tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post7161132936056338575..comments2024-03-28T16:08:29.578-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: Bipartisanshipwreck, Part TwoKaren Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-91747829921843600852011-08-02T16:34:13.314-04:002011-08-02T16:34:13.314-04:00@Richard
The stimulus wasn't big enough to do...@Richard<br /><br />The stimulus wasn't big enough to do the job. Nobody's happy with Obama or the underfunded stimulus or who it mostly went to, but that doesn't translate to "government can't do anything right or good".<br /><br />I don't get what you're getting at, but I agree with John in Lafayette.<br /><br />You seem to be some sort of Independent Moderate with Blue Dog overtones and an on and off conservative tic--although I'm just guessing and no insult is intended.Janet Camphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03645361065385918800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-55310651515662114632011-08-02T13:09:50.044-04:002011-08-02T13:09:50.044-04:00@Janet,
It is a fact that Obama's plan helped...@Janet,<br /><br />It is a fact that Obama's plan helped only the banks and a few big businesses.<br /><br />It's a fact that unemployment is above 9%.<br /><br />Where are the marching protesters in D.C.? There is much to protest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-22103359317675850772011-08-02T12:29:35.435-04:002011-08-02T12:29:35.435-04:00I voted for Obama because I didn't want Hilary...I voted for Obama because I didn't want Hilary Clinton. Her views on Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Middle East generally, , North Korea, the Russian-Georgia conflict, and Afghanistan were virtually indistinguishable from McCain and Lieberman. I thought Obama made clear his positions during his campaign, saying he wanted Hilary to advise him, he wanted to be a transformational president like Reagan, he wanted to expand the war in Afghanistan, he wanted to unify people, and he wanted, like the other Democratic candidates, the passage of a health care bill. <br /><br />The major surprise since the election has been that he is a weak negotiator, that he follows the lead of military leaders, that he was able to pretty much silence Democrats in Congress who opposed the two wars, that his initial words are not a reliable indicator of the final actions he will take, and that as president his speeches have little connection with the public. <br /><br />As for the suggestion in one comment here that religious bodies should be deprived of their tax exempt status, I don't see how, in light of the 14th amendment's equal protection clause, this could be done without removing the tax exempt status of non profit organizations generally. I take it that the latter would not be a good idea.<br /><br />I think we see from the debt ceiling vote that the Tea Party has limited influence in Congress except in instances where their vote is critical, such as voting affirmatively on a debt ceiling trigger.<br /><br />The even split of Democrats in voting in the House hopefully will make them less timid about openly opposing Obama on the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, now that they see and understand him more clearly.<br /><br />Perhaps, two good things will come out of this debacle. One is that national security spending will decrease dramatically, and the other is that the Bush tax cuts will expire, thus providing needed revenue.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-75973423465345895882011-08-02T10:52:29.197-04:002011-08-02T10:52:29.197-04:00@Richard
That's hardly "proof". I m...@Richard<br /><br />That's hardly "proof". I meant sources. You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts--Richard Feynman, physicist<br /><br />@Dreams<br /><br />I am fascinated by your description of what's going on in your part of the world. I have been waiting for some of this to start biting those who thought it was only the "other" who were benefiting from "gov't handouts".Janet Camphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03645361065385918800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-2607155856407214302011-08-02T10:49:45.617-04:002011-08-02T10:49:45.617-04:00@John in Lafayette,
You make my point. The things...@John in Lafayette,<br /><br />You make my point. The things you listed represented the Government spending wisely. Even though the investment cost money it produced results and jobs. The net result was a benefit to the country.<br />Where is the same benefit from the almost One Trillion Dollars the Obama Administration spent? Take a look where the money went. You won't see any programs like you listed.<br /><br />RichardAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-47550668379439683552011-08-02T10:17:17.175-04:002011-08-02T10:17:17.175-04:00Tired of all the talk - my own included. When you&...Tired of all the talk - my own included. When you're ready to man the barricades let me know. Meanwhile I'm signing out.James F Traynornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-29778678363795801472011-08-02T10:14:39.120-04:002011-08-02T10:14:39.120-04:00Obama was clear about who he was throughout his or...Obama was clear about who he was throughout his original Presidential campaign. And if you did your homework back then and weren't blinded by what my friend Delthea calls white guilt, you'd a never voted for the guy if you were a true progressive who knew what the work really meant. At least those of us who actually listened to Obama's words and saw him for what he was before the 2008 election don't suffer from buyers' remorse, but that's little consolation. First the judicial coup d 'etat in 2000, then the financial coup d 'etat in 08, now this? What else is there for them to steal? Oh, yeah, the social safety net... Read Primary Lessons<br /><br />By VIJAY PRASHAD at http://www.counterpunch.org/ and be better prepared next time a smooth talkin guy tries to sell you his vision of democracy."Cat" will dohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16904565277637791935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-412272255595198502011-08-02T10:04:43.728-04:002011-08-02T10:04:43.728-04:00BErnie Sanders for president?BErnie Sanders for president?"Cat" will dohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16904565277637791935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-71821958508033590432011-08-02T09:57:54.279-04:002011-08-02T09:57:54.279-04:00@DreamsAmelia said...
