Fornits
General Interest => Tacitus' Realm => Topic started by: heretik on November 03, 2010, 02:31:09 PM
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/11/03/notes110310.DTL&ao=2
"Letter to a whiny young Democrat"
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
SFGate November 3, 2010 04:00 AM
Oh, now you've done it.
See? You see what happens when you young liberal voters get so disgruntled and disillusioned that you drop all your party's newborn, hard-won ideas about Hope™ and Change™, without any patience, without really giving them sufficient time to mature, without understanding that hugely foreign, anti-American concept known as "the long view"?
See what happens when you wallow in hollow disappointment, trudging all over your liberal arts campus and refusing to vote in a rather important mid-term election, all because your pet issues and nubile ego weren't immediately serviced by a mesmerizing guy named Barack Obama just after he sucked you into his web of fuzzyhappy promises a mere two years ago, back when you were knee-high to a shiny liberal ideology?
Well, now you know. This is what happens: The U.S. House of Representatives, the most insufferable gaggle of political mongrels this side of, well, the rest of Congress, reverts to GOP control like a brain tumor reverts to a more aggressive form of cancer, and everything gets bleaker and sadder and, frankly, a whole lot nastier.
What happens is: Many kinds of fragmented, muddled, but still constructive Democratic progress might get stopped quite nearly dead, and even a few pieces of legislation we actually did gain get slapped around, threatened, stomped on the head like a scientist at a Rand Paul rally. Happy now?
Check it out, kiddo: This is not just any Republican party you allowed back into power; these mealy folks are not anything like the war-hungry, Bush-tainted army of flying monkeys and Dick Cheney moose knuckles you so wonderfully helped bury in the history books last election.
No, the GOP of 2010-2011 is even weirder, dumber, less interested in anything you even remotely care about; this GOP is infused like a sour cocktail with a bitter splash of the most cartoonish, climate change-denying Tea Party dingbats imaginable -- most of whom think you're an elitist, terrorist-loving, gay-supporting threat to "real" American values, btw -- all led by a guy named Boehner who wears a bizarre, shellacked tan so fake and creepy it makes Nancy Pelosi looks like a supermodel.
And you made it all happen. Or rather, you failed to prevent it from happening, by not voting, by turning your collective back on Obama's tough love, by getting all whiny and dejected like some sort of sullen teen vampire who can't get laid.
Do you deny it? Did you see the polls and studies that said that most fresh-faced, Obama-swooning Dems like you are now refusing to support our beloved Nazi Muslim president because he didn't wish-fulfill your every whim in a week? That he was, in fact, not quite the instant-gratification SuperJesus of your (or rather, our) dreams?
Of course you didn't see any of that. Hell, I bet you're not even reading this column right now. You're probably back on Twitter, raging into the Void about, hell, who knows what? The Wolf Parade concert. Angry Birds. The People of Wal-Mart. Anything but politics, really.
But hey, whatevs, right? Screw it. Screw him. After all, the prez let you down. Conveniently "forgot" to include you in the dialogue, after a major election that you helped him win. Where were the outreach programs? The campus speaking tours? Weekly appearances on "The Daily Show"? Legal pot and gay marriage and discounts tickets to SXSW and Burning Man and Coachella? I want my goddamn political perks, and I want them now.
Hey, I understand. We're an instant gratification culture, and you're an ADHD generation. Who wants to hear that serious enviro legislation might take a decade or two to fully come to fruition? Who wants to hear about Obama passing rather amazing student loan reform? Or even financial reform? Or health care, the Iraq drawdown, saving a million jobs at GM, or all the rest of his rather astonishing achievements to date? Dude, so boring.
Of course, you've now learned the hard way that the hot flush of a major election is far more electrifying than the gray n' meaty grind of actual governing. Obama flew into office on gossamer liberal wings, but the real halls of D.C. are a goddamn pigsblood slaughterhouse, brutal and depressing, full of gnarled legislative compromise. Screw that noise, you know?
And you know what? You're right. Well, sort of. The Obama administration sure as hell could've done more to keep young activists inspired and involved. It's an opportunity squandered, no question. Then again, dude was sorta busy unburying the entire nation, you know? And the twitchy Democratic party has never been known for its savvy cohesion. Maybe you can give him/them a break? Whoops, too late.
Look, I'm sorry. I know I'm being far too hard on you. Of course it's not just you. It's not completely your fault these dimwit Repubs were allowed to ooze back into a bit of power so soon. As many analysts have pointed out, this wasn't a vote for the Republicans, but against the limp-wristed Dems who didn't step up and lead with more authority and clarity of purpose. Truly, libs and independents of every age are frustrated Obama isn't governing with the same kind of magical, balls-out visionary zeal that fueled his campaign.
And let's not forget a shockingly unintelligent Tea Party movement that stands for exactly nothing and fears exactly everything, all ghost-funded by a couple of creepy libertarian oil billionaires -- the leathery old Koch brothers -- who eat their young for a snack. Who could've predicted that gnarled political contraption would hold water? But hey, when Americans are angry and nervous, they do stupid things. Like vote Republican. It happens. Just did.
