Its time these silly spoilt people stopped gazing at their navel and stopped thinking about their rights all the time.

Get lives and realise what the world is like in 2008 The world has moved on since Jefferson

Also, repressive regimes tend to label their enemies in a way that takes attention away from what they are really doing. Why else would the Bush administration label islamic terrorists as “fascists.” They aren’t fascists by any definition, but the Bush administration is, and the label they have given the terrorists is calculated to draw attention away from the truth. It’s Orwellian doublespeak at its worst.

I was defining Communism in the Marxist sense, and not as ‘anything conservatives don’t like’.

I don’t want to hijack this excellent thread, but I do think that claiming the USA is Communist is kind of funny.

You hit in an interesting point. I don’t think that Americans even understand what communism really is. In reality there is no nation in the world right now that is “communist,” as Marx had intended it, but you do find examples of Leninism. Communism is an economic philosophy. What Lenin did was to corrupt it and transform it into a political system. That system, of course is unstable and will, at some point, bring a country to ruin. Most nations that used communism have learned this, some the hard way. China is a unique nation because they began their modern history with communism. In fact, communism, as Marx intended, probably doesn’t fit better with any other country than China, due to China’s main philosophy: Confucianism, which places the community above the individual. That said, China has learned that economically speaking, capitalism is the way to go. They’ve changed from communist principles to capitalist principles and have flourished economically.

Those who attribute the prophesy about the “thread” to Joseph Smith are either ignorant or irresponsible perpetrators of hearsay. The saying comes from President Young, NOT Joseph. It was NEVER recorded in scripture or officially declared and therefore cannot be considered Church authorized prophetic utterance.

Say, since Communism didn’t come to the USA, would that be an example of a false prophecy?

Dude, turn on the news. Even the MSM is replete with examples of domestic communism.

Robert,

Perhaps this page will answer your question.

“For years we have heard of the role the elders could play in saving the Constitution from total destruction. But how can the elders be expected to save it if they have not studied it and are not sure if it is being destroyed or what is destroying it?” —President Ezra Taft Benson, TETB, p 619-620

My question concerns the “hanging by a thread” prophecy. Is this an official LDS teaching, or is it more an urban legend passed on from generation to generation? I did flip through a copy of the Doctrine & Covenants as a teenager looking for this prophecy, which clearly was speaking about Watergate. Did Joseph Smith make this prophecy, or was it another President of the Church? I remember first hearing this prophecy at Boy Scout camp, and can’t remember all the details.

“I have been preaching against Communism for twenty years. I still warn you against it, and I tell you that WE are drifting toward it more rapidly than some of us understand, and I tell you that when Communism comes the ownership of the things which are necessary to feed YOUR families is going to be taken away from US. I tell you freedom of speech will go, freedom of the press will go, and freedom of religion will go. I have warned you against propaganda and hate. We are in the midst of the greatest exhibition of propaganda that the world has ever seen. Just do not believe all you read or hear. The elect are being deceived.” (CR Oct 1941)

A good place to start would be to educate the 98% of obedient Utah Mormons who vote straight ticket out of tradition. In the last days even the elect will be deceived because they know not how to find the truth in the MainStreamMedia.

Thanks Connor for doing your share!

Nope.

As Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights has said:

I mean, what this bill authorizes is really the authority of an authoritarian despot to the president. I mean, what it gives him is the power, as the senator said, to detain any person anywhere in the world, citizen or non-citizen, whether living in the United States or anywhere else. I mean, what kind of authority is that? No checks and balances. Nothing.

Also, doesn’t the president have to have the approval of congress before holding or charging someone? This looks really bad, but at least this might help keep it from being used for obviously wrong reasons (I hope).

:(