"the rise of Sugar Da...@DreamsAmelia said... <br /><br />"the rise of Sugar Daddy/Sugar Baby websites"<br /><br />Okay, this is awful, except that prostitution (at least in this case) is voluntary, and legal in many places, including Nevada, Canada and Europe. <br /><br />So lets legalize prostitution and tax it. We need the money! Sure its a vice, but so is gambling, and America seems happy to have that revenue, whether from lotto tickets or casinos. <br /><br />Its also time for America to get over the social stigma of prostitution. From what I read prostitution is wildly popular among our elected officials, hedge fund folks, and almost anyone who’s horny with some disposable income. (present company excluded, of course). Why should America loose a great leader like Eliot Spitzer over a little dalliance? (he paid WAY to much, but that’s another story) <br /><br />ANOTHER thing that should be on the table is the tax exempt status of religion, at least the property owned by churches. Our local Catholic Church paid $87 (yes, less than a hundred dollars) in property taxes on a 11.72 acre property valued at $3.5 Million! My property tax was $1,084 on a little two bedroom shack valued at $91K. The horror....<br /><br />So that’s my answer, tax hookers and churches...Neil Gillespiehttp://yousue.org/civil-rights/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-42989553050656175322011-08-02T09:31:16.750-04:002011-08-02T09:31:16.750-04:00Richard says, "The Federal Government consume...Richard says, "The Federal Government consumes it doesn't produce."<br /><br />Tell that to the people of the rural South who probably wouldn't have electricity to this day had it not been for the TVA.<br /><br />Tell that to all the truckers bringing food and clothing to your town who traveled the interstate highway system to get there.<br /><br />Tell that to the engineer who designed and built those highways with the college education he received via the GI Bill.<br /><br />Tell that to the doctor who kept you alive because of the research being done at the CDC.<br /><br />We could go on and on, couldn't we? But thanks to our "leaders" in Washington we'll get the opportunity to try things Richard's way, as all that discretionary spending will be gone. <br /><br />Did anybody happen to notice that the one thing Congress and the President managed to agree on is that, even with the agreement to cut trillions in spending, we're going to have to raise the debt limit again. Even if you believe the federal government spends too much, you have to agree we have a revenue problem on our hands.<br /><br />We can raise some of that revenue by raising taxes (and we should), but the fastest and best way to both raise government revenue and reduce government spending is to PUT PEOPLE TO WORK.<br /><br />Why is it that everyone outside the beltway gets this, but nobody inside it does?John in Lafayettenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-65565211517683224662011-08-02T08:28:36.216-04:002011-08-02T08:28:36.216-04:00VLT said, “there is little difference by Obama (le...VLT said, “there is little difference by Obama (let’s put Social Security on the table and not even try for a public option) and a Republican.”<br /><br />John Stewart pointed out one big difference … (paraphrasing) … the Republicans were playing chess, while Obama was in the nurse’s office because, once again, he glued his balls to his thighs!Denis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-37779182958185058922011-08-01T23:02:07.230-04:002011-08-01T23:02:07.230-04:00@Janet,
The proof is that the 60% of the money th...@Janet,<br /><br />The proof is that the 60% of the money the Feds don't borrow or print comes from the private sector and the citizens. The Federal Government consumes it doesn't produce.<br /><br />As everyone is doing poetry today here is my contribution it matches the tone of the day.<br /><br />Dark sea surrounds <br /><br />Cold stars above<br /><br />Swim or not?<br /><br />RichardAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-17668197776921775062011-08-01T19:54:43.520-04:002011-08-01T19:54:43.520-04:00My greatest hope is that a Progressive Democrat is...My greatest hope is that a Progressive Democrat is following the blogosphere and is hearing the calls for a grassroots campaign to upset Obama in the Primary. That person would have to have the courage to go against all the money and the Democratic Machine which is owned and controlled by the oligarchy – but throwing his or her hat into the ring at the last possible moment could work. I would hope that those frustrated Progressives who are going to vote for Obama regardless of his betrayals due to their fear of the alternative Republican would support such a challenger as that would still be a “safe” vote. Of course, there could also be a Third Party Candidate who could stand on an independent progressive, anti-corporate platform. I think many of us are so disgusted we would be willing to “throw away” our votes in that person’s direction. If neither of the above materialise, I hope there will be a concerted effort to organise a write in campaign. In my opinion, there is little difference by Obama (let’s put Social Security on the table and not even try for a public option) and a Republican. Maybe a serious write in campaign would send the message that the population is serious about wanting change.