But here's your big takeaway, young Dem: It ain't over yet. The 2012 election is just around the corner. If we've learned anything, it's that two years whip by insanely quickly. Anything can happen, and usually does. You'll have another chance. And probably another after that. Maybe more.
So here's what you need to know, right now: Barack Obama is, and will continue to be, a bit of goddamn miracle. He's simply as good as we're going get for an articulate, thoughtful, integrity-rich Democratic prez in your lifetime. Period. To hamstring his administration out of spite and laziness is childish and sad. Check the accomplishments. Understand the process. Deal with the messiness.
It will never be perfect. It will never be giddy liberal nirvana, because it doesn't work that way. Politics is corrosive and infuriating, de facto and by definition, even with someone as thoughtful as Obama in the Big Chair. Understand it. Deal with it. Get back in the game. If you don't, we all lose.
Your choice, kiddo.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... z14FGrxN4u (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/11/03/notes110310.DTL&ao=2#ixzz14FGrxN4u)
Very well thought out and written. Tells it like it is.
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I agree, well said. I think that because many of Obama's voters were younger, they are still rather impressionable. They succumbed to the unrelenting and heavily funded onslaught of advertising and propaganda. I am hoping that in two years they will have realized how they were duped and they will be ANGRY. NOTHING will happen in the next two years, period. The republican controlled house will now set about trying to undo the small amount of progress the Obama administration has made so far. They will fail, Obama has the veto, so, gridlock.
I don't see how anyone here, with the exception of Whooter, would EVER vote republican. The Reagan's and the entire Bush family shilled for Straight and its descendants, and were handsomely rewarded by the industry in campaign contributions. WWASP was a major contributor to Mitt Romney. Republicans, more than Democrats, seem to believe that the end justifies the means, just like the programs we were all in. They, as a party, believe in torturing people, spying on their own citizens, legislating their own version of morality, waging wars on false pretenses to obtain optimal position for oil acquisition, etc.....
How much money has Dick Cheney's old company Halliburton made off of that illegal war?
The Democrats may be lame, but I don't think they are outright criminal as a rule. I cannot say that about Republicans.
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I agree, well said. I think that because most of Obama's voters were younger, they are still rather impressionable. They succumbed to the unrelenting and heavily funded onslaught of advertising and propaganda. I am hoping that in two years they will have realized how they were duped and they will be ANGRY. NOTHING will happen in the next two years, period. The republican controlled house will now set about trying to undo the small amount of progress the Obama administration has made so far. They will fail, Obama has the veto, so, gridlock.
I don't see how anyone here, with the exception of Whooter, would EVER vote republican. The Reagan's and the entire Bush family shilled for Straight and its descendants, and were handsomely rewarded by the industry in campaign contributions. WWASP was a major contributor to Mitt Romney. Republicans, more than Democrats, seem to believe that the end justifies the means, just like the programs we were all in. They, as a party, believe in torturing people, spying on their own citizens, legislating their own version of morality, waging wars on false pretenses to obtain optimal position for oil acquisition, etc.....
How much money has Dick Cheney's old company Halliburton made off of that illegal war?
The Democrats may be lame, but I don't think they are outright criminal as a rule. I cannot say that about Republicans.
Well then I'll say it for you, the Republicans are outright criminals and liars. It will take another 2 years for the people to wake up again. I just hope they stop thinking the Prez is "GOD" and he grants prayers on a whim.
Sorry, for being so forward.
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yeah,an everybody knows theres NEVER,EVER been any criminal wrongdoing or lies told by a Democrat,well ceptin not in haling,or was that not havin sexual relations with that woman,or during the kennedy camelsnot presidency,or hows about the fdr tapes or all the poor schmucks that died a peal harbor,due to a president needing popular sentiment to make war against japan, or the sinking of the "unarmed" lusitania.......can I stop now? :soapbox:
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polititians are by very nature,liars. The idea of one party being any less full of shit than the other is insipid. Flip sides of the same coin.
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polititians are by very nature,liars. The idea of one party being any less full of shit than the other is insipid. Flip sides of the same coin.
Do you advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. Govt.? Because that is the only way around politics, brute force. And your way will not be everybody's way, so what do you do? Endless revolution? Why not just move to Cuba? We are stuck with politics if we want to be civilized people so we will always be faced with choosing the lesser of two evils. It was not widely known what Roosevelt had done for decades. What might we find out about the Bush administration, decades from now? I have eyes, and Republicans, to me, especially at this point in history, walk, talk and act like criminals.
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Some of what we are up against;
http://www.antifascistencyclopedia.com/ ... ug-addicts (http://www.antifascistencyclopedia.com/allposts/eugenics-cia-propagandist-richard-m-scaife-sponsors-sterilization-for-drug-addicts)
These people are evil.
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I agree, well said. I think that because most of Obama's voters were younger, they are still rather impressionable. They succumbed to the unrelenting and heavily funded onslaught of advertising and propaganda. I am hoping that in two years they will have realized how they were duped and they will be ANGRY. NOTHING will happen in the next two years, period. The republican controlled house will now set about trying to undo the small amount of progress the Obama administration has made so far. They will fail, Obama has the veto, so, gridlock.
