Notes on the Moral and Political Degradation of America
The news in the last few days has continued the drumbeat of demoralizing events which started in the Bush administration, and with only a few hiccups has continued through the Obama administration. It is clear that Obama is, fundamentally, Bush's 3rd term.
First we have the health care "reform" debacle, where it has been confirmed that the White House pushed Harry Reid to accept Lieberman's ultimatum, not go to reconciliation. There will be no public option in the Senate bill. There will be no Medicare expansion. There will be no cap on yearly limits. What there will be is a mandate forcing people to buy insurance, some subsidies which can still leave people spending money they can't afford, and guaranteed issue of lousy plans (Plans where only 70% of the premiums have to be spent on care, for example.) Unless progressive Senators are willing to filibuster, or House progressives are willing to vote against en-masse, something very close to the Senate plan is what will pass, because as I noted some time ago, the White House's bottom line is that something, anything must pass, and conservative Dems are willing to kill the bill to make sure it doesn't actually threaten health industry profits in any way, shape, or form. (Thus why drug importation, which would cost Pharma money, will be made illegal.)
All of this was completely predictable. Furthermore the weakness of progressive and liberal legislators, is largely to blame:
Obama and the Democratic leadership's bottom line is they must pass some bill called "health care reform". Unless you threaten to take away their bottom line, they will take away anything that isn't progressives bottom line
This is Negotiation 101, and progressive legislators either don't understand it, or are spineless. As a result they, and Americans, have been rolled yet again. What is depressing about this is that it should be a surprise to no one, but apparently has surprised many.
It is also noteworthy that spending billions on turning brown people into a fine red mist (a.k.a. the Afghan war) is acceptable, but health care (a.k.a. saving actual American lives) is something which can't cost money. What an interesting--and clearly evil--set of priorities that reveals. I guarantee that real healthcare reform would save more American lives than the entire war on terror—assuming said "war" hasn't cost more American lives than it's saved, which is almost certainly the case.
Next we have what Glenn Greenwald is calling the creation of Gitmo North, in which people whom the government judges there is not enough evidence to convict, will be held indefinitely without trial. This is the very definition of tyranny. Any nation which does this is a nation of men, not laws. America has forsaken its fundamental premise and proved its degradation. Yes, this started under Bush, but as Obama embraces this, it because a bipartisan project and the new elite consensus. This is now something which has been confirmed as US policy which is extremely unlikely to change no matter who is in power.
Then we have bankers are giving themselves bonuses larger than the entire economy's GDP growth this year.
How much is $140 billion?
The U.S. economy grew at a $89 billion annualized rate in the third quarter. That was the first growth since the second quarter of 2008 and came to $22 billion in actual growth in the third quarter.
The bankers, after causing the greatest economic calamity since the Great Depression, are rewarded with six times the growth accomplished so far in the much heralded “economic recovery.”
Meanwhile, seven million families face foreclosure and 25 million Americans can’t find full time work.
To add this sad state, we have the sad spectacle of Obama lecturing the bankers. Meanwhile in Britain, instead of lecturing, the government has imposed a 50% tax on bonuses, and France looks like to follow suit. The British government's response to threats to move employees out of the country? "That's nice, you do that."
The fact of the matter, as I've long said, is that bankers at the big banks are a net drain on the economy. Their venality and recklessness has wiped out the entire economic gains of the last decade and plunged the economy into its worst crisis since the Great Depression.
Now I'm not surprised they have the gall to pay themselves these bonuses. The entire profits of most large banks in the last expansion were based on open fraud. Of course criminals who have not been punished, but have been rewarded for their crimes are going to continue to steal. What is shocking is that the government is essentially doing nothing. Obama's "Pay Czar" is a sick joke, especially compared to just taxing all bonuses at 50%. Heck, even taxing bonuses at 50% is sad—they should be taxed a good confiscatory 90%. A class of people who caused an economic calamity of this magnitude do not deserve to be paid more than janitors.
Why? Because, as a British study noted, janitors actually create value. So do homemakers. So do assembly-line workers. Modern bankers, on the other hand, destroy value. They make the economy weaker. That isn't the way it should be, but when you bail out the banks for trillions and they decrease their lending to businesses and increase their credit card interest rates to as much as 29% it's clear that all they are is parasites, sucking blood from their hosts.