<br /><br />Jay is right. We should seriously follow what the New Progressive Alliance is trying to do. They are getting an organised effort in place to be able to jump in and support a progressive challenger for the White House if and when that person should step up to the plate. We have to be working toward something positive as opposed to wallowing in despair or cynicism. We are not doomed and it is not yet over unless we give up and choose not to act. The Civil Rights Movement wasn’t a spectator sport and despite their many setbacks, they didn’t give up – and we can’t either.VLTnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-90309705597514120012011-08-01T19:46:52.227-04:002011-08-01T19:46:52.227-04:00Thanks for the reminder of a perfect song for this...Thanks for the reminder of a perfect song for this moment...Even Krugman has gone lyrical on his blog, for loss of words...But "Sounds of Silence" is appropriate to add, since the vast majority of Americans are left out of this deal, and there aren't riots in the streets. The death of Bin Laden provokes a flash mob in front of the White House...but the death of the middle class is just another day? Watch consumer demand shrink faster than the ice caps that Republicans also deny are melting, as millions of federal employees join the unemployed.<br /><br />Who's left to buy things? The rich have never even noticed what country they live in. They are so devoid of sociableness that they buy society (depressing article today about the rise of Sugar Daddy/Sugar Baby websites where millionaires buy off college debt of 20-year-old girls for "favors."<br /> <br />http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/29/seeking-arrangement-college-students_n_913373.html) Leaving them untaxed is the implicit consent of we, the unrepresented, for oligarchy.<br /><br />~~~<br />Hello darkness, my old friend<br />I've come to talk with you again<br />Because a vision softly creeping<br />Left its seeds while I was sleeping<br />And the vision that was planted in my brain<br />Still remains<br />Within the sound of silence<br /><br />In restless dreams I walked alone<br />Narrow streets of cobblestone<br />'Neath the halo of a street lamp<br />I turned my collar to the cold and damp<br />When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light<br />That split the night<br />And touched the sound of silence<br /><br />And in the naked light I saw<br />Ten thousand people, maybe more<br />People talking without speaking<br />People hearing without listening<br />People writing songs that voices never share<br />And no one dared<br />Disturb the sound of silence<br /><br />"Fools", said I, "You do not know<br />Silence like a cancer grows<br />Hear my words that I might teach you<br />Take my arms that I might reach you"<br />But my words, like silent raindrops fell<br />And echoed<br />In the wells of silence<br /><br />And the people bowed and prayed<br />To the neon god they made<br />And the sign flashed out its warning<br />In the words that it was forming<br />And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls<br />And tenement halls"<br />And whispered in the sounds of silenceDreamsAmelianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-19316353082085956392011-08-01T19:18:27.836-04:002011-08-01T19:18:27.836-04:00On Sardonicky today we've read news of the abs...On Sardonicky today we've read news of the absurd, and despair, and elegies on the demise of the Progressive Era. The Progressive Era is dead.<br /><br />Long live the Progressive Era. Yes, it's still alive. Check out the preamble for the Progressive Platform from the New Progressive Alliance (address below).<br /><br />The NPA's preamble is composed of great chunks from the Populist and Progressive platforms of 1892 & 1912. Those passages fit our own case foursquare. You will be amazed at how closely the list of their complaints from 1892 & 1912 match our own in 2011. <br /><br />Progressives as such never did take back the White House. But hear this, Realists and Pragmatists of the TLOTE Tribe of 2012: Progressives transformed the Democratic party, locally and nationally, as evidenced by administrations in states like Wisconsin and then on the national level with the administrations of FDR and his followers.<br /><br />We should not settle for a repeat of 2008 with TLOTE. Between now and then we should kick, scream and work for a repeat of 1912.