Saturday, January 7, 2012

Good Samaritan Parable, a la Santorum

Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum has taught us that the sick are to blame for pre-existing conditions.

He says he is a Christian. I’m thinking this must be in his personal revision of the Word of God

“The parable of the Good Samaritan, Santorum version:

30Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

"Of course," Jesus added, "they didn't have to do crappola because that idiot shouldn't have been out on the Jericho road at night dressed like that. It's his own fault he was mugged."

Jesus Continued: "33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. What a dumb jerk - just another bleeding heart liberal trying to steal my gospels."


10 comments:

  1. IF certain Christians are bound and determined to run the U.S. according to the Bible (and that IF is a big one), then they must acknowledge the OT safety net provisions.

    The Torah required that provisions be made for the poor, for migrant workers (aliens/strangers), for the elderly (mainly widows), for disadvantaged youth (orphans), and for the homeless (Jubilee for those who lost their land).

    But politics and political coalitions are evil beasts, and even if did read his Bible or have an angelic visitation, there's not a snowball's chance that he would alter course.

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  2. “The parable of the Good Samaritan, Progressive version:

    30Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

    "Of course," Jesus added, "despite that this idiot was out on the Jericho road at night dressed like that—it’s NOT his own fault that he was mugged. It’s YOUR fault." And he pointed to the assembled crowd.

    Jesus Continued: "33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 So being a government official, he sought out the priest and the Levite, and said to them, ‘Since this robbery was your fault, we the government will take some of your possessions, and those of your neighbors. Woe be to you who disagrees with this law, because it is only to help the poor and those who were robbed. 35 And those who aren’t rich. And minorities. And women. And gays. And renters. And students. 36 And—well, let’s see who the hell else we can promise things to that we can’t deliver? Well, whatever—the whole idea is that’s evil to disagree with this law, and if you do, you’re evil. So there. 37 Ha!'

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  3. Interesting. I take you you're a follower of the FoxNews Jesus - looking to assign fault.

    >> ‘Since this robbery was your fault, we the government will take some of your possessions,

    Jesus wasn't into fault finding (see, e.g., the story of the woman taken in adultery), He was into greater responsibility of those with greater wealth:

    "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48

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  4. BTW - the Pharisees believed that wealth was a sign of God's grace and that poverty was a sign of His disfavor.

    Jesus dismissed that view of the Pharisees -

    In today's world, who most looks like the Pharisees?

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  5. Actually, it is the Progressives who consistently assign fault—they assign it to society, that is, to everyone. Conservatives merely disagree that “everyone is at fault.”

    And Jesus was into fault finding. When the adulterous woman was to be stoned, Jesus stooped and wrote on the ground. And what did he write? The Bible does not say, but we know. He wrote one of two things: 1. “Where is the man? Why is he not also being stoned?” or 2. He cited the passage of law that says BOTH parties to adultery must be stoned, thereby finding fault with the adulterous man, or fault with the crowd that they did not follow the law. Then after the crowd dispersed, he said to the woman, “Go, and SIN NO MORE. (emphasis added), which is like saying to the woman, “I know you were at fault, but I forgive you, so don’t do again, k?”

    Didn’t know I knew that one, did ya?

    And please tell me where in the Bible it says that Jesus dismissed THAT particular view of the Pharisees. Chapter and verse, if you please.


    And who looks most like the Pharisees today? Since the Pharisees were rich and powerful leaders, who were either government officials or had tremendous influence over them, and who looked to preserve their own power, I’d have to say people like George Soros, Warren Buffett, John Corzine, Larry Ellison, David Rockefeller, Charles Rangel, Bill Gates, Steve Wynn, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Bloomberg, Ted Turner, George Lucas, T. Boone Pickens, Pete Peterson, Barry Diller, Sandy Weill, David Rubenstein, and I could on and on. And on. Billionaires or Multi-millionaires all, and all Progressives. So if Jesus dismissed the Pharisees because of their views on wealth, he must also dismiss the Progressives, right?


    And finally, you missed the entire point of the Progressive version of the Good Samaritan parable. When Jesus spoke, he spoke to the individual. The INDIVIDUAL. The PERSON. He did not advocate a safety net propped up by government force. He didn’t say, “if someone doesn’t follow my teachings, it’s okay for the government to force them to follow my teachings.” Government is not the standard bearer for heaven.

    SLC

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  6. Interesting comeback.

    Meanwhile, take a look at this article:

    http://news.investors.com/article/601526/201202171525/obama-economic-stimulus-turns-three.htm

    Since you won’t actually go look at the article, here’s a summary.

    Three years after the stimulus, this is what the economy looks like:
    Unemployment rate: Unchanged
    Number of long-term unemployed: increase 83% to 5.5 million.
    Civilian labor force: Shrunk by 126,000.
    Labor force participation: Lowest since 1981-82 recession.
    Household income: Dropped about 7%
    National debt: Up $4.5 trillion, or 41%,
    Deficits: The deficit for fiscal year 2009 totaled $1.4 trillion. Proposed for 2012 is $1.3 trillion.
    Gross Domestic Product: Real GDP has climbed just 6% over the last three years

    The stimulus failed. Failed.
    SLC

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  7. One reason for limited success of the stimulus - and, overall, it was successful, was that the private sector jobs created were offset by losses of public sector jobs

    Another reason is that while corporations have been running up successive quarters of record profits, rather than spending those profits on things like hiring and payroll, they have put them in retained earnings.

    The president can only do so much. When corporations put maximizing investor profits ahead of the needs of the nation, growth of the economy will not be as robust as it could be.

    Another problem with that Investors' analysis is that for its various comparisons, it picks two dates only, losing the actual course of events.

    Actual charts showing economic conditions over the course of Obama's presidency are far more informative and avoid the mischaracterizations from such cherry picking:

    See, e.g., http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/two-charts-that-terrify-republicans.php

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  8. So you admit that the stimulus doesn't work unless the corporations cooperate. Gee, I wonder how Reagan got the corporations to cooperate and create 34% GDP growth in one year? And I wonder why you and the President and all the other Keyensians vigorously defend stimulus when it can be so easily swatted away by the corporations? That's like putting all your money on a 98 pound sumo wrestler, then complaining, "Well, he would have won, except the other sumo wrestlers were bigger."

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    Replies
    1. >>So you admit that the stimulus doesn't work unless the corporations cooperate.

      Admit it? We proclaim it.

      >>Gee, I wonder how Reagan got the corporations to cooperate and create 34% GDP growth in one year?

      Me too, because that just didn't happen - in fact, nowhere close.

      "During the Reagan administration, the American economy went from a GDP growth of -0.3% in 1980 to 4.1% in 1988 (in constant 2005 dollars)" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaganomics

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  9. Did you ever think maybe the corporation hiring "because you want them to" isn't a good enough reason to hire? And did you ever think that perhaps merely hiring doesn't really increase productivity, so wouldn't help the economy anyway? And what have you to say about Jesus now? No comment on my comment? It is your eyes that need to be opened. I exposed you for a fraud last year, hoping you would close down your blog, but still here you are spewing your ignorance. Educate yourself, man. Seek to understand rather than lecture us.
    SLC

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