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4th of July Weekend Wisdom - (if you don't send these to at least eight people, who cares?) Open Thread Version
I found these two pieces, one old and one new, appropriate not only for this long weekend but for these "interesting" times. I've noticed alot of curiosity among twenty-somethings like my son passing the YouTube videos of the classics like "Seven Words." I've noticed that some of my contemporaries have just kind of gone underground, as if they are measuring what to do at this juncture. So much is strange in the present and unpredictable for the future, yet there is a poignant sense of deja vu as well, particularly as politicans cross the country and fill the airwaves and talk about "values" and the economy as we advance toward election time. It's tempting to gravitate toward "hope" and "change" yet easy for anyone with a memory to be on guard for pandering, innuendo, euphemism and the like. Anyway, these felt like wisdom to me this morning.
From the late George Carlin:
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings butshorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, moreexperts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up tootired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...
Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares?
& from Katharine van den Heuvel, Editor of The Nation:
Are you a pro-democracy patriot? I am. Like millions of Americans, I experienced a surge of hope after the most nationally inclusive race for a presidential nomination in US history. It was that hope -- a sense that the time is ripe and right -- that moved me to write a manifesto about how to invigorate our democracy and capture greater power for the people. My essay, "Just Democracy" addresses the crisis of our democracy, the opportunity we have to repair it and the steps we can take to build a more perfect union.
While The Nation has published clarion calls for change before -- most recently in 2001 and 2004, the confluence of events suggests there may never be a better time to renew our electoral process. Just a century ago progressive forces brought about a flurry of constitutional amendments, including women's suffrage and direct election of senators. We have a similar opportunity to pass the reforms that will build a more just democracy. A pro-democracy movement already has the grassroots and netroots in place, as well as the principles and concrete proposals. Of course, it will take political will, savvy strategy and hard-nosed organizing -- organizing that should be integrated into the 2008 campaign and continue after this year's voting is done.
By developing a holistic and galvanizing democracy agenda, the larger public interest and progressive community can unify and amplify particular issues -- health care, the environment, an end to reckless war and economic injustice.
What would a core agenda be? How about Just Democracy -- a program to ensure that every voter can vote, that every vote gets counted, that money talks no louder than the many and that every challenger gets to make his or her case? Many of the reforms I propose are embodied in legislative proposals that have already been introduced in Congress.
A Just Democracy movement will require determined idealism and hard-nosed realism; it will demand a broad coalition committed to making these reforms a high priority. Working together, I believe we can repair the broken system we've been handed and confront the crisis of disenfranchisement that has overtaken our democracy. We want 100 percent registration. We want increased participation. We want full representation with majority rule. We want the right to vote. We want to vote without fear--that our votes will not count, or be counted by hacked machines.
Isn't it long past time to place democracy at the center of our politics? This July 4th, let's begin to make America a more perfect union.
Thanks for the great article, slugbug. (Stolen from the front page.) Your article and the comments by G. Carlin fit the A.P. article I was going to post earlier. (Except I lost it when my computer locked up.)
Anyways, the article I was going to post was about how the American people feel terrible about our country right now and how they're saying it's headed in the wrong direction--both Democrats and Republicans. However, the rebuttal in the article had been some people saying that Americans are spoiled and should get use to less.
Sparrow and slugbug,
Really great article.
Sparrow, in your last post, I think there is a shred of truth in each point of view. American people feel terrible about our country right now and say it's heading in the wrong direction.
We also did get spoiled and our values got misguided, IMO. Maybe a little balance will be better for our society.
However, it's how hard the pendulum needs to swing the other way before it settles on balance that will test people to their limits.
You can bet that we will have to get used to having less. I certainly don't consider myself an exception to the rule, but I learned long ago to try to stay out of debt - life is just easier that way. I am fortunate in that I can make ends meet and USED to have some discretionary money afterward. The recent gas and food (and everything else) hikes have taken my discretionary money, but I am still able to make it. I worry about all those in severe debt, because our society had become competitive and envious and very materialistic.
We are in for a shock.
We are in for a shock.
Amen
I would like to know where exactly every one is getting that we are 'spoiled'....?
Where does that talking point come from I wonder?
Our people work like dogs and can't even get health care. Our old people must chose between medicine and food. Our kids get treated to an educational system that does not even meet their most basic needs, but then again, what kind of education do you need to become a bloody hole in a rich mans battlefield? Our government and media constantly lie to us on a daily basis, about the most important issues of our times, and not one of us has ever read our own actual history in any of our own history books.
If that is somehow a definition of being 'spoiled', or being coddled, then we must have a really f*cked up view of what it is to be 'spoiled'.
As a matter of a fact, the whole 'spoiled' thing, reminds me of every other brainwashing tactic they have used. Just tell everyone how 'spoiled' they are, and then they won't say anything as you take away from them even more, and more, and more. Why? Because it must be true, I have all this stuff I don't need, so therefore I must be spoiled, even if I do not have anything I actually do need.