In a healthy, non-degraded society, none of the behavior listed above would be allowed. Not only would there be confiscatory taxes leveled, there would be massive ongoing criminal investigations into what happened.
In a healthy, non-degraded society, saving American lives by making sure they have health care would be a priority. Especially since the US pays twice as much per person as many countries which get far better results. This would be considered much more important than a war in a far away country, because it would be understood that even if you believe that turning brown people into a fine red mist saves American lives, health care would save more lives. And, done right (a.k.a. single payer) it would even save money. But that was never on the table, and even the limp-wristed compromise of a weak public option was too much for the rich and powerful to tolerate. Americans exist to be looted systematically by their elites, and if they die young and live sick, who cares? They are just sacks of money and the goal of government is to make dipping your hand into that sack as easy as possible for industries which can afford to buy government.
And, last but not least, in a healthy, non-degraded society, the government is not allowed to lock up people indefinitely without trial. If you don't understand why this is, I can't explain it to you, any more than it is apparently possible to explain to a plurality of Americans why torturing people is evil, and beyond the pale. The fact that it can't be explained any more to many Americans, of course, is exactly why it is fair to call this degradation.
Moral and political degradation.
a damned fine GOPer.
"O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!"
At least Cheney looked Evil, the snarl the smug condescension, the obvious craving of Power for Powers sake.
... I can only assume that Cheney hasn't yet been given the memo titled "Obama is, fundamentally, Bush's 3rd term."
Bush's silence, on the other hand, shows that he understands this completely.
I get the sinking feeling that all of Washington is one big insiders game and we are the joke they tell among themselves.
Another party and while we are doing that to vote all these arrogant a.. holes out of office.
Obama , Emanuel and the corporate democrats are starting to make me just a sick as Bush and Cheney did in their 8 year term..
Obama has now proven to be deceitful and a liar in his actions and words..
Shame we can not make a deal with the independents their is less diference between us and them ,, than there is between us and these so called elected democrats which are kissing these Corporate Monopolies a..
None
We did get fooled again, trading one industrialist insider for another...albeit one with a more intelligent, appealing persona. No other reason can explain the complete capitulation; LIEberman becomes the scapegoat and the administration walks away seemingly blameless for the complete screwing the American people get. Don't get me wrong--I'll still end out voting for the lesser of the two evils, but from here on out, I will assume that no matter what, I'm gonna' get jerked around because I'm just another common citizen, lacking the cash to actually have a voice in this process.
"Buy the ticket, take the ride."
Hunter S. Thompson
Are worst than the republicans... We voted them into office on their promises of OUR principles and values and they have kick us in the ba..s and slap us in the face , while they kiss the a.. of these corporate monopolies..
We can stop saying that Grayson , Wiener and other progressives give a d... either because they are now part of it they will vote for whatever Corporate health BS Obama and Emanuel demands them to..
They are no longer taking up for their voters and supporters which voted them into office..
I have got to believe that Obama , Emanuel , Blue dogs and most of the centrists are really republicans or corporate paid assassins , out to destroy the working , senior and poor Americans from having any say in what policies and actions ??OUR?? elected officials or government takes.
Talk about Bush being a destroyer , well Obama , Emanuel and the democrats are doing one better than Bush...
Why in the he.. are we not in the streets and at the same time Recruiting replacements for the arrogant and phony corporate democrats which have sold OUR souls to the company stores...
Da.. it Enough << IS>> Enough and we should be up in arms about these a.. holes... If the democrats are going to support these arrogant corporate a.. holes we have in office now , I will definitely going the Independent party and vote either independent ,,, write in or for a republican before I will vote for the arrogant , deceitful , corporate brought phonies calling themselves democrats...
Anyone which can vote for these deceitful , arrogant elitist deserve just what they get....
None
Going to be a long hard slog
My country is being led by sociopaths, not statesmen.
They have been brought hook , line and sinkers.. By ALL these Giant Monopolies. They must have been paid WELL.. Because they sold out BIG TIME>>>
Was Obama talking about McCain or <<<>>> while on his campaign trail??????