<br /><br />The progressive agenda, like liberty, must be won -- or lost -- by each new generation. There is no such thing as a hand-me-down democracy. We've been sleeping on the job too long. Check out the NPA's platform for action from 1912 for 2012. <br /><br />http://newprogs.org/forums/public-forums/draft-platform/final-npa-platform-draft-public-discussionJay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-61770342876788878412011-08-01T18:53:32.921-04:002011-08-01T18:53:32.921-04:00Here's a comment from someone over at Salon af...Here's a comment from someone over at Salon after GG's post today. Pretty much sums it up for me.<br /><br />"There is egg on my face, no chicken in my pot, innocent government-murdered brown people everywhere, rich bankers walking around with my money and my senator in their pocket, and the Feds are listening to me complain about it."<br /><br />-- WilliamAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-90292952975541336042011-08-01T18:21:55.383-04:002011-08-01T18:21:55.383-04:00I think Tony Blen, as quoted by Denis Neville, is ...I think Tony Blen, as quoted by Denis Neville, is right. People in this country feel hopeless and demoralised - and this is the way those in power like it because it makes those who are being downtrodden more controllable. I wouldn’t be surprised if our politicians and their “handlers” have psychologists on staff to predict the effects different policies will have on different groups within their constituencies. It wasn’t so long ago – two years - we were filled with hope and dared to believe that if we elected Obama to office that we could turn our country around - take it back from the Dick Cheneys of the world and go back to a time when the Middle Class mattered. That raising of our hopes only to have them dashed by Obama’s consistent betrayals, has had a discouraging effect on those who were willing to get involved and work for change. That deeply felt loss of hope and the fact that Obama is blocking the way for a REAL Democrat to get into office are my two biggest gripes against the man.Valerie Long Tweedienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-18261474523838094592011-08-01T17:43:09.531-04:002011-08-01T17:43:09.531-04:00I don't think it's so much low information...I don't think it's so much low information voters as wrong information voters. I work out 6 days a week for about 2 hours in a wellness center gym run by the local hospital here in Charlotte County. The only news program consistently on the five tv sets is FoxNews. I thought this an anomaly until I read that FoxNews, as a percentage of viewers, is the dominant news source for the people of the U.S..James F Traynornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-31060326853724135222011-08-01T17:07:23.848-04:002011-08-01T17:07:23.848-04:00May I quote:
There's something happening here
...May I quote:<br />There's something happening here<br />What it is ain't exactly clear<br />There's a man with a gun over there<br />Telling me I got to beware<br />I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound<br />Everybody look what's going down<br />There's battle lines being drawn<br />Nobody's right if everybody's wrong<br />Young people speaking their minds<br />Getting so much resistance from behind<br />I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound<br />Everybody look what's going down<br />What a field-day for the heat<br />A thousand people in the street<br />Singing songs and carrying signs<br />Mostly say, hooray for our side<br />It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound<br />Everybody look what's going down<br />Paranoia strikes deep<br />Into your life it will creep<br />It starts when you're always afraid<br />You step out of line, the man come and take you away<br />We better stop, hey, what's that sound<br />Everybody look what's going down<br />Stop, hey, what's that sound<br />Everybody look what's going down<br />Stop, now, what's that sound<br />Everybody look what's going down<br />Stop, children, what's that sound<br />Everybody look what's going down<br />Classof65 -- I think the author is Stephen Stills in the 60s -- still appropriate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-17778811909560402522011-08-01T15:35:56.605-04:002011-08-01T15:35:56.605-04:00Reading about 'low-information voters' rem...Reading about 'low-information voters' reminds me of the fact that, once again, Washington pulls its dirtiest tricks year after year during the summer months when people are either vacationing, outdoors, and/or tuned out from the news. <br /><br />I suspect it wasn't just the idea of deliberately creating a useful crisis that lead them to postpone dealing with this debt and budget issue until now. It was to take advantage of their summer window of opportunity to minimize public opposition, at least until the foul deed is done.Anne Lavoienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-68028316820143109592011-08-01T15:23:03.077-04:002011-08-01T15:23:03.077-04:00I feel like a defendant who has been framed, by no...I feel like a defendant who has been framed, by none other than the authorities – people I had helped into office -- and now I await sentence alone in my cell. <br /><br />These days in our democracy rumors and tidbits precede and replace the full facts. Other than a tentative report that the Bush Tax Cuts may be allowed to expire, I hear nothing hopeful about the creation of jobs and fresh revenue from payroll taxes or the restoration of a progressive tax scale. At the core, all solutions considered over the past few weeks, whether from Republicans or Democrats, have been about cuts, cuts, cuts. At that point, before any dismal plan among those entertained was chosen by “the leadership,” we knew we were lost. All plans were death. The debt ceiling shell game was merely a consolidation of the coup.