The only thing 'spoiled' about this country, are the elites in control of it whom have turned us all into their own personal atm/slave/subjects to cater to their every whim no matter how evil and disgusting those whims are.
I come from a family too poor to afford medicine, or even electricity, for years on end. I remember being in the dark, and being hungry, here, in the heart of the greatest empire ever to rise. And frankly, I take offense to the suggestion that somehow that 'spoiled' me.
How many more of our nations children will be alone in the dark and hungry tonight? How many will be sleeping in a car, or in a tent, or at grandmas house because they have no where else to go tonight?
I freaking dare anyone to seek out those kids and tell them to their faces how 'spoiled' they are. I freaking dare ANYONE to look into their faces and tell them how much better they have it than anyone else in the world.
I triple dog dare, with whipped cream and cherries on top.
This whole mindset is becoming problematic, not for the least of which it is completely untrue. It is truthiness, not actual truth. The mess we are in can not be fixed simply by everyone agreeing to give up their favorite toy or book.
If you want to see people who are 'spoiled' by their governments, then you will have to go to Australia, England, or France, because it is an alien concept here, even if we all have been brainwashed into saying, 'Well, they can take away all my benefits, because really, I have too many anyway. I'm spoiled!'.
It is like the whole damn country is in psychosis. But then again the reality of this country is so horrible, it is literally easier to indulge in mass delusion than it is to believe that we have been done this way by our own people. That it was always this way, we do not want to accept.
We had better be spoiled, because if the opposite were true.... And if that truth settles into our minds... A Revolution is the inevitable outcome.
So, the spoiled elite of this country must do everything they can to make you believe that you are just as spoiled as they are. If you don't believe it, the day we all stop believing it, is the last day they will ever rule over us. And they know this.
A spoiled slave is still a slave. But as long as they can keep you saying how 'spoiled' you are, it will never occur to you to question the true nature of your position.
It is literally like handing a starving man a bright shiney object to play with. It does nothing to help him, but it will keep him busy for a moment while you hide the cheese from him.
Christy
This is the precise reason why the Repukes keep bringing in immigrants from primitive Third World nations.
Compared to THEM, Americans still look spoiled. After all, 15% of us have union representation (and the benefits associated with it) compared to ZERO PERCENT in those bastards' home countries.
There is a reason why Reverend Moon likes illegal immigration - he wants EVERY American to live in such desperate conditions as these illegals, like 50 to a house.
And by the way, those said immigrants' social conservatism is just the icing on the cake.
The Repukes are counting on their Korean and Central American buddies to get gay marriage banned in California this fall.
I found the article that I lost yesterday. This might answer Christy's question. (And it's my fault Christy, because I was responding to a specific portion of Carlin's comments and couldn't find the article later.)
America's Unhappy Birthday: 'Too Much Is Wrong Right Now'
The relevant portion to Christy's question:
Christy...you feeling better?
We need to exploit the Republican hypocrisy, between "securing our border" from illegal immigrants and their willful failure to ACTUALLY SECURE THE BORDER for partisan gain.
TSP
I consider myself fortunate to have a good job (for now) as well as paid-off cars and no debt.
I do need a place of my own, however. To that end, I'm saving most of what I earn.
Christy
I think the "spoiled" thing doesn't apply to what you're talking about - here are the things I can think of.
1. Carter told us to turn off the lights and wear sweaters. That was more than 3 decades ago.
2. We could have had two terms of Gore by now. Kerry was an environmentalist. But environmentalism wasn't "cool" and people didn't connect it do domestic and foreign policy even though it's the LINK!!
3. We had Oilmen for Presidents - father and son!!!! We had economy cars back in the '70s and they were discontinued or only made in places like Japan and Italy.
4. People were given tax discounts for SUVs and Humvees etc. and some of them BOUGHT INTO IT. They figured cheap gas would continue for the forseeable future or maybe even become cheaper when we "won the war."
5. People lived on credit like there was no tomorrow.
6. The government lived on credit like there was no tomorrow.
7. People bought houses who were willing to join Bush's "ownership" society even by taking out loans that could ballooon or that started out as interest-only! People took out 50 year mortgages and superloans (more than $400,000.) Were they on crack?!
8. People ceased to question why it mattered where their goods came from as long as they were cheap (sweatshops, Republican donor Walmart, dollar stores, crap.)
9. People ceased to demand regulation but bought that we had to "get government off our backs" or "shrink the government." (So we got Katrina, mad cow, e coli, salmonella, lead poisoning)
10. People treated the military like it was a big welfare system that we're paying for - in the name of patriotism!! To hell with our roads etc.
Meanwhile, they continued to buy gas barbecue grills, big screen tvs and to eat more and get fatter and use more toilet paper and electricity.
& for what.
Young people are pretty aware about the environment and thankfully, are living differently, and it's not just because food and gas and etc. are more expensive. Alot of them saw this coming and they're going to have to live on this shithole planet (what we've made it into) a lot longer than most of us.