You see, the John McCain you’ve heard from over the last few days is a lot different than the John McCain who’s been in Washington for the last twenty-six years. He talks about getting tough on Wall Street now, but he’s been against the common-sense rules and regulations that could’ve stopped this mess for decades. He says he’ll take on the corporate lobbyists, but he put seven of the biggest lobbyists in Washington in charge of his campaign. And if you think those lobbyists are working day and night to elect my opponent just to put themselves out of business, well I’ve got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska.
The truth is, when my opponent first reacted to this crisis by saying that the fundamentals of our economy are strong, he didn’t just make a mistake. He revealed an out-of-touch philosophy he’s followed for decades in Washington – the idea that if we give more and more to those with the most, prosperity will trickle down to everyone else; the idea that no harm will be done if we let lobbyists shred consumer protections and fight against every regulation as unwise or unnecessary.
Well what we have seen over the last few weeks is nothing less than the final verdict on this failed philosophy. And I am running for President of the United States because the dreams of the American people cannot be endangered anymore.
http://speeches.demconwatchblog.com/2008/09/o...
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
None
I've said from the beginning.
We needed a patriot and all we got is a fucking politician.
(despite revisionist history) but he certainly hasn't turned out to be a Democrat who I could continue to support. I was too young to really remember Carter's presidency. Was it better then?
I am just old enough to remember the late '60s and '70s -- I was in High School then. The economy worsened in the early '70s and there were two oil shortages -- '73 and '79. These led to very high inflation and people were actually poorer. I remember when candy went up from 5 and 10 cents to 25 cents and that seemed so expensive. There were also a lot of real investigative hearings in Congress-- Watergate was only one. That led to the CIA, FBI and other 'secret' government agencies getting a lot of egg on their faces as their actions were despicable and illegal. Jimmy Carter was a lot better president than years of Republican propaganda would have you believe yet the seeds of many of our current problems can be found there. People today do not realize that Carter wanted to increase efficiency and alternative energy to end our dependance on oil. (It would have saved the planet too) The oil people probably conspired with Republicans to sabotage him for this very reason. Our country is not owned by Americans anymore; every time we buy gas or something made abroad, that money goes out and returns to buy our very country out from under us. The Carter years were the last time Americans actually owned our country. We are turning into a nation of debt slaves with no real freedom -- I cannot say how this can be repaired given the means of control exercised against the People.
in it. Like Tyler said, "I got mine AND yours. So fuck you."
It is a new gilded age. I have been railing all day and I am almost railed out just for the moment.
--- but first…
How the banks fleece the unemployed here
Those 34,000 troops for Afghanistan will be accompanied by up to 56,000 additional private contractors here
Renewable energy is in the distant future here
The backdoor $38 billion dollar bailout for Citi (noted below but this is the WaPo original) here
Obama calls the Bankers Fat Cats (that is a bad name) but instead of the woodshed it is a lovefest, Edward Harrison here
---
pulls out hair and turns the computer off… 3 - 2 -1
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Kinda makes me mad that for a solid eight or nine months the Obama maniacs were screaming me down for not supporting him, instead of a true progressive, Ralph Nader. Reap what you sow.
And its easy to rationalize and excuse... for a while. Most of us know better now. Perhaps our error was thinking that because Obama looked different, had a somewhat different upbringing than most Americans, and exceptional parents, then He must be different and exceptional. But underneath the dark skin and exotic name he's just another Repug Hack. Bummer.
Which were against the republican candidates... It was the corrupted , criminal and destructive policies of the Bush / Cheney and republican administration which gave Obama his victory..
Now Obama has done the same da.. thing Bush did , by his arrogant , deceitful corporate policies which are screwing US>>>
Wilson was right Obama LIED and now we the citizens are going to suffer for his sell out...
None
An it just keeps getting better.
Citigroup gets another bailout:
http://www.businessinsider.com/citigroup-gets...
Citigroup and my broker!
Obama while campaigning
Everywhere you look, the economic news is troubling. But for so many Americans, it isn’t really news at all.
600,000 workers have lost their jobs since January. Home values are falling. Your paycheck doesn’t go as far as it used to. It’s never been harder to save or retire; to buy gas or groceries; and if you put it on a credit card, they’ve probably raised your rates. In so many cities and towns across America, it feels as if the dream that so many generations have fought for is slowly slipping away.