I don't see how anyone here, with the exception of Whooter, would EVER vote republican. The Reagan's and the entire Bush family shilled for Straight and its descendants, and were handsomely rewarded by the industry in campaign contributions. WWASP was a major contributor to Mitt Romney. Republicans, more than Democrats, seem to believe that the end justifies the means, just like the programs we were all in. They, as a party, believe in torturing people, spying on their own citizens, legislating their own version of morality, waging wars on false pretenses to obtain optimal position for oil acquisition, etc.....
How much money has Dick Cheney's old company Halliburton made off of that illegal war?
The Democrats may be lame, but I don't think they are outright criminal as a rule. I cannot say that about Republicans.
Well then I'll say it for you, the Republicans are outright criminals and liars. It will take another 2 years for the people to wake up again. I just hope they stop thinking the Prez is "GOD" and he grants prayers on a whim.
Sorry, for being so forward.
Wake Up, again?
Yep... cause like they were awake.
What were they awake about?
Eventually reality hits home. Don't wait for them to wake up again...OK?
You have to wait for the memory to erase itself and then... 20 years from now idiots will reign once more.
You can only fool people once.
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Some of what we are up against;
http://www.antifascistencyclopedia.com/ ... ug-addicts (http://www.antifascistencyclopedia.com/allposts/eugenics-cia-propagandist-richard-m-scaife-sponsors-sterilization-for-drug-addicts)
These people are evil.
No way... Universal Health Care is a good thing.
The National Government loves you...
Big Smiley here.
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polititians are by very nature,liars. The idea of one party being any less full of shit than the other is insipid. Flip sides of the same coin.
Can not argue with you, you are right, they all lie.
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I think that Obama is still campaigning and trying to get people on his side. He has short changed the American Public and failed to roll up his sleeves and get to work. At least Bush didnt care about what people thought of him and did what he thought was the best for the country (not himself). He knew he was hated but continued to lead and not get caught up in the negative press.
The democrats are needed, I agree, they add balance and come in once a decade and add some needed programs (Which allow people like Shadyacres to make it through another few years without contributing to society), make television appearances, sleep with a few young interns and look us all in the face and tell us lies. Then the public remember who does all the work and keeps us all safe and they vote the Democrats out.
Its a cycle that is needed and will continue for decades to come unless we can find some people who are willing to build a third party that has credibility and funding.
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I don't need anyone's help to not contribute to society. I have a job on one of Obama's death panels. Failed to roll up his sleeves and get to work? I'll post this again;
http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/ (http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/)
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I don't need anyone's help to not contribute to society. I have a job on one of Obama's death panels. Failed to roll up his sleeves and get to work? I'll post this again;
http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/ (http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/)
Good work Shadyacres.....thanks.
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I agree, well said. I think that because many of Obama's voters were younger, they are still rather impressionable. They succumbed to the unrelenting and heavily funded onslaught of advertising and propaganda. I am hoping that in two years they will have realized how they were duped and they will be ANGRY. NOTHING will happen in the next two years, period. The republican controlled house will now set about trying to undo the small amount of progress the Obama administration has made so far. They will fail, Obama has the veto, so, gridlock.
I don't see how anyone here, with the exception of Whooter, would EVER vote republican.
Are you kidding me. I'll vote republican if it's for somebody like Ron Paul or his son, Rand. Otherwise i'll vote libertarian.
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If the Republicans actually stuck to what they're supposed to stand for, I'd probably be a Republican. But they don't. I'm fiscally conservative but socially liberal. This "us v. them" mindset is killing the country. Ever since Reagan's "trickle down" fiasco, ::) it's been nothing but the rich getting richer at the expense of the middle class and poor.
(http://http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/4746130800_0710504292.jpg)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/6/29 ... -Americans (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/6/29/880219/-Proof:-Trickle-Down-Didnt-Help,-It-Harmed-90-of-Americans)
Proof: Trickle Down Didn't Help, It Harmed 90% of Americans
by War on Error
Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 07:03:13 AM PDT
Here's another tool to put in your arsenal to dispel the GOP disinformation. FACTS.
(http://http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4745156301_426ae52004.jpg)
The 2001-2007 expansion outperformed the average post-World War II expansion in only one area:
Corporate profits, which grew much more rapidly than average.
The evidence on the 2001-2007 expansion provides no support for the claim that the tax cuts generated especially robust economic growth.
http://www.cbpp.org/.. (http://www.cbpp.org/..).
For more proof that the GOP touted wonder of Trickle Down was bad for wages and jobs, drop and check out the chart. Worst period for workers since WWII!
Please keep chipping away at the conservatives and, more importantly, the independents. Email, facebook, go viral. There are more people than you think that can be persuaded.
* War on Error's diary :: ::
(http://http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4077/4745897630_1b330d5732.jpg)
For six of the seven indicators, the average annual growth rate between 2001 and 2007 was below the average growth rate for the comparable periods of other post-World War II economic expansions.
Notably, this expansion was among the weakest since World War II with respect to both overall economic growth and growth in fixed non-residential investment. These two indicators should have captured any positive “growth effects” of the tax cuts.
The labor market also was weaker during the 2001-2007 expansion. Both employment growth and wage and salary growth were weaker during this expansion as a whole than in any prior expansion since the end of World War II.