By the way, I lived in a 10x50 trailer holding six and while my dad was having electroshock at the VA for PTST and didn't even recognize us, we got US government commodities. (Anyone remember canned meat and canned peanut butter in big silver cans and corn bread?)
In SD, we canned food. It's an upper midwest holdover from the Depression plus alot of things grow there (corn, tomatoes, cukes, melons) but alot don't (cherries, peaches.)
I just saw "Purple Rain" (Prince movie from the '80s) last night - when he goes nuts after his dad shoots himself, he smashes all the canned goods in the basement. This was a black/Italian family in urban Minneapolis and they still had a basement of canned goods. I'm glad they got that detail - accuracy close to that in "Fargo" LOL.
Here's who is on crack.
"In the long-term, the only way to keep the budget balanced is successful reform of the large spending pressures in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid," the McCain campaign says in a policy paper to be released Monday.
"The McCain administration would reserve all savings from victory in the Iraq and Afghanistan operations in the fight against Islamic extremists for reducing the deficit. Since all their costs were financed with deficit spending, all their savings must go to deficit reduction."
JOHN McCAIN release
(from AZ Rainman)
http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com
Feeling better? Yes darlin. I do. TY.
As for this part...
"Allison Alvin condemns an "out of style" values system, in which even kids have cell phones, credit card debt is out of control and families purchase four-bedroom homes they can't afford instead of two-bedroom ones they could.
"I'm mad at us ... all of my fellow Americans. Maybe a little hardship would be good for us," said Alvin, who at 36 has a job as a freight exporter in Cincinnati, a husband with a factory job, two healthy children, her own home and four cars, all paid off."
See, this is my point. The AVERAGE family can not go out and purchase a 4 bdrm home, and the average family income does not allow for the average kid to have a cell phone. My kids don't get cell phones, I don't even have one anymore. And after that UK study my kids won't be getting them, even if we could afford it.
The AVERAGE person does not have 4 cars all paid off, and really God bless that his kids are healthy because if even one of them were sickly he would be bankrupted and you can kiss those 4 cars goodbye. Even if he does have 'the good insurance' he can still count on one devastating illness devastating his whole life.
The AVERAGE US citizen do NOT have credit cards. They have too little income to ever qualify for one.
See, this is what I am saying exactly. You hold this family up to me to say 'See, we are spoiled!' But I am sitting here thinking who in the hell can afford 4 cars, much less gas and insurance for each? Cause I don't know hardly anyone that actually could.
But THEY are held up as the 'average' when they are in fact a hell of a lot better off than the other 80% of us. How is it possible that atypical examples are constantly held up as the normal standard, and somehow it leaves the impression that we all must be better off than we thought if these atypical examples defines 'the norm'...? I will tell you how, on purpose, that is how. They sell it just as neatly as they do wars.
'Spoiled Americans' is quite a talking point. Whoever thought it up was a monster and a genius.
Ally is 100% correct. They want us to be compared to third world peasants and slaves, because that is the only way in which we look spoiled. You know, compared to the women in the Sudan, my life is utterly freaking FANTASTIC!
But, compare me to a Frenchmen and all the sudden, not only do I not look spoiled, in fact I look more like one of millions and millions of VICTIMS who has been cheated at every turn by people who truly are spoiled children. Like georgie.
This, to me, is the oddest thing in that quote "Round-the-clock saturation, shouting commentators and ceaseless images of "whatever's burning or exploding," he said, "give you the impression that the whole world is falling apart."
Gives us 'the impression'...? WTF!!!???
The whole world IS falling apart. But the reality is suddenly deemed 'an impression' and the 'impression' that somehow we are spoiled IS the reality, even if it is blatantly untrue.
It is not an 'impression' dude. The whole damn world IS falling apart!
Welcome to the party!
The only people thinking 'hardship' may be a good thing, are those trying to comfort themselves somehow as we watch everything we ever knew and loved die.
I on the other hand, will never be convinced that somehow watching my family starve and struggle may be a good thing. That they were too 'spoiled' to begin with and somehow it will ultimately be for their own good to never know a life free from fear and worry.
But if you believe the talking points going around, that is EXACTLY what they are trying to make you believe as they hide the cheese from you.
Christy
You don't even have to look to France, Sweden, or any other country the neocons hate.
Canada, except maybe Hastings Street in Vancouver, is better off.
They tell prospective emigrants in Asia: go to the US for quick money, go to Canada for quality of living. When Asians were poor, they preferred the quick money in the US. Now that they have money themselves, they prefer the quality of living in Canada.
And BTW, Canada hasn't used immigrants as cheap political pawns like the US does.
They've taken the same homophobic Koreans that we took in, but legalized gay marriage anyway to teach them a point.
But then, I digress. This was under a Liberal government. Now that the Canadians have a Conservative government under Stephen Harper, much of what I just said may no longer be true.
Carter told us to turn off the lights and wear sweaters.
I like Carter. I really do.
But here is the truth.