We have to act swiftly, but we also have to get it right. That means everyone – Republicans and Democrats; the White House and Congress – must work together to come up with a solution that protects American taxpayers and our economy without rewarding those whose greed helped bring us to this point.
So we need to act and act now. But it also can’t be negotiated by the Administration with the same my-way-or-the-highway mentality that is all too familiar.
This Administration started off by asking for a blank check to solve this problem. To them, I say no. It is unacceptable to expect the American people to hand this Administration or any Administration a $700 billion check with no conditions and no oversight when a lack of oversight in Washington and on Wall Street is exactly what got us into this mess. If the American people are being asked to pay for the solution to this crisis, then you have a right to make sure that your tax dollars are protected. That’s why I’ve laid out a few a conditions for Washington.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 Obama's speech from Dunedin, Florida
http://speeches.demconwatchblog.com/2008/09/o...
None
Like they need more of our money. The Arabs also want subsidies to cover their oil profits if the price goes down. Just how big are their balls, I wonder?
I just realized why they wear those robes!
Really now? Another nail in the coffin of Obama's presidency. After all, you've got to help the people who help themselves to our money.
NOBODY 2012
A new Bastille! Kings of France had the power to arrest anyone, without notice or cause, and lock them up forever. The French finally tore down the prison, but our folks in Illinois are delighted.
but he is damned sure using the policies of the little war criminal gwb and his controller the shooter.
GWB term III.
I have never been more disgusted in my entire 66 year life----so far.
Duh!
I like to knit and recall that Madame DeFarge knit during the Terror when the nobility lost their heads. Something like this actually happened during the Terror when women were employed a little like jurors to approve the executions scheduled. The image also suggest the activity of the Fates who measured out the lives of mortals, cutting them at their appointed times to die.
Wow. For once, I completely agree with a post on C&L. I thought I saw Satan wearing a Parka...
It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.
-George Carlin
That pretty much sums up the situation.
and that's a problem.
I just hope there are a few democrats and Bernie Sanders who have the character to vote against the health care bill and STOP IT NOW!
Obama wants anything to pass and he doesn't give a rats ass what as long as it saves his worthless ass, but in all honesty, he hasn't done a thing YET that deserves our support. His campaign turned out to be nothing more than a pack of lies to get us to vote for him, but ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS!
I am so damned pissed by these worthless clowns. They certainly represent the insurance industry and don't care a twit about the common man or we would have been debating single payer (go Bernie)!
The rest of the world has to be laughing their asses off at our so called democracy. This isn't democracy, and now we have all these liars who promised us a robust public option smiling and telling us how wonderful this so called bill is. The public wants and needs the insurance industry to be GONE AND OUT OF OUR POCKETS ONCE AND FOR ALL, and the people we have elected are nothing but tools of the very industry that is screwing us all on a daily basis. Pathetic, just pathetic!
I almost wish the fucking Republicans won. Then the dissapointment would not have surprising nor quite this painful.
If these worthless fucks think for one minute they can force me give money to a for profit insurance company for (shit) health care they are sadly mistaken.
Sell out assholes. All of them. Starting with YOU Obama.
Gave these employees of ours the right to force us to buy health insurance from a private contractor which pays them a fee for their service..
Emanuel has turn our democratic party into a left wing of the extreme right wing corporate party.
Emanuel has been recruiting , funding and supporting persons which are republicans or have these republican's corporate policies at heart....
Baucus , Nelson , blue dogs and the centrists did not take over our party overnight..
Obama is running these corporate republican policies more than Hillary would have...
And this is why I never voted for Hillary...
I believe she was more of a republican than Obama,,, Looks as if I was wrong....
If we do not recruit REAL democrats to run against the incumbents in 2010 and 2012 ,,, I will vote for any independent candidate and if there is not a 3rd party candidate I am thinking about voting republican to take 2 votes away from the arrogant corporate democrat....
Again I will say Obama knows what he is doing and this was his policy ALL along and his copied campaign speeches was nothing but that..
None
No we don't. We like the American people. Some of my best friends are Americans, and almost all of my co-workers are Americans. We see what is happening to you and it just makes us very, very sad.
Although some Americans know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard, most Americans deserve far better than what your government is giving you.