The 2001-2007 expansion outperformed the average post-World War II expansion in only one area: corporate profits, which grew much more rapidly than average.
http://www.cbpp.org/.. (http://www.cbpp.org/..).
During this same period the top 1% of Americans enjoyed the same huge gains in income of 70% they did in the 1920s. Is it any wonder our present Depression.....ahem...Recession looks just like it did in the 1930s?
(http://http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/4745929712_695d23bff3.jpg)
Piketty and Saez’s unique data series on income inequality, based on IRS files, is particularly valuable because it provides detailed information on income gains at the top of the income scale and extends back to 1913.
The new data show:
2007 marked the fifth straight year in which income gains at the top outpaced those among the rest of the population. From 2002 to 2007, the average inflation-adjusted income of the top 1 percent of households rose 62 percent, compared to 4 percent for the bottom 90 percent of households (see Table 1).
So, once again the FACTS dispel the LIES. Trickle down was a ruse to enrich the top 1% of our population.
This article is one of the most complete and frankest articles on the debacle we are in I have found to date.
Grand Theft America
by Stephen Lendman
http://baltimorechronicle.com/.. (http://baltimorechronicle.com/..).
GET THE FACTS ABOUT TRICKLE DOWN OUT THERE so the lies can be dispelled, and people can see the facts for themselves.
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Plain and simple, I would vote for Elmo before I would ever vote Republican. It has nothing to do with Democrats. I just hate Republicans on their own merits. Also, I'm not really into theological fascism. I really don't see Ben Franklin hobnobbing with the current rendition of crazy assed neocons.
I also don't understand why people think America is supposed to remain the same when our population has exploded exponentially in the past 60 years. Opportunity is not as pervasive. This is the first generation that is graduating less literate than their parent's generation.
What I really hate is the whole big government vs. small government argument. It's not an all or nothing paradigm. There is place for both. But I sure as @#!*% don't trust too-big-to-fail corporations to "keep it real." Regulations and oversight are necessary.
Do Democrats even have a version of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, or Ann Coulter to name a few? These pundits don't represent sanity, or conservatism. They are all vicious little @#!*% that base every argument on bellicosity instead of reason and sense. The fact they are so admired makes me think Americans are stupid twits who 1. don't read, and 2. are either bullies or 3. so impotent they have to stand under the skirts of mean girls to feel powerful.
I would much rather hang with someone who attends tree hugging ceremonies for Adam and Steve than I would ever choose to hang around some one holding a "God hates F-gs" sign at a dead hero's funeral.
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Plain and simple, I would vote for Elmo before I would ever vote Republican. It has nothing to do with Democrats. I just hate Republicans on their own merits. Also, I'm not really into theological fascism. I really don't see Ben Franklin hobnobbing with the current rendition of crazy assed neocons.
I also don't understand why people think America is supposed to remain the same when our population has exploded exponentially in the past 60 years. Opportunity is not as pervasive. This is the first generation that is graduating less literate than their parent's generation.
What I really hate is the whole big government vs. small government argument. It's not an all or nothing paradigm. There is place for both. But I sure as hell don't trust too-big-to-fail corporations to "keep it real." Regulations and oversight are necessary.
Do Democrats even have a version of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, or Ann Coulter to name a few? These pundits don't represent sanity, or conservatism. They are all vicious little bitches that base every argument on bellicosity instead of reason and sense. The fact they are so admired makes me think Americans are stupid twits who 1. don't read, and 2. are either bullies or 3. so impotent they have to stand under the skirts the mean girls to feel powerful.
I would much rather hang with someone who attends tree hugging ceremonies for Adam and Steve than I would ever choose to hang around some one holding a "God hates F-gs"sign at dead hero's funeral.
:tup: :tup:
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I would much rather hang with someone who attends tree hugging ceremonies for Adam and Steve than I would ever choose to hang around some one holding a "God hates F-gs" sign at a dead hero's funeral.
I think most people would agree with you here, myself included. The people who carry these signs are not representing the Republican party, they are representing a segment of a religious affiliation.
...
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I would much rather hang with someone who attends tree hugging ceremonies for Adam and Steve than I would ever choose to hang around some one holding a "God hates F-gs" sign at a dead hero's funeral.
I think most people would agree with you here, myself included. The people who carry these signs are not representing the Republican party, they are representing a segment of a religious affiliation.
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Whooter, I'll bet you a million dollars they didn't vote democrat in the last election.
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The whole liberal and conservative monikers are totally fucking BS, too.
I live in a very fundie area. All NeoCon republican. The level of sheer hypocrisy that exists here is absolutely stultifying. So, yeah, I am not as quietly biased as I used to be. I don't want to hear about your freaking family values when you are on wife #3 or you straightjacket your real orientation, your conservative lifestyle because your addiction comes with an RX, or your fiscal conservatism when you declared bankruptcy as a result of your greedy keeping up with the Joneses lifestyle. (Does a family of 3 REALLY need a mansion?) Out here, I get the WORST of social hypocrisy and religious fascism. NOT impressed.
And of course, while I would LOVE to hear sound arguments establishing a valid POV, who the hell am I supposed to listen to? Coulter? Limbaugh? Beck? Hannity? Or Perhaps Palin whose platform rests on guns, God, moose chili, and the ability to see Russia from her back porch makes her uniquely qualified to lead?