Why am I expected to half freeze my family to death when with a few strokes of a pen these bastards could make sure NO ONE goes cold this winter...?
I am suppossed to believe that I am sooo spoiled that I deserve less WARMTH?
You know, that is real deep coming from someone who's warmth is provided at taxpayers expense.
Here are the median family incomes for the past twelve months for all the states of the US.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/medincsizeandstate.html
Even in Thailand and Mexico, many many people have cars and cell phones and credit cards.
That's not to say that they, or alot of people in this country who do, can afford them.
The whole point is that alot of people have been living beyond their means, like they have more money than they actually do.
A lot more will start to live paycheck to paycheck.
NMP
That was the most ridiculous thing ever done.
Reagan created that tax loophole for up to $25K in the 1980s, in the interest of being friendly to farmers and businesses that tend to drive heavy trucks (anything over 3 tons). W expanded the loophole to $100K to help out those Exploitation and Hummer drivers, at the expense of economy car drivers.
Today, the loophole is back to $25K but it still is there. Again, you must buy over 3 tons to qualify.
The worst morons are those who call taking advantage of this tax loophole "patriotic" and buy the biggest gas guzzler they can. Maybe it's patriotic because the gas guzzlers are the ONLY things the domestic automakers are interested in building, due to profit margins.
(And speaking of profit margins on trucks, Ford just sold an F-150 to my father in Alaska at $8K off MSRP, and will still make a bundle off of him.)
Now France.
The Euro is worth more than the dollar now but the French have to buy things priced in Euros not dollars. It's only if they came here that the Euro would buy more.
They pay more, on average, in taxes - so they should expect more services. & that's being eroded & they also have more immigrants than they can handle (for number of jobs & services required such as health and education.)
Here are figures:
Average gross income was 3,093 euros/month (average gross income) a year ago - http://www.credit-ssima.fr/ and the disposable income (= net income after direct taxes) was 29,696 euros/year (average) or 25,205 euros/year (median) per household - http://www.insee.fr
A couple with 3 or more children had a net disposable income of 45,398 euros whereas as single person's was 16,888 euros.
$44,000 was the US median household disposable income, higher than the French one of $39,000 (25,205 euros). $58,000 (37,117 euros) corresponds to the average household GROSS income, which is around $70,000 in the US.
That said, things are getting worse both places. They were smart not to get as involved in the Iraq war (understatement) under Chirac.
slugbug
Blame Sarkozy!
"The whole point is that alot of people have been living beyond their means, like they have more money than they actually do."
Alot of people, yes. Let us define who 'alot' of people are.
Those who were already better off in the first place, and then got greedy. Those were the ones living beyond their means.
While they kept consuming, the poor, just kept getting poorer. So they had to invent a neat talking point. Convince the poor they were 'too spoiled' anyway, by constantly using atypical examples, and so as they get poorer, they will just accept it as a good thing while those better off just keep right on consuming unchecked.
And now that talking point has been so completely ingrained into us, that even as the lower elite teeter on the brink of starvation, they are shouting to the wind what a good thing it is and how we will all be better off for it.
You know, cause we were 'too spoiled'.
It is totally back-asswards.
Christy
Under Reagan "the rich got richer, the poor got poorer" - & it happened again under Bush because he used the same Supply Side economics ("trickle down") model. & the middle class shrinks. I am middle class and the only way I didn't shrink is on the scale. That's before I found out what High Fructose Corn Syrup does!! (not entirely joking.)
The really poor are probably mostly homeless by now. I think it would be a stretch to say that most of them were ever "spoiled" or are now.
The middle class has been in a pinch for a long time. Alot of use middle-aged people are the "sandwich" generation, responsible for the generation after us (our kids and grandkids) and for our parents (if they are still living.) Alot of people like me have had 20 something kids move back in with them.
It's mostly those who lived on credit and took the gamble that nothing bad would happen who "spoiled" themselves, and they followed the example of our government. As you said, "already better in the first place and got greedy."
Looking for a silver lining in the area of thriftiness being next to Godliness is something pretty American (think the Great Depression) but it kind of died out in many places. In the upper midwest where I lived, some people actually became rich over time but you would never know it because they were afraid to spend a time, due to their prior poverty (or limited means.)
The "too spoiled" could be a distracting talking point to throw us off, like you say. That said, alot of people developed bad habits and quit being fiscally careful.
Stop and think about it for a moment.
Ask yourself, (trust-fund babies are excluded), ask yourself, do you feel as though you have been 'spoiled' or have you had to fight your heart out for every damn thing you have?
Do you actually feel the US Government somehow gave you a handout or did they make life harder for you at every turn...?
Now, look around yourself.... How many 'spoiled' people do you see? (Again, trust fund babies excluded).
Do you see what I see? Because what I do not see is anyone who ever could catch a break and had to fight like hell for every single advantage they had. Our men and women work like dogs. Like slaves. Our people are strong as hell, and our corporate overlords squeeze every damn drop out of them.
