Well, I can see again that any hope of possibly getting you to look beyond your own little version of the world according to Beckerhead is fruitless.

I try to show that the human spirit can soar while you respond with lazy Indians and drunken Russians as examples of why we need greed.

God damn Ronald Reagan to hell for doing away with the Fairness Doctrine for broadcasters. It has lead to idiots like Beckerhead and Fatface Limbaugh brainwashing an entire segment of a once vibrant society.
Have a happy tea party.

I think I'm done with this.

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I do not fight fascists because I think I can win.
I fight them because they are fascists.
Chris Hedges

A riot is the language of the unheard. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

The feeling I get is not greed, but the fact that I want more is.

That feeling is caused by the release of endorphines into the brain via the bloodstream.

The truth of the matter is you want more because of the reward your body has given itself for doing good.
This isn't greed. You simply want more because it feels good to do good works for your community and social group.

Greed doesn't present this same physiological response within the body because greed is a selfish act.
Performing a selfish act serves no usefull purpose to the survival of the tribe and evolution hasn't provided us with a greed pleasure response.
In fact, most normal humans have a shameful response to acts of greed.

Greed is counter productive in terms of human survival.
We are a social animal and we have been conditioned by natural selection to perform as a part of the collective.
Without this positive response to acts of kindness and generosity, we would never have come down from the trees.

It wasn't greed that drove human evolution, it was our collective need to nurture others in our group by the sharing of possessions and food.

Please excuse any spelling errors...I had a few cocktails after work.

I don't indulge, my spelling errors come naturally or as the result of a school system that didn't know what they were doing and didn't teach Phonics.

I have spent many years trying to understand myself and others. Groups such as American indians who live in a society such as you describe never moved above hunter gather till they were exposed to the white mans ways. Even today indians living under the reservation system are not very motivated to do better. Some of the tribes that have casinos have outside people operate the casinos while the tribe members live off their small share of the earnings. They could get jobs in the casino but a lack of greed and your sharing of human kindness lead the to a life of diabetes and an early death. Or more likely their greed is saying why work when I don't need to.

Not all indians take this path. My roommate who is part indian was on a trip with the motor home and needed a diesel repair. The shop I located for her had a full blooded indian living on a reservation but working off the reservation. He not only made the repair but located the reason why the part broke (an incorrect repair) and fixed it so we shouldn't have problems with it again. His motivation was the reservations location was to far from people to have a casino and he wanted more out of life.

The same happened in Russia. Because greed only worked for those placed high in the government, the worker had not reason to work hard. Working hard was a disadvantage because hard work lead to a higher quota for which you received the same rate of pay. In this case greed is saying the best value for my effort is to only produce my quota and then spend the day getting drunk. No kidding, that is what they did. If you don't believe me, try reading Mig Pilot and you will see what it's like to live in your dream world.

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The feeling I get is not greed, but the fact that I want more is.

That feeling is caused by the release of endorphines into the brain via the bloodstream.

The truth of the matter is you want more because of the reward your body has given itself for doing good.
This isn't greed. You simply want more because it feels good to do good works for your community and social group.

Greed doesn't present this same physiological response within the body because greed is a selfish act.
Performing a selfish act serves no usefull purpose to the survival of the tribe and evolution hasn't provided us with a greed pleasure response.
In fact, most normal humans have a shameful response to acts of greed.

Greed is counter productive in terms of human survival.
We are a social animal and we have been conditioned by natural selection to perform as a part of the collective.
Without this positive response to acts of kindness and generosity, we would never have come down from the trees.

It wasn't greed that drove human evolution, it was our collective need to nurture others in our group by the sharing of possessions and food.

Please excuse any spelling errors...I had a few cocktails after work.

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I do not fight fascists because I think I can win.
I fight them because they are fascists.
Chris Hedges

A riot is the language of the unheard. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

There is nothing wrong with helping people and I do it when I can. The reason is when I make an impact on a persons life, I get a good feeling. The reason I continue to do so is because I crave that feeling and my payment for the service is the feeling. Because I want even more, I call that my greed.

Wanting more is what created the world we live in today. Without greed we would still be living in trees.

When you help someone, you get a good feeling.
The corporatist profiteering pampered elites have told you this is greed.
I call it the thing that makes us human.