The world isn't laughing at the American people. The world is just as disappointed and fedup with your political leaders as you are. If anyone's being laughed at, it's those "leaders" (or is that bleaters?) in positions of power and government. It's incredibly sad to see how far the people are being pushed with nobody taking it to the streets. I'm talkin''bout a revolution...
Received a peace award for WHAT THE HE>>
None
Indeed we don't. What happens in America happens in Europe a couple of years later. Must be prepared.
PHYSICALLY. These bastards care nothing about the people who voted for them. Doesn't matter if you're a D, R or I. They use us and hate us equally. Now Barry wants this bullshit bill passed so he can FINE people for not having health insurance. The prisons are going to get much more crowded, but the wrong people will be in there.
The entire political system is broken. Dump them all out. Start from scratch. Make new rules. Enforce said new rules.
NOBODY 2012
Independence," 2d paragraph, for our right to take back the country and its government.
Here: http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document...
No we're not. We're horrified, astonished, stunned, astounded, and appalled. We're certainly not laughing!!!
All criticisms aside, for decades the planet looked to you, you set the mark, but that's been ebbing for some time now, and was greatly accelerated by the BushCo. junta.
far left loon >.<
Can someone, anyone at all, give me a reason for voting in future elections? Because right now, I truly see no difference between Democrats and Republicans. None. They're all liars who have zero interest in doing anything for our benefits. We're just poor slobs that pay the bills.
At this point, would it really be the end of the world if the GOP took back the White House, Senate, or House? I'm just so over the entire miserable bunch.
Vote in the primaries and make sure to vote for the person farthest on the left. We need to push our party back to the left where it belongs.
To form our own organization to recuit , fund and support a REAL democratic candidate to run in the coming democratic primary elections to defeat these arrogant , deceitful corporate paid assassents to our country and citizens..
They have become the elitist and want to keep these tax cuts and other benefits which have been passed in the pass 9 years..
They are doing find...
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2009/11/blue-...
Blue Dogs and New Democrats Find Friends on Wall Street
Here are the top 20 New Democrats to bring in money through their candidate committees and leadership PACs from the finance, insurance and real estate sector since the start of the 2008 election cycle:
Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill) $1,430,350
Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn) $1,319,527
Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla) $1,209,819
Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) $1,208,366
Rep. John B Larson (D-Conn) $819,809
Rep. Scott Murphy (D-NY) $810,535
Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan) $804,946
Rep. Chris Murphy (D-Conn) $770,707
Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa) $762,456
Rep. Gregory W Meeks (D-NY) $742,094
Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) $646,875
Rep. Kendrick B Meek (D-Fla) $639,056
Rep. Edwin G Perlmutter (D-Colo) $587,098
Rep. Patrick J Murphy (D-Pa) $550,178
Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis) $538,816
Rep. David Scott (D-Ga) $528,240
Rep. Joseph A. Sestak, Jr (D-Pa) $527,576
Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill) $515,589
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla) $493,021
Rep. Dan Maffei (D-NY) $489,832
None
Today the battle lines are drawn between those who believe that there should be no impediments, checks, and balances to their greed and those who believe that we must live within certain limits.
are going to make life for Americans more and more difficult, and laugh while they do it. They are going to squeeze every penny out of us, steal or destroy everything of value to us, and after they've completely trashed the country, they'll take their money and leave. Go live in S. America or some such country which they own.
Americans will be left to pick up the pieces. I hope we can do it.
You don't have to vote for a Democrat or a republican.
Until people stop doing that- nothing will change.
For the better, anyway.
I would like to see Obama featured as one of the "Crooks and Liars" along with Beck and Palin.
amen
Single-payer health care plan dies in Senate
Down down we go
We have polliticians that are greedy, selfish, but mainly insane.
We need to get rid of these people. I don't know how at the moment but I don't really care. After everything these people have done they deserve whatever ills happens to them.
Should be obvious by now
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
"Secular humanism -- a fearless, realistic world view replete with doubt and scepticism that attempts to attain an unachievable state of equilibrium between and among the human qualities of reason, intuition, imagination, memory, ethics and common sense.
I'm horrified by what's happened to America over the last nine years.
A year ago, I had such hope for Obama and the democrats. These days, the only emotions I feel are anger and disgust at both parties.
