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MikeH's Journal
Response to post about Bill Gothard's "Character First!" program in thread titled: Wasilla, Alaska, City of Character. A "faith-based" city.
The strong emphasis on obedience in Rudolf Höss's early upbringing left its indelible mark on him, too. Certainly his father did not intend to raise him to be a commandant at Auschwitz; on the contrary, as a strict Catholic, he had a missionary career in mind for his son. But he had instilled in him at an early age the principle that the authorities must always be obeyed, no matter what their demands. Höss writes:
Our guests were mostly priests of every sort. As the years passed, my father's r...
Response to OP: Where were you? (when the 9/11 attacks happened)
I live in San Diego, California, and was working off and on at a consulting job at that time, and that day was during one of the times I did not have any work to do.
Being in California, the events happened before 6:00 my time, while I was still in bed. I got up probably about 9:00, and went to one of the local restaurants for breakfast. I did not hear anything about what happened on my car radio; my radio was tuned to the local classical music station as it usually is, and either I missed it...
Response to post about Beethoven's 2nd and 4th symphonies in thread titled What are your favorite obscure works?
I particularly like the peaceful and bucolic second movement of Beethoven's second symphony.
The late Karl Haas, the longtime host of the radio show Adventures in Good Music, had a monthly feature called the Mystery Composer Quiz, in which it was our job to identify and name a composer based on his/her works and some biographical information. Karl Haas would start with some obscure works and move to better known works, and finally a clincher.
One time he chose Beethoven as the mystery compose...
Response to OP: Really Young Republican, with link to video of ranting by the "world's youngest preacher"; it was commented that he might become the leader of the Young Republicans and perhaps the next Hitler
As a result of his early identification with a tyrannical father, Adolf--according to a witness from Braunau--would stand on a hill when still very little and "deliver long and passionate speeches." Since Hitler spent only the first three years of his life in Braunau, this indicates how early his career as Führer began. In these speeches the child was imitating the way he had seen his imposing father hold forth and at the same time was also seeing himself, the awestruck admiring child of those f...
Response to Captain Kangaroo appreciation thread
I liked his easy, friendly manner, and also the entertainment provided by his show.
I like his interactions with Bunny Rabbit, Mr. Moose, Grandfather Clock, and others. I liked seeing how Bunny Rabbit would trick the Captain into getting carrots from him (and the crunching sound of carrots after the Captain realized he had been tricked). And I liked Mr. Moose's knock-knock jokes, and how Mr. Moose would trick the Captain into having ping-pong balls dropped on him.
I remember some of the cart...
Response to OP: DU Women Lovers: Leg and underarm hair on a woman (full on)??
I am a heterosexual male, and I have had an attraction to body hair on women since I was an adolescent in the 1960's. Hairy legs have been my favorite, but I also like body hair elsewhere, i.e. underarms, arms, etc.
I saw a fair number of women with hairy legs and other body hair when I was a college student in the 1970's. It has been one of my disappointments that that never became more common since. In fact female body hair has become even more unacceptable than it was in the 1970's. For ...
Response to OP: WHO WANTS PIE
That way we can all be pious.
The author says that it is a satirical take, but to me it sounds like it contains most of the truth that is suppressed in the "official" version.
In particular, the author has it right as to who the Devil really is, and who God is.
A Deistic Satirical Take on The Garden of Eden
by David Bunch
ACT ONE
1. God created the world and two people named Adam and Eve, with whom he intended to populate the world.
2. One day, while God was not looking, the Devil came and captured Adam and Eve.
3....
Response to OP: I am NOT "saved" nor do I want to be.
As for me, even if I might accept Christ and "being saved" for myself (which I did once), I was never able to accept having to have in the back of my mind the idea that OTHERS are "saved" or "unsaved", and the resulting duty to tell others about Christ motivated by the concern that if a person does not "come to Christ" in this lifetime, then that person goes to hell. That was one of my major issues when I was a Christian.
For a long time I was a more "mainstream", non-fundamentalist Christian;...
Response to OP about Agnosticism
I used to be a Christian. However I found that Christianity, and my supposedly having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, had not been of any help to me personally. That being the case, I felt, and feel, that it was the right and healthy thing for me to part company with the Christian faith (or at least with any explicit outward practice of the faith), and to absolve myself of any duties and obligations specifically imposed by the Christian faith (as opposed to duties and obligations in...
Response to OP: What's your gender and sexuality?
I am a male whose sexual attractions have always been to females.
I have a particular attraction to something outside the norm in this society. Since adolescence I have always had an attraction to natural body hair on women. I particularly like unshaven/hairy legs on women, but also like body hair in other places.
I have always wished that women, in non-trivial numbers, would let their body hair grow out. I have always been puzzled as to why just about anything else has become acceptable in...