<br /><br />The New Deal, the Fair Deal, the Great Society programs are dead. After so many deep cuts to vital programs you have a sentence that amounts to death by serial amputation. The millions of people sliding into economic misery cannot hope to work themselves out of the pit and back to fiscal equilibrium because there are no jobs and there will be no jobs. What is left to us in the hands of Ayn Rand’s children, they who with pride scorn fairness, solidarity, empathy and our labor itself?<br /><br />There has been a coup by the Ayn Rand crowd -- more details to follow, but we should get the picture by now. And we used to mock them when they spoke of themselves as “Masters of the Universe,” when they said they were “doing God’s work.” You can still say that, but don’t smile anymore. They were right. As for President Obama, the savior who declared he would reverse the Bush Years, one has to reach back to Benedict Arnold for a comparison. Most Democrats will vote him a second term as TLOTE. Get used to it.<br /><br />As Anthony Romero, the executive secretary of the ACLU said to a large meeting last year: “I’m going to start provocatively…. I’m disgusted with this president.”<br /><br />Me too.<br /><br />http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/07/31/democrats/index.htmlJay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-60126230125261847592011-08-01T14:47:22.717-04:002011-08-01T14:47:22.717-04:00I hardly even know what to say. We are witnessing ...I hardly even know what to say. We are witnessing the end of the United States of America. I had hoped that it may be a slow burn that would take a decade or more, and that maybe we could slowly turn things around. But now... when the government engages in actions that directly harm We the People, our government has become our enemy. If a foreign power caused this much harm, we would consider ourselves in a state of war, but when our own government does this we are supposed to just sit back and take it? Mankind is in for some rough times. The modes of governance that have existed since the beginning of civilization have all failed. Now with globalization, this failure will not be contained. Everyone will suffer. We can not think of ourselves as Americans anymore, we need to see ourselves as Humans, sharing a planet. We need to embrace our commonalities as well as our differences. <br /><br />And to think that my tax dollars are being spent in a manner that directly harms myself, my family, my friends and my community. We are all paying for our own destruction at this point in time.The Black Swanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03988752808485377434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-71443108997643729182011-08-01T14:18:44.659-04:002011-08-01T14:18:44.659-04:00Well, I have this dream: The Congressional Progres...Well, I have this dream: The Congressional Progressive Caucus says "We're not going to raise the debt ceiling. And that means no money for military contractors and no 0% interest loans for the big banks. We're going to hold it hostage until we see a jobs program, investment in infrastructure and the end of the Bush Tax Cuts. (And perhaps you could fix that abomination of a health care bill)"<br />And then Obama walks in the room and tells them to stop behaving like children. The end. We can't even win in my dreams.Katnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-47217082829628824832011-08-01T14:04:51.355-04:002011-08-01T14:04:51.355-04:00"A particular kind of State does not appear o..."A particular kind of State does not appear out of nowhere. What engenders a particular regime is the material and ideological relations existing among a country's citizens. It is to these material and ideological relations that we need to devote serious thought; the nature of these relations is what should appall us." - Vasily Grossman<br /><br />At RealityChex.com, Marie Burns wrote on “Low-information voters are one of the high costs of democracy.”<br /><br />And a very, very high cost indeed! <br /><br />The disaster we face today is the ominous manifestation of this ignorance. As Krugman said today, “What Republicans have just gotten away with calls our whole system of government into question.”<br /><br />According to Andrew Hacker in the current New York Review of Books, “current House Republicans received a total of 30,799,391 votes in the 2010 midterm election. Barack Obama received more than twice that many, 69,498,215, in the 2008 presidential.”