Americans were betrayed big-time. It is tragic and sad.
tragic. Hard to believe it's come to this.
The best way you guys can help us over here is to keep pressing for Blair to be brought up on charges. Hopefully, something will happen to include bush and cheney-I refuse to capitalize their names-and some foreign government will see fit to indict them. It will by no means happen over here even though America was the author of the Geneva Convention banning torture and America successfully prosecuted German and Japanese officials for the use of torture.
I am deeply saddened and enraged by the actions of "our" politicians concerning many subjects that deal with anything from free internet to torture and war mongering. I served in the United States army for three years and was proud of what I had done. Now, I am absolutely horrified with what is happening to the United States. The problem is, how do we correct it? With the totally corrupt system that we have, if you elect someone into power that has never been in national politics because one might think that they are honest and working for their constituants, you only find out that once they are in the system they become as corrupt as the ones running the system.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Unfortunately, we the people, are a major cause of the political scene being the way it is today. The apathy of the people of this country is astonishing.
He's another war criminal, just like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, etc. Arrest them all!
ps, I live in Alberta, not the UK ;)
America gets what it deserves. Things have been crappy for years, due to damn corporatism and they seem to keep getting crappier all the time. Unemployment is 50% in Detroit, it's getting ugly out there.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
in 2008.
http://www.votebrianmoore.com/
I took all kinds of crap for that from my friends who all voted for Obama.
I was hoping for an excuse to regret my decision. One year into Obama's term, am I sorry I voted third party in 2008?
Nope. Looks like I'm going to be doing it again in '12.
Thank you, Ian.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Ian you have nailed it!
someone digg this post way up
Obviously talk isn't getting us anywhere. It's been almost ten freaking years now.
I'm for it!
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
.
The cardiologist has set up some appointments for a cardionet, an ultrasound, a blood test and a 4 hour stress test (sounds stressful), but so far no cath test, which sounds pretty nasty and is the last step before a pacemaker.
I asked for his preliminary diagnosis, subject to change of course by results from these tests, and he said Benign PVC's.
But as a diabetic they already consider me a heart patient, and these tests I listed are standard since PVC's can indicate heart disease, and he simply wants to eliminate these as a probability.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I retire in 3 1/2 years and for the 1st time in my life I am seriously considering taking my pension and my social security and moving to another country. I just can't take the insanity and the greed any more. And if I can get citizenship in another, saner country, maybe I can get my kids and (still hypothetical) grandchildren to do the same.
This country used to be the place everyone wanted to be. Not anymore.
I retired this year and I am beginning to feel the same way. The thing is, as far as I know, one must retain US citizenship to keep getting social security.
I am thinking of moving to Mexico and enjoying the warm weather. Do I have to have dual citizenship or just a place that I consider my second home?
To receive social security. All you have to do is..
1 Be either a US citizen or a legal US Resident.
2, You need to pay into the system. That's it.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Keep a bank account in the US. Have it direct deposited to your account.
Then draw off of it in Mex form your debit card. That way , you get the current exchange rate everytime you withdraw money.
That's how I do it anyway. Plus, you don't have to carry around alot of cash with you.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
-even using taxpayer money, borrowing heavily, or just printing up money. Eventually -probably pretty soon- there will be a crash like two runaway locomotives slamming into each other. It wont be fixable. The rich folk will find their billions aren't worth much to the rest of the world, those who invested in euros will do better, but hopefully the New Government (after our congress-folk and Administration-folk have fled) will seize most of it. Other countries will want nothing to do with the monsters who managed to destroy a country.
Ditto all above posts . So much for wonderful speeches , it looks like it's pretty hopeless and that we are really going down the shitter , goodbye America . Corruption from the very top on down with only a few exceptions and they like us are powerless . Can't believe I suckered for this POLITICIAN and gave him $ I could not even afford to give .
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
He's right!
But what I have to say to everyone who is hopelessly demoralized is this: the corruption is now out in the open for all to see. If you were a supreme being, that's exactly how you'd set it up. So what happens now? I have no idea, but now we don't have to depend on the Democrats. See??? Think DIFFERENT. The universe is still here.
I was watching a Making of Animal House show the other night and a line from that movie pretty much summed up the Rahm attitude. "Face it. You fucked up. You trusted us".
