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Atticus

(15,124 posts)
Fri Sep 9, 2022, 09:18 AM Sep 2022

As someone who planted his first fruit trees over 40 years ago, I feel qualified to

analogize the painful pruning process that is necessary for a tree to be productive to what needs to be done with our Congress and our Supreme Court.

Limbs that are broken or diseased are the most obvious ones to be cut away. But, it is also necessary that limbs be removed that are simply going in the wrong direction or at a bad angle. And a limb doing injury to another has to go.

If these tried and true practices were applied as ruthlessly as a good orchardist wields his shears, we'd prune away every Representative and Senator who voted to overturn the 2020 election of President Biden AND we'd have at least three SCOTUS seats to fill.

Believe it or not, novice pruners are often urged to "Be bold! What you cut away will make the tree thrive."

9 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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As someone who planted his first fruit trees over 40 years ago, I feel qualified to (Original Post) Atticus Sep 2022 OP
I've got two pear trees I know I need to prune but Phoenix61 Sep 2022 #1
Excellent analogy! Quakerfriend Sep 2022 #2
Yes. Most of what needs to be pruned for health becomes very obvious Hortensis Sep 2022 #3
"odd-appearing suckers shooting out of the base"---I see what you did there! Atticus Sep 2022 #4
Sometimes I wonder that instead of doing some pruning, that we shouldn't take a bulldozer Chainfire Sep 2022 #5
When my landscapers come to trim my instruction to them is "more the better", meaning in2herbs Sep 2022 #6
The United States Supreme Court has been,.. magicarpet Sep 2022 #7
Great OP malaise Sep 2022 #8
When do you prune an apple tree? When the knife is sharp. Hermit-The-Prog Sep 2022 #9

Phoenix61

(16,952 posts)
1. I've got two pear trees I know I need to prune but
Fri Sep 9, 2022, 09:21 AM
Sep 2022

just can’t bring myself to do it. Probably time to hit YouTube and find out how to prune Asian pear trees.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
3. Yes. Most of what needs to be pruned for health becomes very obvious
Fri Sep 9, 2022, 09:27 AM
Sep 2022

after a very short tutorial. Of course odd-appearing suckers shooting out of the base need to be removed as soon as they're noticed.

Chainfire

(17,305 posts)
5. Sometimes I wonder that instead of doing some pruning, that we shouldn't take a bulldozer
Fri Sep 9, 2022, 10:17 AM
Sep 2022

to the orchard and start fresh, without corporate finance involved in the process.

in2herbs

(2,942 posts)
6. When my landscapers come to trim my instruction to them is "more the better", meaning
Fri Sep 9, 2022, 10:25 AM
Sep 2022

take more, not less. My trees and bushes are thriving.

magicarpet

(13,941 posts)
7. The United States Supreme Court has been,..
Fri Sep 9, 2022, 12:28 PM
Sep 2022

... so totally molested by Dumpie-tRump. It only seems logical the initial pruning be done with a huge lumberjack's chainsaw and an industrial sized wood chipper. To even begin to clean up the mess been done by them over there.

Between tRump, McConnell, and the Fascist Federalist Society - they all made one hell of a mess at the country's highest court of justice.

If we do not succeed in increasing the total number of sitting justices to dilute the impact of the Christo-Fascists on the court. The rulings and decisions for generations to come will lean heavily in the direction of extremist right-wing Christian Dominionist Orthodoxy.

The US Constitutional concept of ... "separation of church and state" will be ripped from the Constitution and then shredded, then gleefully and unceremoniously flushed down the toulet.

These Christian Dominionists, Christian Reconstructionists, Christian Pentecostals, Christian Evangelicals, Christian Prosperity Doctrine devotees, and other Christian inspired extremist groups mean business. Their intentions are to covertly and otherwise seize and take over all branches and positions of federal, state, and local government. From dog catcher to court justices to the office of the US Presidency.

For proof - look at the turmoil right wing extremist have brought to numerous local school boards on a national basis. Forced changes in the curriculum. Banning and burning books. Mandating Christian posters be hung in classrooms. Mandating by court decree coaches be allowed to pray on the football field before or after football games. Court rulings forcing tax payer funding for public schools be redirected to privatized Christian Bible Study Academies.

Once again these Christian Fascist zealots intend to seize and take over all branches of federal, state, and local governments to meld and blend and craft a Christian Fascist utopia based upon their warped interpretations of the bible. Then construct their society of extremist versions of Christian perfection buttressed by biblical rather than Constitutional laws.

The thought of which should make us all shake and shudder in absolute disgust,.. while our forefathers who authored the US Constitution frantically roll in their graves in a state of livid unrest and disbelief. They knew of the dangers and sufficiently warned us of the detrimental effects of fascistic Christian Crusaders if allowed to run rampant through governmental institutions.

Our forefathers well understood the disruptions Christian zealots are capable of and built protections in the Constitution to safe guard us from this. Christian zealotry often brings uncompromising and vindictive no prisoners - only death by stoning attitudes - if you don't see all things identically and precisely and exactly - their narrow minded way.

This type of narrow minded thinking combined with adamant and unlimited Christian zealotry cause untold grief and conflict within governmental institutions so that government is rendered broken and no longer functional.

This is the dilemma we are stuck in right now and why our government no longer works or attends to the business of governance that reflects the will of the people and voters.

A minority of Christian zealots and fascistic political extremists have captured the working mechanization of our government, have a firm grasp on our throats, and are proceeding to drown us in the bathtub with limited hopes for that last gasp of air permitting us to survive.

It is long past time we do something about this and finally turn the tables on them and return them back to the margins of society where they belong.




Hermit-The-Prog

(33,039 posts)
9. When do you prune an apple tree? When the knife is sharp.
Fri Sep 9, 2022, 02:05 PM
Sep 2022

An election year is when you sharpen the knife.

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