And nowhere can I see anyone who can even get adequate health care. Not my mom, not your mom, not me, not you not ANY of us. Even if you do have insurance, you're F*CKED! So am I.
Again, if THIS is what it is to be 'spoiled' then they must not be working from the same definition of 'spoiled' that I am.
More about France:
Some areas have a very high unemployment rate. You cannot benefit from the generous social security system unless you have worked at some point, and if you have, the benefits are not indefinite. Nothing that is given even for a short point, is comparable to even a minimum wage job. They do have a universal minimum wage. Corrected for the prices there (earn Euros, spend Euros), it is about the same as in my state (so higher than in some areas of our country.)
They will subsidize up to 1/3 of rent for the poor and it is per household. It's not that easy to get as the system is very bureaucratic. It is similar to the food stamp system here. It will mean living in a housing project outside a city (and they are not nice.)
If you should need to see a Dr. you can get at least a partial refund from the government (30% to 100% depending on income) and if you are very poor you get a Universal Health Allowance which is like Medicaid here.) Education is compulsory to 16 and then optional but should you continue to higher education, you can go to a public university for free (as it used to be in California.) To get into the elite schools, you must place very high in national contests (merit) and a job is more assured. Student housing is so expensive, many people live at home for most of their 20s. Also, it's hard for teens to find work ever (as is becoming true in US now during our recession), as adults need the work.
Technically children born in France of immigrant parents are citizens but their background may limit them as their parents may lack the language, be forced to work far from home, and young in the banlieues (poor suburbs, as in France the poor live outside the city rather than inside) insist police are unfair to them.
Assistance from the government is too close the to amount made by minimum wage and with the need for transportation and childcare and the poor job market, there is little incentive for some to seek work very hard. Same can be said of the US. In some poor areas, the unemployment rate is over 20%. Who suffers? Poor children.
Some things never change, but comparisons between US and France are fairly much like cutting up a bunch of apples and oranges and putting them in a blender.
Christy
It could be the definition of "spoiled."
I have both benefitted and suffered from being poor. I benefitted because I qualified for grants and scholarships and thus educated myself. I benefitted because I developed a certain street smarts that I didn't find much of among the middle class people I came to associate with (in the upper midwest it is called "common sense.")
I have suffered by having to fight for even what I just outlined and because both of my brothers and their families to not have healthcare, nor does my son, and both my husband and I and my mom have the most modest and unreliable of an HMO (you cannot choose doctor, they will only pay certain amounts for certain things, in certain clinics, it can be hard to get in.)
The worst thing is that this country is so in debt because of bad trade and foreign policy practices! Republicans are supposed to be fiscally conservative and they have infinitely outspent the "tax and spend" Democrats. It is shocking.
Christy,
For now, this will have to be short because I am on my way to work, and I just hopped on the blog to see 'what up' because everything was real quiet over the weekend on the blog.
I don't even know how to tell you that I did not mean that phrase "we are too fat, or too spoiled" to mean all of us. In fact, you have some VERY GOOD POINTS.
It is "THEY" that keep pointing their sexy, slender, or buff guys in every ad, playing on the American Psyche that unless WE have and can afford everything they push at us in the ads we are nothing. I am not blaming it on the working folks in America, or those who have been poor for a length in their own lives. I remember some friends I have used to live in Tennessee in houses that didn't even have flushing toilets, and they were younger than myself, and they lived in those houses until they were grown and went to university and worked their way to the top of their fields.
I don't know if I can explain it all quickly, but I do understand what you are saying also. I guess each one of us could take the saying "we are spoiled, and losing some things might be good for us" to be a blanket statement that absolves all the chess players from the harm they have done.
Maybe rather than a blanket statement applying to EVERYONE, it would be more accurate to say "some are more spoiled". It's subjective, really.
When I grew up we had five kids in our family, and our mom mostly didn't work outside the home, and we all lived comfortably and happily in a three bedroom one bath home. How we all did it (especially with my teen age primping) with one bathroom I cannot remember. Seems almost impossible now. We didn't have computers, cell phones, computerized toys and all the sophisticated consumer items you can buy children today. I remember what I wanted most was a pair of black Mary Jane's like one of the girls in school, and my parent's could only afford those brown oxfords, so that's what I got. It wasn't that they didn't meet our needs, they just didn't have enough to meet our "wants". When my parents had five kids to feed and clothe they couldn't afford the luxury for me to persuade them to buy me Mary Jane's that would wear out in two months, when a good pair of oxfords could last until I outgrew them.
Those were the best years of my life, the years our family of seven all lived in the newly developed "suburbs" in our little tract home. High school ended up being just exactly like "Happy Days", with us dragging main st. on Friday nights and going to the drive-in A and W where we ordered french fries, burgers, and root beer. Life was simpler, it seemed, or my parents were very disciplined and led us to be. We never worried about lead in our toys or food from China that could maim us. We focused on our grades and who was taking us to the prom.