Trickle down and read-my-lips-no-new taxes is all BS, too, but still, I never ever thought I'd say this: In this era of fascist NeoCons, I'm really missing the hell out of Reagan.
But I'd still vote for ELMO first.
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I would much rather hang with someone who attends tree hugging ceremonies for Adam and Steve than I would ever choose to hang around some one holding a "God hates F-gs" sign at a dead hero's funeral.
I think most people would agree with you here, myself included. The people who carry these signs are not representing the Republican party, they are representing a segment of a religious affiliation.
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Whooter, I'll bet you a million dollars they didn't vote democrat in the last election.
If they did vote democratic I think we could agree that their views do not reflect those of the democratic party. I think where you are getting hung up is that you feel if a small subset of society votes a certain way then they represent the views of the majority. My neighbors brother is gay and he voted Republican, but that doesnt mean that all gays are republican. Do you see what I mean?
I think you take the same extremest view with programs in that you feel your personal experience with programs represents everyone elses when this is not true. Because your program was abusive doesn't mean they all are.
...
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Plain and simple, I would vote for Elmo before I would ever vote Republican. It has nothing to do with Democrats. I just hate Republicans on their own merits. Also, I'm not really into theological fascism. I really don't see Ben Franklin hobnobbing with the current rendition of crazy assed neocons.
I also don't understand why people think America is supposed to remain the same when our population has exploded exponentially in the past 60 years. Opportunity is not as pervasive. This is the first generation that is graduating less literate than their parent's generation.
What I really hate is the whole big government vs. small government argument. It's not an all or nothing paradigm. There is place for both. But I sure as @#!*% don't trust too-big-to-fail corporations to "keep it real." Regulations and oversight are necessary.
Do Democrats even have a version of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, or Ann Coulter to name a few? These pundits don't represent sanity, or conservatism. They are all vicious little @#!*% that base every argument on bellicosity instead of reason and sense. The fact they are so admired makes me think Americans are stupid twits who 1. don't read, and 2. are either bullies or 3. so impotent they have to stand under the skirts of mean girls to feel powerful.
I would much rather hang with someone who attends tree hugging ceremonies for Adam and Steve than I would ever choose to hang around some one holding a "God hates F-gs" sign at a dead hero's funeral.
You go Samara.... :rofl:
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Most of the Republicans I have seen or talked with are wannabe's. They have nothing in common with their Congressmen or Senators, they definitely can not relate to the Koch Bros (please don't tell me they are "Tea Baggers or Libertarians"). The Republicans represent wealth (which in and of itself, there is nothing wrong with wealth) but when you act like John D. Rockefeller and stomp on the little guy, hold him back and make it impossible for competition to flourish, well your hurting the overall job market in this country.
The real Republicans would love if the middle class would just die off, then we could be just like every other third world country. Two classes, owners and non-owners and a hue of corruption everywhere. Oh, wait we where there 80 years ago. Remember the Hoover Dam construction Job environment. They gave you work, housing and food but never a paycheck. Republicans do not like "Unions" I bet they don't. Watch the Delta vs. Northwest debate that is going on right now. Delta has never had a union and Northwest always has had one. Delta damn near went bankrupt I don't believe Northwest ever had that problem.
I'm sorry Republicans suck the life out of everything they touch. Just watch Bill O'Reily, Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity, at the end of the show I am out of breath. I just can not believe a human being thinks as they do, I believe it is a staged act.
Trickle Down politics, shit communism is a form of economics almost exactly like Reagan's idea but you have to be able to trust the leaders (Big Business) to allow the "trickle effect".
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I'm sorry Republicans suck the life out of everything they touch. Just watch Bill O'Reily, Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity, at the end of the show I am out of breath. I just can not believe a human being thinks as they do, I believe it is a staged act.
Of course it is a staged act, one that makes them obscene amounts of money. These clowns are cashing in on the same kind of bigoted intolerance that still supplies a steady stream of "druggies" or "troubled teens" to criminals like WWASP. Only difference is the money Beck pulls in makes the TTI look sick by comparison, which is mind boggling to me.
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I ve EATEN moose chili,and it aint bad,as for god,um yeah I do believe,(JUST NOT IN YOURS),GUNS fuck yeah,own all you want.Am I a republican? Fuck no. I dont vote party line, im a registered independant, I d have no real beef with obama except that here where my ass sits,he was a senator,and he did JACKSHIT,but campaign for the whitehouse.The gap between rich and poor will grow,soon there will be no middleclass,just working poor and,non working poor,and of course the rich, I call em "the other white meat". When the shit hits the fan,its gonna make the L.A. riots look like fuckin romper room.
Read the unabombers manifesto sometime, BIG assed parts of it make a great deal of sense,well the bombing part not so much,but the message is still valid as hell.Ammunition,and the ability to produce it will be BETTER than gold. Might not happen today, and I hate to say it,but this country is goin to shit, the entirety of this culture is fuct.
I"ll vote for Sid Haig next time,or elmo, or bevis and butthead......
