Comments on Lobbyists vs.Wahhabists

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Abrahamoff

made sure to grease plenty of palms on the other side of the aisle, too........but he's a bad example.... showing what can go wrong with the lobbying system...there are so many more who are invovled honestly.

posted by Corbin_Dallas on September 25, 2006 at 6:36 AM | link to this | reply

We mostly say of our politicians "*%&*%*&$(^??#@!^%#$^&*%"

Dear T:

    Yup, we are brothers divided by an ocean on these subjects.

    I'll write more about this later, but right now the cat is throwing up on the rug, the dog has a Democrat treed in the front yard and is baying loud enough to make a dead man's ears bleed, and I'm not feeling so chipper myself.

    Probably has something to do with all that cheap sherry I drank last night ...

posted by Rarmcwa on September 25, 2006 at 6:29 AM | link to this | reply

Rarmcwa, you've covered lobbyists

Now what about the politicians themselves (as a generality)? Maybe you've done a post on that earlier. I have a similar view of politicians to yours on lobbyists. They're the same as referees in football, or the team coach, or teachers, or the police. Yes, a lot of them can be a right royal pain (do you say 'right royal' over there, or is it 'right presidential'? Both are equally alliterative, after all.). But that's because their jobs are hard. Those who criticise do so out of ignorance as they sit on their arse, as we say, and spout off about how all politicians are terrible. John Lennon said 'Gimme Some Truth'. Yes, John, and get rocks thrown at ya, like the PM in Hungary. It;s not that easy. If you'd lived longer you'd eventually have seen the light.

posted by Antonionioni on September 24, 2006 at 3:42 PM | link to this | reply

Thanks for correcting my spelling of his name, Rarmcwa, if I'm going to

hold someone in contempt, I at least want to get their name right.  Well, so far the republic and the Republicans are not doing a very good job of stamping out the excesses of Jack and his ilk.  These trips to Scotland, his speaking at the Republican National Convention, and his taking bribes from two opposing Indian tribes, to represent them, does not speak well of his characrer or his associates. 

posted by Blanche. on September 24, 2006 at 3:24 PM | link to this | reply

Ooops! I did not communicate with precision!

Dear B,:

   No, Abrahamoff not one of the intolerant KKK sect of Islam. He and his ilk are in fact an example sof the sort of evildoer used to justify condemnation of everyone who performs the same services to society ... except most of them do it without ripping off the taxpayer with both hands.

    Abrahamoff is the equivalent of the bad driver, the sloppy professional, the venal person engaged in honorable enterprise. He must be stamped out, but it takes eternal vigilance, the rule of law, and a system of Republican Democracy to catch the bitch before he sleazes again.

    

posted by Rarmcwa on September 24, 2006 at 3:12 PM | link to this | reply

Rarmcwa, I'm not sure if Jack Abramoff qualifies as an example of a

Wahabbist, but he's a pretty good example of what we don't need in government and he is the right's boy. 

posted by Blanche. on September 24, 2006 at 2:59 PM | link to this | reply

Thanks for the happy "rating" on my poem, my like and dislike for you will be proportional to the rating you give me... Just kidding. Actually I give you permission to go below five, if necessary, I suspect it would happen from time to time, but it gives more value to the higher ratings. Ok, I am a sucker for approval, granted but I also value honest feedback, and I can take it in the chin if done with care consideration and courtesy and sound knowledge. I trust your judgment, because the way you write shows you know "your onions".

posted by marieclaire66 on September 24, 2006 at 1:16 PM | link to this | reply

Thanks for this informative post.

I'd just say, "don't throw out the baby with the bath water", not a profound statement but this is what I have to say in a nutshell. We need lobbyists, pressure groups, any one fighting on my behalf, either because  I can't or cannot be bothered is good.

posted by marieclaire66 on September 24, 2006 at 1:13 PM | link to this | reply

You speak big truth, My Brother

    Also, most of us have no idea how much volunteer work and charity donations go on in this nation. Without citizens stepping up, either vital needs would go unaddressed, or else the government would have to hike everyone's taxes by about 150% to pay for all the missing pro-bono assistance.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm no Big Dawg Volunteer, and have too little money to contribute more than my time ... I do is sit on a Red Cross Chapter board and read to the blind on our state-provided subcarrier radio station, but even those little bits have virtue.

    They might not get me into heaven, but it might just keep me out of The Other Place.

   Here's hoping!

posted by Rarmcwa on September 24, 2006 at 10:01 AM | link to this | reply

Part of the problem is the ease by which one can draw conclusions based on generalizations..........

Every....All......are favored beginnings of those generalizations.   As you said......the average American's only way of "bending an ear" is through participation in  organizations.   But very few would be willing to admit that they are lobbying..............that would mean they are getting their hands dirty!

posted by Corbin_Dallas on September 24, 2006 at 9:56 AM | link to this | reply

Wahhabism (Arabic: الوهابية, Wahabism, Wahabbism)

 is a Sunni fundamentalist Islamic movement, named after Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab (1703–1792). It is the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.           

            "The term "Wahhabi" (Wahhābīya) refers to the movement's founder Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab. It is rarely used by members of this group today, although the Saudis did sometimes use it in the past. The currently preferred term [outside of standard Western journalistic use] is "Salafism". In the past, they usually called themselves the Ikhwan, the Brethren.

            The term Wahhabism was originally bestowed by their opponents … Wahhabism accepts the Qur'an and hadith as fundamental texts, interpreted upon the understanding of the first three generations of Islam … Wahhabi theology advocates a puritanical and legalistic stance in matters of faith and religious practice [italics mine].

            Wahhabists see their role as a movement to restore Islam from what they perceive to be innovations, superstitions, deviances, heresies and idolatries. There are many practices that they believe are contrary to Islam, such as: pictures of human beings, praying at tombs (praying at Mohammed's tomb , the prophet of Islam, is also considered 'shirk (polytheism)'), not observing hijab (modesty in dress and demeanor) and skipping prayers (all businesses close five times a day for prayers), invoking any prophet, Sufi saint, or angel in prayer, other than God alone (Wahhabists believe these practices are polytheistic in nature), celebrating annual feasts for Sufi saints, wearing of charms, and believing in their healing power, practicing magic, or going to sorcerers or witches to seek healing and innovation in matters of religion (e.g. new methods of worship)."

posted by Rarmcwa on September 24, 2006 at 7:54 AM | link to this | reply