Even though my parents only had enough money to take us on two family trips (one to Disneyland and one to Kansas in an Edsel)besides our camping every year at the lake, I knew kids who's parents were more competitive, and the kids had all the newest everything and competed with each other based on what they had and where they could go and what they could do.
Well, that mentality was certainly in play in the eighties, and even some in the nineties, when my kids were at the age that they wanted Nike Air shoes and name brand clothes. By that time I could give them those things. But I don't know that it helped develop their character any more than it would if they had had to go without.
The guy that told me that we were getting too fat, and too spoiled, as a society, and therefore growing increasingly neurotic had a point.
When the depression was on, people were so busy trying to survive they didn't have time to be narcissistic and neurotic. They didn't have that luxury. As we came out of the depression, and life got better for each generation, everything that the current generation had created some new problems that weren't as prevelant when everyone was busy working on a potato farm - kids and all - to just be able to eat dinner at night.
People all of a sudden IN SOME INSTANCES, had more of their needs met than ever before, and were comfortable enough to relax and worry and or get neurotic. And our capitalistic society CREATED and MAINTAINED THAT. Pretty soon divorce and shrinks were the norm for at least 50% of our population. Then they kept telling us through their ads in the media that we still had to have MORE to measure up. Five bedroom houses that people could not afford were stuffed up their noses by the loan sharks. You weren't anybody unless you were driving an SUV.
I guess because at that point in my life I had a pretty affluent lifestyle, I have gotten to see different facets of lifestyle, from poor to middle class to wealthy, to poor again. I got tired of being manipulated by the media. I knew I wasn't happy in Corporate America, and litle by little my NEEDS weren't being met by my having and working a middle American job in a corporation. So I decided I could do alot better with less. I had less junk to dust and take care of and move around, less choices to pick which clothes matched which, and alot less of everything that at one time I just thought I had to have to be somebody in the U.S.A.
I have seen my brothers and sons wrestle with feelings of inadaquecy when they couldn't provide their family with all the things the television told them was the NORM if you were anybody in the USA. The ONLY thing that woke me up was traveling abroad, and seeing that actually the French, Italians, and English seemed to actually live better than we did here in America. It was then I realized it was a scam, and that we had been scammed. We were sold the idea that we were on top of the world if we could go through Taco Bell after working all day, all of us wearing our levis and cool shoes and driving our SUVS. The problem was it was a LIE. The people in Germany were making two dollars more an hour than I was at the same type of job, and all the Europeans actually had nice clothes, not levis and Chinese crap like we were being told we were lucky to be wearing at hiked up prices.
I don't know who to blame....capitalism, the media, the consumers, the government, the social system. I just know that it got so bad (the lie) that people went in to hawk over their heads to buy those huge houses and make sure they had what tv told them made them worthwhile. And they went for it, and it didn't make them any better, it made slaves out of them.
One of my points is that when we are willing to do with less, and are less in debt, we are actually less ruled,and less slaves, in some ways.
I don't blame you for being upset when you didn't experience any of that. I was speaking from a more subjective viewpoint than I indicated. But, point at hand.....you were poor.....and look at YOUR VALUES. You have really good values and instincts that serve you better from your background than someone else will ever have who's dad is a CEO and they are handed everything on a silver platter. (Like Jr.)
Christy, Sparrow, Ally
Great collection of posts on the economy and I just found an interesting quote:
"As our world and our economy have changed, only Washington has stood still. The progress we made during the 1990s was quickly reversed by an administration with a single philosophy that is as old as it is misguided — reward not work, not success, but pure wealth."
Barack Obama
They did. They rewarded PURE WEALTH!
I think you touched on the heart of it really.
The whole rich get richer and poor get poorer, actually has a more mathmatical application than it does a metaphoric meaning.
The poor getting pooorer, not only means individual reduction of the few assests you did have available, but it produces a massive expansion of the group as a whole.
Poor get poorer literally translates to there being a greater number of poor. The numbers of the elite are also culled out, and they shrink as a group as the poor expand in numbers. The middle class ceases to exist as they slip into the poor catagory.
I think in some ways it is a brilliant talking point, because it springs from a false impression that was already widespread, instead of creating the false impression. It is almost religious like.
The more trying your life is, the more you believe in a 'merciful' God.
The more poor you become, the more likely you are to 'count your blessings'.
Silver lining, indeed. But..Is that not totally freaking bizarre when you think about it?
The people slipping into poverty should not be happy to go there, nor feel it could be some great adventure to be poor. It isn't. They are not slipping into poverty because they failed in some way. They worked harder, they believed harder. Even if they do not know it, they deserve better. They are not 'spoiled'. They are being used.
The failure here, was the elite in this country never had any intention of 'spoiling' us. Just think of what a success story our nation would be if we did indeed 'spoil' our people.
Instead the elite have looted and p*ssed away all our resources, all the while telling us it will be ok, because we were 'too spoiled' anyway.
Poor people should be mad as hell right now, not counting their blessings.Poor people do not 'live above their means', they do not have any 'means' that is the very reason they are defined as 'poor'.