As someone on the outside looking in,I see a country almost completely at the mercy of right wing forces that engage in theatrics designed to garner votes yet have zero intention of allowing anything approaching a social democracy to take root.Both parties kneel before the alter of the so called free market although in the Democratic party's case there are some folks who seem genuinely committed to change.
I don't see a 3rd party as a viable option without the ability to amass the enormous funds necessary (these ridiculous daze) to throw their hat into the proverbial ring.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
From this vantage point in the great midwest, I'd have to concur; both major parties are totally out to fuck us and third parties, no matter how noble, will never gain traction...at least in my (hopefully)limited lifetime. We've created our own hell on earth through a complete and devastating lack of vigilance (sorry for using a right wing word there). Thank god there's gin.
"Buy the ticket, take the ride."
Hunter S. Thompson
I just stopped by here to see what's been going on and to be honest, it's nice to see even the C&Lers are starting to wake up.
For anyone who's interested; ever since I was called a republican troll here (after years of posting)for warning that Obama was just another one of "them" I drifted off and started reading "alternative news" blogs. The heavy right wing presence was pretty hard to take but most of the ones I read are actually way more tolerant of dissenting viewpoints than any of the "progressive" blogs.
The simple fact is both parties are nothing but minions of the corporate powers that be. Democratic Party or republican party- take your pick, you're going to get the same thing- with only minor differences in window dressing.
The wars rage on, the money is still re-distributed to the top and the TV (or print) news will still act as though there is a fundamental difference between the two.
Try cutting back on coffee.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Go back to sleep.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESc5D5lWQQ0&fe...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Nice music break....
Here's one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNYES8KOIqY
(worth digging up part 2 as well)
Thanks, ysb!
"Well, one mustn't be narrow-minded in these matters."
Little trollop!!
"In theory theory and practice are alike. In practice they are very different."
Elvis Costello: Waiting For the End of the World
"Dear Lord, I sincerely hope you're coming
'Cause we've really started something."
"In theory theory and practice are alike. In practice they are very different."
Very apropos!
I never would have called you a Republican troll. You have been right all along.
We were both correct in our assumptions about Obama. The radicals are usually proven correct in the long run. The dewey-eyed liberals are the ones who generally vote the short term to save the house. Meanwhile, the termites are destroying the whole rotten edifice from the ground up.
Pretty soon, there's nothing worth saving.
The right-wing is much less dangerous than most liberals. The right-wingers are so blatantly evil and/or incompetent that we know who the enemy is. Liberals, while having good intentions, place false hopes in candidates who sound good during the primaries, but then sell out the minute they take office.
Without a real opposition party prepared to behave like grownups rather than the outrageous,vindictive,morally bankrupt fuck faces that comprise the "Grand Old Party" things will continue to deteriorate.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
are capable of providing that opposition party. And that means STOP voting for corporatists!
That People do see Obama for what he is. At best Bush-lite minus the religious zealotry. At worst a new darker version of Bush who can disguise his true intentions to many with Pretty speeches.
Obama is no were near as bad as McCain or Palin would have been but he is far from A liberal president he quite a bit right of Clinton for crying out loud. Now you expect a Guy not to for fill all his promises, but it seems Obama has made it his goal to Piss off his base as much as possible. How by doing the opposite of what he promised and only keep the promises that he knew his base didn’t like.
Institutions and laws made in the early days of a republic when men were good, no longer serve their purpose when men have become bad. And, if by any chance the laws of the state are changed, there will never, or but rarely, be a change in its institutions. The result is that new laws are ineffectual, because the institutions, which remain constant, corrupt them. (Discourses I.18)
The second example of this he cites is of the proposal of laws by the tribunes. "But when the citizens had become perverse, this institution became a nuisance; because only the powerful proposed laws, and this for the sake, not of their common liberties, but to augment their own power. And against such projects no one durst speak for fear of such folk; with the result that the people were induced, either by deceit or by force, to adopt measures which spelt their own ruin." (Discourses I.18)
Sometimes the parallels between the late Roman Republic and the US are downright creepy.
Bush III.
It hurts a little more when the knife comes from the back and its from the hand you thought was a friend's.
Thanks for a very good summary of this moment in civic life.