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Seamus got me thinking about a Don Henley song, I think it is relevant to this conversation plus the comments after the lyrics.
Little Tin God
Song Title: Little Tin God
Credits: Don Henley, J.D. Souther, Danny Kortchmar
Album: The End of the Innocence
Mood:
Lyrics
A new age is dawning
On fewer than expected
Business as usual
That’s how the headline read
Some shaky modern saviors
Have now been resurrected
In all this excitement
You may have been misled
People want a miracle
They say oh lord, can’t you see us?
We’re tryin’ to make a livin’ down here
And keep the children fed
But, from little dark motel rooms
To six flags over jesus
How are the mighty fallen
So the Bible said
You don’t have to pray to a little tin god
Step out of the way for a little tin god
You might fear the reaper, you might fear the rod
But you never have to get down on your knees
You don’t have to holler, please, please
No, you never have to get down on your knees
For a little tin god
The cowboy’s name was jingo
And he knew that there was trouble
So in a blaze of glory
He rode out of the west
No one was ever certain
What it was that he was sayin’
But they loved it when he told them
They were better than the rest
But you don’t have to pray for a little tin god
Step out of the way for a little tin god
You might hate to system, hate the job
But you never have to get down on your knees
You don’t have to holler, please, please
No, you never have to get down on your knees
For a little tin god
Throw down a rope from heaven
And lead the flock to water
The man in the middle would have you think
That you have no other choice
But to wander in the wilderness
Of all the upturned faces
If you stop and listen long enough
You will hear your own small voice
But you don’t have to pray to a little tin god
Step out of the way for a little tin god
You might fear the reaper, fear the rod
But you never have to get down on your knees
You don’t have to holler, please, please
No, you never have to get down on your knees
You don’t have to holler, please, please
You never have to get down on your knees
For a little tin god
Commentary: If you were teaching a history class about the 1980s in America, Don's The End of the Innocence album would be a great study tool. The political and social commentary on this album captures the moods and attitudes of the 80s in a musical time capsule.
Little Tin God, while commenting on society, has its roots in some of Henley's core beliefs (at least the ones he's talked about in public). The overriding theme of the song is that you need to look to yourself rather than looking at leaders who are just as human and flawed as we are. The answers are inside. This is a theme that gets repeated both in Henley's Eagles work (Learn to Be Still) and more recent Henley solo recordings (They're Not Here, They're Not Coming). In the case of Little Tin God, his commentary provides some great Henley images.
What does it mean: (Symbols & Allusions)
Little Tin God -- According to several idiomatic dictionaries, a LTG is a self-important pompous person or someone or something held in excessively or unjustifiably high esteem.
Shakey Modern Saviors -- The 1980s were full of scandals involving popular televangelists (TV preachers) who got caught doing things men of god shouldn't get caught doing. There's a great list of these men and how they lost their way at the Wikipedia. Some of these guys are singled out, though in the song.
But, from little dark motel rooms...Jimmy Swaggert was caught on film taking a prostitute to a hotel.
To six flags over Jesus This is one of my favorite Henleyisms. Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker of PTL had their huge religious empire crumple in the midst of financial and sexual scandals. One of the things that got sidelined was the Bakker's religious theme park, Heritage USA. Six Flags Over...is an American chain of Amusement parks. You can see photos of Heritage USA back when it was running and now that it has been abandoned.
How are the might fallen; so the Bible says: "Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights.
How the mighty have fallen" (2 Samuel 1:19)
The cowboy’s name was Jingo: Jingoism is a term describing chauvanistic patriotism, usually with a hawkish political stance. In plain language it means bullying other countries, or, using whatever means necessary to safeguard a country's national interests. Since this is the 80s, the cowboy is none other than Ronald Reagan (take into consideration that Reagan acted in many cowboy movies and enjoyed riding horses on his ranch in California. The verse goes on to say that the cowboy "rode out of the West".
No one was ever certain / What it was that he was sayin’ / But they loved it when he told them /
They were better than the rest. Reagan's nickname was the Great Communicator and part of his appeal was to reconvince Americans of their greatness. Reagan reintroduced patriotism and flag waving after the 70s which President Jimmy Carter refered to as an American malaise. Reagan inspired optimism in Americans which one of the reasons he continues to be popular. Don, though, is saying that all of his pretty words covered up horrible destructive policies. So..in this song, Reagan is a Little Tin God not worthy of worship as well.
If you stop and listen long enough /You will hear your own small voice This is a common theme in Henley songs..in fact its the entire point of "Learn to Be Still". The verses that come before this line paint a picture of people looking for someone to lead them. This man in the middle...some sort of preacher acting as an intermediary between the people and God is supposed to lead them to water. Instead, Don exhorts people to look inside for leadership. To listen to their own small voice. This idea of an inner voice can be found in both the writings of Transcendentalists like Emerson (who Henley admired) and in the Bible (And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 1 Kings 19: 11-13)
What Don Says:
'I was looking for the big questions: why are we here, where are we going, why do good people die early. The First Baptist Church wasn't working for me, so I found Emerson and Thoreau and transcendentalism. I could see God in nature rather than in the church, listening to someone yell at me about hellfire and damnation.'