Greed is the accumulation of capital and goods beyond the point where your needs are being met. (with allowances for some creature comforts)

When one has so much that several generations of their family can live in Calligula-like splendor while doing nothing productive for society. That is greed.

You don't seem like one consumed with greed in that last post. I'm thinking you just need to lay off reading the right wing garbage.

The feeling I get is not greed, but the fact that I want more is.

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There is nothing wrong with helping people and I do it when I can. The reason is when I make an impact on a persons life, I get a good feeling. The reason I continue to do so is because I crave that feeling and my payment for the service is the feeling. Because I want even more, I call that my greed.

Wanting more is what created the world we live in today. Without greed we would still be living in trees.

When you help someone, you get a good feeling.
The corporatist profiteering pampered elites have told you this is greed.
I call it the thing that makes us human.

Greed is the accumulation of capital and goods beyond the point where your needs are being met. (with allowances for some creature comforts)

When one has so much that several generations of their family can live in Calligula-like splendor while doing nothing productive for society. That is greed.

You don't seem like one consumed with greed in that last post. I'm thinking you just need to lay off reading the right wing garbage.

---

I do not fight fascists because I think I can win.
I fight them because they are fascists.
Chris Hedges

A riot is the language of the unheard. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

There is nothing wrong with helping people and I do it when I can. The reason is when I make an impact on a persons life, I get a good feeling. The reason I continue to do so is because I crave that feeling and my payment for the service is the feeling. Because I want even more, I call that my greed.

Wanting more is what created the world we live in today. Without greed we would still be living in trees.

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“A Native American grandfather talking to his young grandson tells the boy he has two wolves inside of him struggling with each other. The first is the wolf of peace, love and kindness. The other wolf is fear, greed and hatred. "Which wolf will win, grandfather?" asks the young boy. "Whichever one I feed," is the reply.”

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I do not fight fascists because I think I can win.
I fight them because they are fascists.
Chris Hedges

A riot is the language of the unheard. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

If bettering working people's lives is seen as a bad thing by you...I guess I'm doing something right.

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I do not fight fascists because I think I can win.
I fight them because they are fascists.
Chris Hedges

A riot is the language of the unheard. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

I always say that the far right has a low opinion of humanity.
Those of you who buy into this greed driven form of existence must project that onto others in a case of self delusion to salve your own souls.
I suppose the reason for this is that you think you are normal, so everyone one else must feel the same levels of greed as you.

There are many powerful forces that drive humans.
The most powerful force would probably be love. Love has been the inspiration for some of humanities finest moments in art, literature and of course real life.
For love, people have both aspired to greatness and also given up everything.

Wonder, or our sense of discovery is another. The wonder of knowing the universe and all it's secrets drives people. The wonder of what's over the horizon has caused us to cross continents and oceans. It will eventually send us to the stars.

You can live in your greed inspired world if you see fit, but I find greater things than greed while sitting in my boat on a quiet lake as the sun rises.
You can equate all human activity with greed but the vast majority of people are inspired and driven by far better things.

I know that the things I do are not for greed. I know it in my gut.
When I spent untold hours performing unpaid union work, it wasn't greed driving me, it was to try and better the lives of those I worked with.
I still go to work every day, like the vast majority of common people. It isn't greed that sends me to work. Necessity drives me to work. In the same way hunter/gatherers must get out to provide the necessities so must we. Our society may be greatly different from that of hunter/gatherers, but our necessities are the same.
We all must have food, water and shelter. If, in an industrial society, one acquires material goods as a side benefit of one's labours, it doesn't mean it's due to greed. It's simply a byproduct of living in an industrial society.

It doesn't matter to me that people like you don't get it.
The reason you don't get it is directly proportional to your own level of greed.

The truth comes out. The only reasons for Unions today is to get higher pay at the expense of those who don't belong to a Union. You are just as greedy as the rest of us and maybe more so.

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I always say that the far right has a low opinion of humanity.
Those of you who buy into this greed driven form of existence must project that onto others in a case of self delusion to salve your own souls.
I suppose the reason for this is that you think you are normal, so everyone one else must feel the same levels of greed as you.

