:09 am Where do you gather your information? Who determines what news you consume? Do you know? Here's a quick chart to show you who dictates what you see and hear on the media:
ownthemessage.jpg

Do your own research. Seek truth. Be informed.
Where is LDSFreedomForum?

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Ether's Avenue

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Arenera wrote: July 12th, 2017, 10:15 am
iWriteStuff wrote: July 12th, 2017, 10:09 am Where do you gather your information? Who determines what news you consume? Do you know? Here's a quick chart to show you who dictates what you see and hear on the media:
ownthemessage.jpg

Do your own research. Seek truth. Be informed.
Where is LDSFreedomForum?
Ask BrianM!

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