"Yeah. I've got a hard-on for Jerry Falwell and those preachers. I just finished a book called God's Bullies about those guys. I grew up a Southern Baptist and I know what it is to be scared into religion ... all that hell fire and damnation."
" Believe me, these times are just as urgent, just as dangerous, as the Sixties, and there's just as much to rally behind. Especially with Reagan telling us how America is back on track. America is NOT back on track. Peopel are still homeless, peopel are still out of work, the farmers are going out of business and we're experiencing the biggest deficit in history. A large part of the nation ahs gone back to a narrow, fundamentalist way of thinking. We think God is an American"
This all sounds familiar, right????? It should, it is still happening today almost thirty years later.
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? Or Perhaps Palin whose platform rests on guns, God, moose chili, and the ability to see Russia from her back porch makes her uniquely qualified to lead?
Palin has some moments but mostly she's just fucking bonkers. Please keep your god the hell away from my government. See. But She's a neo-con. She's an compromised imitator. Ron and Ran Paul are the real deal for the most part. Very honest guys. They aren't perfect, but what politician is. There are a lot of lies spread about him (one of them is in the article, IIRC). There is the accusation of him "forcing" a woman to smoke pot** and forced her to bow down and worship "aqua buddah".
There is also the accusation that he supports segregation, when in reality, segregation used to be government mandated, and the dynamic would be different if the civil restrictions were released now (under grounds of freedom of association and private property). The market would sort it out as nobody would want to do business with racists. And even if racists do establish private clubs, let them, so long as they otherwise obey the law. Even assholes have rights and people have a right to be ignorant. Boycots, protests, lawsuits, and so forth the proper way to punish racists... Or just leave the idiots alone to be idiots.
**now tell me how that is possible.
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Read the unabombers manifesto sometime, BIG assed parts of it make a great deal of sense
I'd be interested in reading some of it...anyone have a link to it?
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yeah,an everybody knows theres NEVER,EVER been any criminal wrongdoing or lies told by a Democrat,well ceptin not in haling,or was that not havin sexual relations with that woman,or during the kennedy camelsnot presidency,or hows about the fdr tapes or all the poor schmucks that died a peal harbor,due to a president needing popular sentiment to make war against japan, or the sinking of the "unarmed" lusitania.......can I stop now? :soapbox:
:rofl:
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The idea of one party being any less full of shit than the other is insipid. Flip sides of the same coin.
:tup:
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Why does "Fox News" call Sarah Palin, Gov. Palin. She quit, 2 years before her term was over. She doesn't deserve the Title anymore. She opted out to protect her "Image" hopefully this will help her bid for president. She bailed on her state of Alaska for her own selfish reasons. Who in recent memory has ever done this, I can't remember anyone.
Sarah, you and your "mama bears" do not deserve the moniker, Governor of Alaska.
Fox news, just doesn't "get it".
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That's the thing. She's a quitter.
I met a Republican Congressman recently and he asked me to vote for him and I told him I would love to have more options to vote for but as long as Palin is their political pin-up gal and the party endorses theological fascism, social eliticism and intolerance, there is no way I'd ever go red. Palin does make a great pin-up, I admit, but not for politics.
One thing republicans do really well is brand their party with the right logos, mascots, and sound bites. They also tend to be more unified and cohesive in PRESENTATION. People buy the BS facade, but the point is, facade is important in a society of idiots. This Kool Aid is The American Dream - Drink!
Democrats really suck at party branding.
But seriously - WTF happened to moderate Republicans?
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This apathy and indifference is not helping. These politicians are entrenched it will take a lot of pulling and tugging to get them off their asses. They are fat with privilege and monies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/us/po ... &src=twrhp (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/us/politics/01generationo.html?_r=1&src=twrhp)
Young Voters Say They Feel Abandoned
Doug Mills/The New York Times
Published: October 31, 2010
MIAMI — Two years ago, the University of Miami could not get enough Barack Obama. The campaign rally he held here felt like a rock concert, his face appeared on T-shirts all over campus, and pro-Obama volunteers registered 2,000 new voters.
Meetings of the College Democrats that attracted 200 people in 2008 now pull in a dozen. New voter registration is way down, too, and free posters of President Obama — once “the Michael Jordan” of politics, as one freshman put it — are now refused by students.
“It’s not the fad anymore,” said Jessica Kirsner, 21, a junior from Houston and vice president of the College Democrats. “It’s not the fad to be politically knowledgeable and active.”
This was not what Generation O expected Mr. Obama won two years ago with 66 percent of the 18- to 29-year-old vote, a historic proportion. Americans under 30 also worked on campaigns at a greater rate than the general population did for the first time since 1952, or possibly even earlier, according to the National Election Studies.
Now, however, former Obama volunteers nationwide say that they and their former colleagues are less involved and more ambivalent. Experts say the usual midterm effect, in which young voters are especially likely to disengage, has combined with an unexpected distance that has arisen between Mr. Obama and many young constituents. While most of them still view him more favorably than their parents or grandparents do, various polls show that the youthful passion that led to action has not been sustained.
“They were emotionally invested,” said Peter Levine, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. “Somehow that should have been turned into, for Democrats, a revival of progressive policy, and in a neutral way, a revival of democracy starting with young people.”