There are many powerful forces that drive humans.
The most powerful force would probably be love. Love has been the inspiration for some of humanities finest moments in art, literature and of course real life.
For love, people have both aspired to greatness and also given up everything.

Wonder, or our sense of discovery is another. The wonder of knowing the universe and all it's secrets drives people. The wonder of what's over the horizon has caused us to cross continents and oceans. It will eventually send us to the stars.

You can live in your greed inspired world if you see fit, but I find greater things than greed while sitting in my boat on a quiet lake as the sun rises.
You can equate all human activity with greed but the vast majority of people are inspired and driven by far better things.

I know that the things I do are not for greed. I know it in my gut.
When I spent untold hours performing unpaid union work, it wasn't greed driving me, it was to try and better the lives of those I worked with.
I still go to work every day, like the vast majority of common people. It isn't greed that sends me to work. Necessity drives me to work. In the same way hunter/gatherers must get out to provide the necessities so must we. Our society may be greatly different from that of hunter/gatherers, but our necessities are the same.
We all must have food, water and shelter. If, in an industrial society, one acquires material goods as a side benefit of one's labours, it doesn't mean it's due to greed. It's simply a byproduct of living in an industrial society.

It doesn't matter to me that people like you don't get it.
The reason you don't get it is directly proportional to your own level of greed.

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I do not fight fascists because I think I can win.
I fight them because they are fascists.
Chris Hedges

A riot is the language of the unheard. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

I would say that Greed is the most important trait that drives humans. You may think I am wrong, but consider that greed is not always about money. It could be making sure your family is taken care of. It could be having the time to do charity work. It could be about power. It's being able to get what's most important to you. People may think they are filling a need to help other, but it's a way of taking care of their greed to feel good about what they do.

Dena, that is the worst argument I've ever seen.
The super rich elites, having no way of justifying their own greed, simply thrust the word greed onto their critics.

If the pampered elites are driven by greed, so must be the person spooning out the soup in a breadline.

Even a child could tear that argument down.

However, you have not so far.
Would you go to work if you didn't need the pay check? That's greed. On the other had if you love your work, that is a form of greed as well. We take a very narrow meaning of the word greed but consider life before money. We were greedy for what ever berries we could gather, the wood for the fire and the animal skins we used to keep warm. The creation of money didn't cause greed, it existed long before money was around. For a long time our greed was limited to what we could carry with us but once we settled down our greed could be greater.

If you know what is important to a person, you know if you will be able to make a deal with them or if their greed will cost you more than you are willing to part with. Sometime try talking to someone and try to figure out what the most important thing is that they want.

Greed has some very bad public relations because nobody wants to admit they are greedy but we all are. If anything it makes us more human instead of less.

By the way, that guy in the soup line may value his time and freedom from responsibility as far more important than money. In this country we have may people willing to help people get off the street but their help is refused because the street people don't want to play by the rules of society. That was how most of them got on the street in the first place. It's like a drug addict or an alcoholic where the most important thing is life is avoiding it.

If you disagree with this argument, then suggest another driving force in life that is more powerful than greed.

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I would say that Greed is the most important trait that drives humans. You may think I am wrong, but consider that greed is not always about money. It could be making sure your family is taken care of. It could be having the time to do charity work. It could be about power. It's being able to get what's most important to you. People may think they are filling a need to help other, but it's a way of taking care of their greed to feel good about what they do.

Dena, that is the worst argument I've ever seen.
The super rich elites, having no way of justifying their own greed, simply thrust the word greed onto their critics.

If the pampered elites are driven by greed, so must be the person spooning out the soup in a breadline.

Even a child could tear that argument down.

---

I do not fight fascists because I think I can win.
I fight them because they are fascists.
Chris Hedges

A riot is the language of the unheard. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

I would say that Greed is the most important trait that drives humans. You may think I am wrong, but consider that greed is not always about money. It could be making sure your family is taken care of. It could be having the time to do charity work. It could be about power. It's being able to get what's most important to you. People may think they are filling a need to help other, but it's a way of taking care of their greed to feel good about what they do.

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Looking to the future, when our populations grow out of hand, and food becomes a true scarce commodity, we'll see how far our compassion goes then. The choice of feeding your own family enough to sustain them, or sending it off to somewhere else where inevitably, they have no chance of survival.