Response to OP by a DUer whom I have met personally at an earlier DU gathering, and who had Dennis Kucinich stay with her
I was back east for a family gathering earlier this week (in Ohio of all places), so I missed your thread; otherwise I would have wanted to post on it. I just got back (to San Diego) very early Thursday morning, and have just now had a chance to review things on DU and other sites.
You look very lovely and gorgeous in the picture, along with the other two lovely ladies. Lovely both on the outside and on the inside.
I admire and appreciate what Dennis is doing; I hope some real good comes out...
Response to OP: If you chose not to have children... what was/is your reason?
First of all, I am a heterosexual male, 57 years old, and due to various reasons and circumstances, including especially some problems I had when I was young, I have so far in my life not had any serious relationship with a woman. Even though my not having had a relationship has been also due to some choices that I have made as an adult, it is still one of the biggest disappointments of my life that I have not had a relationship with a woman.
However I would say that I am not disappointed that...
Response to OP: PNAC Signatories - Lest We Forget (Zoellick was one of the additional signatories after the original 25)
I did much of my growing up in Naperville, Illinois, and Robert Zoellick lived just half a block from where I did. I knew Robert, his older brother, and his mother. His older brother was a year ahead of me in school, and I was three years ahead of Robert in school.
I remember Naperville being very Republican when I lived there; many people voted for Barry Goldwater in 1964.
Obviously Robert Zoellick has associated himself with and become involved with a bad crowd of people.
Response to a fundamentalist Christian regarding humility, and "many spiritual paths" vs. "Jesus being the only way"
Zeb, you seem to be totally lacking in the ability to see yourself as others perceive you; otherwise you would realize how arrogant, smug, and insensitive you come across at some times, and how ridiculous you come across at other times.
In fact, C. S. Lewis, in his introduction to Screwtape Letters (which I am sure is one of your favorite books, you being the kind of Christian you are), talks about humor as involving a sense of proportion and the ability to see yourself from the outside. I thi...
My response to a fundamentalist Christian's thoughts on humility
Humility is the opposite of pride or arrogance.
I will certainly agree with that much.
It is the recognition that oneself is not worthy, either in comparison to others, or in comparison to a standard of worthiness.
Perhaps.
I would say that humility would include seriously considering the possibility that one might be wrong in one's beliefs, particularly any beliefs that one feels certain about. And it would especially include considering the possibility that even if one is on the right path ...
Response to a fundamentalist Christian's post in response to an earlier one of mine
I quote the Bible because I believe it is the Word of God, and therefore is authoritative truth.
I disagree with you that the Bible is the "Word of God", and a lot of other people do too. It is very insensitive to quote the Bible to prove a point to a person if that person does not accept the Bible as being "authoritative truth".
Please forgive me for any offense I have caused.
Zeb, I do not consider you to be important enough for me to "forgive" or to "not forgive" you, or to take personally ...
Here are some of my autographs which I think are interesting enough to share; some of them might even be considered to be "cool".
Karl Haas, late host of long-time radio program Adventures in Good Music, autograph of his book Inside Music
Vincent Bugliosi, his book None Dare Call It Treason
Granny D, her book Walking Across America in My 90th Year
Thom Hartmann, his book Screwed, The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class
Gil Alexander-Moegerle, his book James Dobson's War On America
Robe...
Respose to OP: Overall, was high school a good or bad time for you?
Many of the classes I had were quite interesting, and I did well in them. I was particularly good in mathematics and in the physical sciences such as chemistry and physics. In fact I, and one of my classmates, were known for being the math brains at my school.
However I had a very hard time socially. I was one of those who was picked on a lot by those who were inclined to do so. Being a math brain certainly didn't help. I was also very unathletic. Gym classes were miserable for me, partic...
Response to OP: What year did you graduate high school? And did you learn to drive in high school?
I took driver education in high school, and got my first license from the state of Illinois in the summer of 1967 at age 16.
However it took a while longer than that for me to *really* learn to drive.
My family had a stick shift during the time I was in high school, and I never quite mastered the clutch and the stick shift.
Also our family moved a couple of times after I graduated from high school, and I was in college away from where my parents lived for a couple of years. I took another dr...
In thread about do-it-yourself waxing
Who started this whole shaving thing anyways?
In modern times, it was started by Gillette in 1915.
Here is an excerpt from an article:
In the late 1800's a fellow named "King" Gillette was convinced that the way to get rich was to invent some gadget that people would soon be unable to do without. You know, "build a better mousetrap...". He didn't have much luck until one morning when he went to shave, he found his straight razor was dull. Bingo! One can almost see the little light bulb go on o...
Response to reaction "you were not hellfire and brimstone enough for their tastes" to an inclusive sermon guest preached by original poster
The people who were disappointed in your sermon certainly have a very unenlightened conception of God.
Perhaps, as was said upthread, you might have planted a seed in some closed minds.