As a matter of a fact, that is another interesting talking point, isn't it? 'You 'lived above your means'....Very interesting.
Sounds like a polite way of telling you not to get too uppity. Because uppity people may expect things, like healthcare, and adequate heating in winter.
They, the elite/power structure force, gas for example, beyond our means.
Then when we start complaining we can not afford it, we are chastised and told it must be because we were 'living beyond our means'.
The housing crisis.
You sign up for a mortgage of say $700 a month, the bank makes you a shady loan then doubles the monthly payment, until you are forced into foreclosure.
The bank then gets bailed out with your tax money, and the BANK then has both the money AND the house. Almost as if by ACCIDENT.
It is like playing Monopoly in hell. It is an asset grab. A looting spree.
But, all those people were 'living above their means' so they must deserve to be on the street.
Except ... who do you know would ever sign to agree too a $1400 house note when all they could afford was $700? They were not trying to live beyond their means, they were scammed.
It was not a mistake, it was not an oversight. They did not 'slip through the cracks'.
Someone created a crack, then swept us towards it.
Christy
I think the frugalness is an attempt by many middle class not to get much much much poorer and many others have always had to live that way.
Being "less spoiled" is only a good talking point as far as "going green" for the environment, which may in some cases cost MORE for certain items. For example, I am avoiding high fructose corn syrup. Or a poor person could decide to quit smoking, in which case they would actually save money.
I think you are right that is is a double-edged sword if it is meant to make us happier in general with out destiny. A larger poor class will mean higher crime, more cannon fodder (probably reinstatement of the draft), a lower average education level and a loss of status for our country above and beyond what has already happened.
The elite/power structure is actually making money off the high gas prices. & in 2010, they plan to redistrict, to get more Republican governors and to try to take back any power wrested from them in 2006 and 2008. They have a long-term plan. There are many many Tom Delays.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/07/gop-looks-to-redistrict-i_n_110632.html
Christy
Yes in many ways people are scammed.
Who would think our government would let us get food into the country and from our deregulated corporate farms that would give us e coli, mad cow, salmonella?
Who would think they would allow drug companies to come up with "new" drugs that are just tweaking of an old patent expiration that we should be able to get cheaply if it went generic?
Who would think they would allow our children to be exposed to lead in toys and little girls' jewelry and to mercury in toxic belching from factories and in antiseptics for vaccines (rise in autism) - the latter they don't admit but I just heard new research which shows they know damn well and are covring up?
Those who didn't trust this government were right. This government says government should be smaller. I say THIS government should be so small they could be flushed down a bathtub drain, with Grover Norquist going down first.
When I bought my house I was an unemployed student with $3000, a husband and son. I somehow got a federally-insured FHA loan but I was also offered an "adjustable rate mortgage" with a much lower mortgage payment. After we got the house, interest rates went up from 8-1/2 percent to 11 percent overnight.
They had stalled on closing our house, as they knew the rates were going to go up. I called them every fifteen minutes for three weeks. I went and sat on their step each morning before work. The escrow agent went out to have a baby and I went and sat on her step. I got the seller and the realtor to hound them.
They kept coming up with new things. They wanted to see three years past tax returns. They wanted to see a last rent receipt and our old landlord had fled because of a bunch of outstanding debt. I had to actually go out and hunt the sucker down. I found him in a hospital careteria, reading with his book propped open with two forks.
I made him sign, I yelled at those people, and they finally closed the deal - at 8-1/2 percent, 30 year mortgage, had to buy mortgage insurance. Later rates went back down & we refinanced to fifteen year at 6-3/4 percent interest, a good savings. I also made some double and other partial payments, to get ahead of the interest.
What they originally tried to do though was to screw me in two ways. they didn't turn me away. They tried to sell me a balloon mortgage and when that didn't work, they tried to stall me off and get 3 more percentage points of interest over 30 years.
Bastards! So I know they did crappy things to alot of people and sure some of the people were gullible but I don't think many of them could have know it would be this bad.
Our mortgage was also sold six times during 15 years. & they wouldn't let me prepay on the principal, only on the interest. Now I could turn around and sell it for 5x what I paid for it but would get 2/3 of the house. So there is no real profit.
Condos are being built everywhere and they cost what a house used to cost not long ago. Who will live there? People moving up who are priced out of California, which is being filled up by people who are coming in from Mexico, just as we would probably head to Canada if we could swing it!
By the way in the convoluted story of mine above - it was a FIXED mortgage rate of 8-1/2 per cent that I fought for.
Even back 20 years ago, they wanted to a) sell me an adjustable rate mortgage when they knew rates were going up, or b) stall me off so I'd sign at 11% rather than 8-1/2% or lose the house.
slugbug
Thanks for the mortgage warning, as I am entering the housing market soon.
I decided that the course of action out of my parents' place will be NOT to rent my way out, but BUY, using some savings.
Again, I am very thankful that I have $70K in the bank, and expecting $100K by next year. Nobody saves these days (often because student loans and other obligations eat up everything), so I know I am VERY lucky.