If money and power are the forces at play here, a consumer strike at the banks and government by not paying credit cards and taxes might be the only thing they understand.
I would like to panic the bankers and politicians. I'd like to scare the stock market.
get to the root cause of this evil
it is capitalism that puts profits over people
until americans figure that out nothing much will change
they will figure it out but not before we reach third world status
the have mores then have the middle class as lower class willing to work for slave wages and the have mores will even have more
wake up americans who do you think is conditioning you to love capitalism by making you afraid of a social democracy they call socialism.
it is difficult to live in a dumbed down society that is self righteous and arrogant.
look at the system quit blaming just individuals
a corrupt system will corrupt an entire nation.
capitalism is corrupt to the very essence of it
even to the point of making mega profits off the sick and needy by finding ways not to pay benefits to the sick and needy.
and most americans cannot see this immoral aspect of capitalism
that is how corrupt we have become.
we have become an evil empire and create suffering all over the world.
America has become the center hub of the "axis of evil". And the scum are pushing their invasion of Iran plans daily. Saw some sleazy WSJ article this morning blaming Iran for some software to hack drones that militants probably picked up at Radio Shack or off of EBay.
It is clear that Obama is, fundamentally, Bush's 3rd term
GASP! You can't say that! That's hating. It's not constructive. /snarkasm
That was an honest and detailed analysis,
and I am sickened and will be haunted by your phrase 'fine red mist',
but considering how disturbing the war is, it needs creative people coming up with apt descriptions of what is really happening.
We are an empire, desperate to maintain it's power.
I don't believe in God. Teach a man to be a good citizen and you have solved the problem of life.
-Andrew Carnegie
All the warning signs were there. Secret meetings of Hillary and Barak with big-shot international bankers and corporate elite - the ones most responsible for the current economic crisis - goes largely unreported, and when this is mentioned, the progressives in turn wave the hoary old chestnut about people being 'paranoid' that the game is fixed and that those who point out that the game is fixed are loose cannons and 'conspiracy theorists'.
Fine. Then how do you explain what has happened with the health care debacle? That wasn't a conspiracy on the corporations and the Obama Administration's part to strangle the public option in the cradle? That there was no conspiracy on the part of the corporations and this Administration to force people into corporate plans that suck? That it 'just happened'? Puh-lease. This was the intent from the very beginning.
The only change we received with the last election is we got a more articulate mouthpiece for corp-rat Amerika. The only change we have resides in our back pockets...until that's stolen, too.
If the smell of the coffee that's been brewing for ages doesn't wake them, and ammonia capsules can't, what will rouse real progressives from their self-imposed slumber and remove their self-installed blinders? Barak is not 'your' man, he's the Korporate elite's man, bought and sold, and he just proved it again.
There is only ONE progressive Senator in the United States Senate that I know of!! Bernie Sanders!
We got rid of Bush and his tyrannical administration.... only to somehow continue to grant the GOP decision-making power. I don't understand that. We got crapped-on for 8 years and watched this country go down the drain, and now we very slow and very little progress. Obama should have shut-out Repulblicans the way Democrats were shut out, We could have done so much more by this time. Now? we're finished. Repukes can't wait for the next elections, where they will predictably say, "look, Democrats have done nothing for you." and, unfortunately, they'll be correct.
We should have known when Obama swept criminal war prosecutions off the table.
He's as delusional as those tough, 'risk-taking' GS bankers threatening to take their 'talents' somewhere else if the bottle-feeding sessions stop. Let 'em go to China -- where the action is now. Let's see if the Chinese would put up with their nonsense.
I go away for a few months and it looks like the place has been taken over by GOP agents.
Either that or the more hard core-liberal members (God bless them) are actually trying to depress themselves into mass suicide.
This is nothing like the Bush administration. Take a deep breath. Things are getting better slowly. Remember before things were tanking quickly.
It's true, Joe Lieberman is a turd. But that has always been the case. And, there's always more than one turd in the Senate.
The big problem right now is the Democratic/Progressive/Liberal coalition's lack of solidarity. Hang together folks!
Now is the winter of our discontent! Cheer up. Get enthusiastic about the hard work of making things better. This is what it looks like. Messy. Yeah, but no one said it would be easy or quick.
And, please don't listen to GOP agents sent to depress us.
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