Response to OP: Family Values: Father violently chases gay son from home
The commandment says to "honor your father and mother", so the son has the duty to honor his father.:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:
Of course "good Christians" like the father are very likely to be the kind who insist that the Ten Commandments need to be displayed in public places.
While I am not gay, I grew up having had a very difficult father. He often treated and honest mistake, an honest forgetting of something, or something not quite up to his standards as if it were a crime. And he wou...
Some reflections on being "mainstream" vs. being "different" in response to a post in thread titled JUST A BIKER
For myself I am and always have been for the most part "mainstream" in taste, clothing, lifestyle, and appearance.
I personally have no desire to get a tattoo, or dye my hair, or ride a motorcycle. And I personally have a very hard time identifying with the desire to pierce one's body.
It is important for each person to make their own choices about what they want to do, whether that is being "mainstream" or being "wild". In particular I will say that I do not appreciate somebody telling me t...
My identification with someone who feels "left out"
I also don't smoke anything, and I never have.
I occasionally drink alcohol, usually on special occasions. I try to make sure that I don't drink when I am going to have to be driving afterward. I can feel the effect of even a small amount of alcohol. I often have a non-alcoholic beer if I am in a setting where people are having drinks.
I am also in the minority of American males in that I could hardly care less about sports, and do not watch sports. For one thing, I do not want to invest e...
Response to OP: Who was the president when you were born?
December 1950
Response to OP: Who was Vice President when you were born, I have no idea myself.
December 1950
Response to OP: For those of you who were really bullied/harrassed in school
I am reconstructing my story from a post I made on the old DU in August 2002:
(Link)
I was teased and tormented a lot throughout grade school, junior high, and high school in Illinois. And in addition I had a very difficult and judgmental father, who sometimes did some very good things, but who often times was very insensitive to things I was struggling with, and sometimes bordered on being abusive, especially emotionally and psychologically. Actually my father seemed to regard me and his ot...
Response to OP made the previous day
Congratulations on being together that long (62 years).
And happy anniversary to among the most truly good people to have lived in the White House, certainly in recent times.
Addendum to my previous post
While "The Thing" was the #1 song when I was born in December 1950, my first definite recollection of hearing the song was in August 1967, when I was 16, right before the start of my senior year in high school. I was living in Naperville, Illinois at the time.
The had been dedicated that month, and it was a rather big deal in Chicago at the time, and had met with some controversy. I remember that that was the occasion for one of the radio stations to play "The Thing" by Phil Harris, and that...
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Profile Information MikeH
904 posts Member since 2002 San Diego, California, USA Male Morality and Duty, and Access to Spontaneous or Childhood Feelings
Morality and performance of duty are artificial measures that become necessary when something essential is lacking. The more successfully a person was denied access to his or her feelings in childhood, the larger the arsenal of intellectual weapons and the supply of moral prostheses has to be, because morality and a sense of duty are not sources of strength or fruitful soil for genuine affection. Blood does not flow in artificial limbs; they are for sale and can serve many masters. What was considered good yesterday can--depending on the decree of government of party--be considered evil and corrupt today, and vice versa. But those who have spontaneous feelings can only be themselves. They have no other choice if they want to remain true to themselves. Rejection, ostracism, loss of love, and name calling will not fail to affect them; they will suffer as a result and will dread them, but once they have found their authentic self they will not want to lose it. And when they sense that something is being demanded of them to which their whole being says no, they cannot do it. They simply cannot. Alice Miller, For Your Own Goodhttp://www.nospank.net/fyog10.htm#central Learning from Hitler and his childhood
What point is there for us today in learning about Hitler and his history? For me, the main point is this: our knowledge will serve as a warning against our blindness and encourage us to give it up once and for all and to struggle against collective repression. This is what I do consistently in all my books in order to help people understand the psychodynamics of the mistreatment of children and its immeasurable danger for society, as demonstrated by Hitler's case. My explanations are by no means intended to suggest pity for a man as merciless as Hitler. it was in large part owing to Hitler and his history that I became aware of the dangers of our traditional morality. We are exhorted to honor our parents and never question them no matter what they have done. Yet when I realize that millions of human beings had to die so that Adolf Hitler could keep his repression of childhood trauma intact, that millions were subjected to humiliation in concentration camps so that he never had to recognize how he had once been humiliated, then I believe that one can't point out these connections often enough in order to shed light on this unconscious production of evil. How should young people be expected to recognize and reject inhumanity and crime if these continue to be disguised instead of being pointed out as plainly as possible? Only when young people are permitted to know exactly what happened and how it could happen, only if they don't allow anything to stifle their curiosity and are not afraid of the truth, can they free themselves from the burden placed upon them by their forebears' blindness. Alice Miller http://www.naturalchild.com/alice_miller/a... See also http://www.nospank.net/fyog13.htm http://www.nospank.net/fyog2.htm Visitor Tools
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