That is our true nature, individual survival.

What's happening with antibiotics atm? So many people with immuno defficiency diseases, that antibiotics are becoming useless. Yet those diseases get passed on, more generations need antibiotics where the healthy don't.

When the strong "healthy" get sick, the antibiotics are useless, because the disease that should have died out generations ago has been allowed to survive in the weak.

It's cold, but it's the truth. A truth not many will agree with or like. But hey, facts are facts.

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Sorry Byron, but i'm going to be really harsh here.

In our tenure of this planet, we humans have accumulated dangerous, evolutionary baggage propensities for aggression and ritual, submission to leaders, hostility to outsiders, all of which puts our survival in some doubt. But we humans have also acquired compassion for others, love for our children, a desire to learn from history and experience, and a great, soaring passionate intelligence the clear tools for our continued survival and prosperity.

I'm a Darwin fanatic. Those traits up until the word 'compassion' are what got us to be the dominant species on earth. Not our 'compassion'. Our hostile attitudes allowed us to let the weak amongst us die, and the strongest survive to pass on those genes. The law of nature, survival of the fittest.

Compassion is a weakness, that allows us today to foster a weakness in our culture. Those with genetic diseases, that normally would not survive, do today and dilute our gene pool, making us less resiliant as a species.

In the human culture today, it isn't the strongest passing on the best genetic material, the weakest that would normally die off are being allowed through 'compassion' to pass on genetic flaws.

I liken our evolution to a battle zone. Triage aka 'compassion', is given to those who have the most chance of survival, and those of most value. We practice it in wartime, and our whole evolution has been a war. Of survival. The weak die.

Compassion doesn't set us apart from animals. They exhibit it also. Just like sadness, love, joy. Lots of animals show that.

But when it comes to the crunch, they leave the weakest behind, for the good of the whole.

That's what humans seem to have forgotten. We aren't growing stronger as a species, we just keep inbreeding genetic flaws that should be left to die out. In nature, they would have been.

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About Harrison Schmitt on the Gulf Oil Spill. I would say the following. In our tenure of this planet, we humans have accumulated dangerous, evolutionary baggage propensities for aggression and ritual, submission to leaders, hostility to outsiders, all of which puts our survival in some doubt. But we humans have also acquired compassion for others, love for our children, a desire to learn from history and experience, and a great, soaring passionate intelligence the clear tools for our continued survival and prosperity. I think that If we humans do not destroy ourselves, that one day we humans will evolve into a Global form of government.

The big problem with Compassion is that there is some crook out there that lacks Compassion who will take advantage of those who have it. That is the problem we need to solve.

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About Harrison Schmitt on the Gulf Oil Spill. I would say the following. In our tenure of this planet, we humans have accumulated dangerous, evolutionary baggage propensities for aggression and ritual, submission to leaders, hostility to outsiders, all of which puts our survival in some doubt. But we humans have also acquired compassion for others, love for our children, a desire to learn from history and experience, and a great, soaring passionate intelligence the clear tools for our continued survival and prosperity. I think that If we humans do not destroy ourselves, that one day we humans will evolve into a Global form of government.

Because truth is often stranger than fiction. When has politics ever been open and transparent?

The elected governments no longer serve the people, nor are they answerable to the people. They serve what they believe is in the nations interest, due to the unseen agendas that we theorize about.

We only get 1/3rd of the truth, and even that's mixed with a whole lot of cattle manure.

I agree with you but we were promised a transparent government. It was going to be something new and different. Instead we have Chicago style politics which is some of the worst government this county has to offer.

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Because truth is often stranger than fiction. When has politics ever been open and transparent?

The elected governments no longer serve the people, nor are they answerable to the people. They serve what they believe is in the nations interest, due to the unseen agendas that we theorize about.

We only get 1/3rd of the truth, and even that's mixed with a whole lot of cattle manure.

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It's been mentioned on NPR and elsewhere that the career officials in that office have become good bedfellows with the coal gas and oil industries. Yes she needed to be fired. She didn't do due diligence. She should have seen the collusion with the office and enegry producers. She did not but I assume that her successor will have heads rolling

But with an open and transparent administration, why did she leave by the back door and not the front? Enquiring minds want to know.

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