“So far, it hasn’t happened,” he added.
Many young Obama supporters and volunteers said they had hoped to play a bigger role with the Obama agenda. The campaign had given them structures, for taking off a semester to train and then work in a campaign office, for example. In nondescript towns all over the country, they were the public face of the campaign, as they helped turn undecided voters into sure things.
They also played a prominent role in independent movements that sprouted online, like the Great Schlep, which pushed young people to talk about Obama with senior citizens. And Facebook helped pull the threads together.
Post-inauguration, no equivalent ecosystem has emerged. Some former volunteers said that was inevitable, because governing is inherently less inspiring than a campaign. “In front of a desk isn’t as good as in front of 100,000 people,” said Alex Riehm, a graduate student at George Washington University who canvassed for Mr. Obama at the University of Florida.
Others, though, said the administration or Organizing for America, the group that grew from the Obama campaign, could have done more. Why didn’t Mr. Obama, who appeared on “The Daily Show” this week for the first time since taking office, go there more often, they asked? Why did he seem to refocus on young people only in the last few months, with campus rallies? The health care debate seems to have been where the momentum was lost. Even though Organizing for America held campus “teach-ins” with experts to explain the legislation, all the talk about Medicare led many young people to feel alienated and ignored by the president.
Younger voters said older ones seemed to become the priority. “He made young people feel important, then he got into office and there was no one talking to us,” Ms. Kirsner said.
Indeed, a look back at e-mails from Organizing for America as health care legislation developed does show a general approach that did little to focus on young people. E-mails dealt with telling supporters what to say, rather than asking for input — and as a result, many young people said, they stopped reading them. Ms. Kirsner, while acknowledging that young people could have done more themselves, said it did not have to be that way. At a campus cafeteria called the Oasis, she and two other members of the College Democrats offered suggestions that could have helped keep young people engaged.
They included a printable wallet-sized card with reasons to support a complicated policy like the health care overhaul; regular audio or video addresses from the president, specifically for young supporters; and a youth ambassador — someone well-known, like the actor Kal Penn — who would travel to colleges and keep in touch with the views of young people.
A greater degree of focus on the young, the University of Miami students said, would have helped break through the talking points being offered by Republicans. Even on mostly liberal college campuses, the arguments against Mr. Obama have become more common. “The other day, they were blaring Rush Limbaugh in the breezeway,” said Gaurav Dhiman, 20, president of the College Democrats.
Mik Moore, 36, a creator of the Great Schlep, said that he too had found less energy and less creative communication among Obama supporters who were active two years ago. He described a recent meeting in Los Angeles with about a dozen young professionals who were trying to come up with messages or approaches that resonated and got people talking about progressive policies or the administration.
Only one emerged: when Stephen Colbert made a mock appearance before Congress to talk about immigration.
“If you don’t have that creative assertive energy out there, it’s reflective of the level of the engagement that people have over all,” Mr. Moore said. He described the mood among former Obama activists as disappointment and despair: “Disappointment that more didn’t happen, and despair that even if you have a large majority in Congress, there’s tons of stuff you can’t get done and the stuff you can get done may not be what you want.”
He hesitated to blame the president, who he said was obviously busy trying to govern.
Lynda Tran, a spokeswoman for Organizing for America, said that Mr. Obama “was busy, frankly, dealing with digging us out and making sure we didn’t fall into another Great Depression.”
Ms. Tran said that the president had once again made young people a priority with the midterm elections.
Last Thursday night, he even joined a conference call with members of the College Democrats around the country to encourage them.
But the impact, so far, seems to be limited. In 2008, the College Democrats at Columbia University drove 130 students to Virginia to canvass for voters in a state that Mr. Obama barely won. On Friday, the group organized a trip to a swing district in Pennsylvania. Eighty people said they would go; 68 showed up.
“People were infatuated in 2008,” said Maddy Joseph, 20, a member of the group. “The reality has set in, and that’s frustrating for a lot of people.”
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Are you kidding me. I'll vote republican if it's for somebody like Ron Paul or his son, Rand. Otherwise i'll vote libertarian.
libertarians = conservatives who want legal pot
I kind of like having our drinking water, pharmaceuticals, utilities and foodstuffs regulated, thanks. You trust big business to regulate themselves? Good luck with that.
Student loans are also nice...
For the record, though. I no longer vote for people, just numbers and letters. You're not really voting for a politician anyway, just the choadscholars who shovel money into their piehole.
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polititians are by very nature,liars. The idea of one party being any less full of shit than the other is insipid. Flip sides of the same coin.
Do you advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. Govt.? Because that is the only way around politics, brute force. And your way will not be everybody's way, so what do you do? Endless revolution? Why not just move to Cuba? We are stuck with politics if we want to be civilized people so we will always be faced with choosing the lesser of two evils. It was not widely known what Roosevelt had done for decades. What might we find out about the Bush administration, decades from now? I have eyes, and Republicans, to me, especially at this point in history, walk, talk and act like criminals.
Man,dont even get me started.................I could go on and on about what a truly evil souless peice of shit this government has become,how far it has strayed,and the evil that it does. GOVERNMENT( dem or repub) is too fucking big for its britches,and rediculus in its invasiveness.