<br /><br />Yet Obama, “Our Incredible Folding President,” has allowed the radical right to take power. <br />The radical right has risen to power because so many low-information Americans know so little about our nation’s political and intellectual history.<br /><br />As Krugman asks, “how can American democracy work if whichever party is most prepared to be ruthless, to threaten the nation’s economic security, gets to dictate policy?<br /><br />Anyone claiming that Obama was involuntarily forced by crazy tea partiers into massive budget cuts at a time of almost ten percent unemployment, needs to as himself, or herself, why did Obama place himself on the side of these deficit chicken hawks at a time when growth and job creation were by far the country’s most urgent needs? The politics of blackmail by the Tea Party Republicans will not end with this deal.<br /><br />This deal is also a victory for all those politicians who spent the last decade creating the huge debt with their endless wars and tax cuts for the rich. It will impose even more hardship on already-suffering citizens, while the Wall Street puppet masters, who are prospering more than ever, sacrifice nothing despite their responsibility for the 2008 financial collapse that continues to cause economic misery for so many. <br /><br />Will Obama’s fear-mongering campaign in 2012 work?<br /><br />Former British Labor MP Tony Benn clearly elucidated how Americans [those low-information voters] have forgotten what it means to have a truly representative government: <br /><br />"Because people in debt become hopeless and hopeless people don't vote.... If the poor in Britain or the United States turned out and voted for people who represented their interests it would be a democratic revolution. So they don't want it to happen. So keeping people hopeless and pessimistic.... See I think there are two ways in which people are controlled. First of all, frighten people. And secondly, demoralize them. An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern, and I think there's an element in the thinking of some people - we don't want people to be educated, healthy and confident because they would get out of control. The top one percent of the world's population owns 80 percent of the world's wealth. It's incredible that people put up with it, but they're poor, they're demoralized, they're frightened and they think perhaps the safest thing to do is take orders and hope for the best."<br /><br />That is what Obama and the Democratic Party are hoping for in 2012.Denis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-78781530861472753542011-08-01T13:22:41.669-04:002011-08-01T13:22:41.669-04:00DreamsAmelia said....
Even my ultra-conservative,...DreamsAmelia said....<br /><br />Even my ultra-conservative, pro-defense (retired) Dad ripped his Obama sticker off his car this morning(he turned Democrat after Bush II--he was for reasonable defense of the country, not rabid militarism that ignores the actual findings of intelligence work). Both my retired parents are gnawing their hands off. My mother, who just retired at age 69 from the federal government to get the most of the top three years of salary for her pension, is apoplectic. She lived her entire career with threats of "privatization" of The Department of Justice. Now she is just one of a mass casualty incident against the sick, the working and the retired (i.e., everyone!), who have no recourse if they find their pensions cut or social security reduced. <br /> Our condo is about 2 miles from the Pentagon--and the disgust is PALPABLE. We are surrounded by a lot of relatively young "double-dipper" retired military service people now doing private contractor work (or, just active duty military) and even THEY are furious, when, technically, the plan favors them, if anyone. But they have children in the public schools, they want clean air and water, they love the Smithsonian, National Institutes of Health, public t.v. and radio, METRO, ad nauseum...they recognize that there is far more to a nation than a few mansions strewn on hillsides like detritus of a Monopoly game after the banker throws a tantrum.<br /><br />Yes, to Hester Prynne, "we are in the stages of a civil war." I wouldn't say it is a bloodless coup, because the economic damage is equivalent to slavery--if you are drowning in debt and can never retire, what is the difference? Yet it is a bloody coup without cannons, guns, and visible carnage...instead, it reminds me of the legend that spread around my elementary school in the 1970s of The Scary Russians who supposedly had a "silent nuke" that could vaporize just one single person from thousands of miles away. Hundreds of millions of Americans are going to just work until they drop, more than likely sick, if they can find work at all. <br /> The press will continue its day-in-day-out coverage of the horse race calling these some 98% of working people in the U.S. "The Left," "The Base." As we vaporize one by one, the beat will go on while they punditize about elusive triangulation between Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com