Agree with you that the current US government needs to shrink until it can be flushed down the drain. We have the largest and most powerful (and at the same time, least helpful) government in our history - under a REPUBLICAN administration at that.
“I’m the underdog. I’m behind,” McCain said last week. “I’ve got to catch up and get ahead. And I expect to do that about 48 hours before the general election.”
Sooooooo .. does he know something we don't? What voter disenfranchisement and election machine monkey business does he (& his party) plan?
Here is the answer to why Obama suddenly seems to try to appeal to the middle, along with McCain (both somewhat disappointing their more left / right - respectively - bases):
16 percent of voters consider themselves independents. That’s a far larger percentage than the gap that separates McCain and Obama in national polls.
slugbug
No Canada for me (except for visits) unless they can dump Harper.
John McCain wants to provide $300 billion in more tax breaks to corporations and wealthy CEOs.
Oh great .. an honor killing in Georgia (Pakistani man)
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=5322587&page=1
daughter tried to get out of an arranged marriage
California
Republican registration now stands at 32 percent, compared to 44 percent for Democrats. Independents account for 19 percent.
Ally
No Canada for me - because it's too expensive!
Was YouTube hacked?
Who opened the slide to Obama's plane?
I just about had a heart attack just now
shopping for groceries.
Jesus ..
Ana Navarro, co-chairwoman of the Latino voter advisory committee for McCain, made the following comment in an NPR story posted this morning about the Latino vote:
"Let's be frank here: The immigration debate at times has been offensive and hurtful to Hispanics and immigrants. But John McCain has never once in his life engaged in negative, offensive rhetoric against any group," she says.
Ummm ....
"I hate the gooks," McCain said yesterday in response to a question from reporters aboard his campaign bus. "I will hate them as long as I live."
July 7, 2008 2:28 PM
Christy said:
The housing crisis.
You are correct. They knew exactly what they were doing when they went door knocking in '01 trying to get people to refinance their homes.
Oh, surprise. The interest rate went up and now Citi-Corp "owns" all these homes along with the equity the people had in them in the first place.
Rob, steal, cheat.
(I am home on dinner break)
To be honest with you, if I just sit and realize everything that's probably coming down the pike it would freak me out. Maybe that's why I am trying to remain optimistic.
I'm very concerned but there's not a darned thing I can do about it.
Big city paper from up north says 60,000 people lost their jobs last month. My sister was one, she had a great job with Microsoft, and after she helped them set up their accounting system, they laid her and 50 other people off, and are moving their headquarters to two places....
l.) The Phillipines
2.) The Mexican border
My boss was working two jobs and she lost her other job last month - was working for the county at a job she had been at for 18 years and got laid off - they eliminated her position.
I mean, I know I could freak if I would really just sit and dwell on it. It's like watching a high speeding frieght train speeding toward you when your foot is caught in the track.
Ally, I thought you were going to build a Roman Villa...? If you do, I am so moving in with you. He He!
Speaking of villas, I have got to go to Germany and fondle Mad King Ludwigs villa. I wanna touch it so bad I could cry. Every time I look at the pictures I just drool and blink alot.
MAN! I have to go to Germany! And I am almost certainly on a No Fly list.
That sucks so bad.
"It's like watching a high speeding frieght train speeding toward you when your foot is caught in the track."
Amen Sister.
I am kinda freaked out myself without a damn clue as to what to do about it.
God help Us.
slugbug,
I sold my condo in Nevada to a couple from California who were forced out of California, it all takes it's toll. It was in the process of our housing prices in Nevada going sky high because of the influx from California, and it drove me out of Nevada.
And, isn't it just a TRIP to go to the grocery market? $4.15 for a jar of baby dills. I'm still reeling and still kicking myself for paying it.
You did good on your mortgage, very good, you were one up on them. I had mine at 7%, but with a balloon payment in eight years. I sold in the seventh year. I just can't imagine what this place is going to look like even a year from now.
Back to work.
slugbug
32% Republican in California? It feels more like 70% where I am.
The Democrats must have a crushing advantage elsewhere - like in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Christy
I need to get the hell out of Red California first, and keep building equity. Then the villa can go ahead - it'll be an even better villa for it.
Mad King Ludwig's castle (Neuschwanstein) in Bavaria, Germany is also on my list of places to see. It's an hour from Munich, a city I really want to visit (even though it's home to BMW, a company that benefits heavily from - and heartily supports - US Republican policies). Bavaria is to Germany what Orange County is to California, but that ain't stopping me.
TSP
Your boss's situation is why I don't want to get a government job, despite its super benefits and "job security."
With the Grover Norquist model of government, public servants are tax-sucking nuisances to be eliminated. There is no job security, even in the government sector.
I'd rather work for myself, even though benefits, like healthcare, will be far harder to come by - and some Democrats (notably those in Northern California) will declare war on me just by virtue of being a business owner.
TSP, slugbug, et al
I am sticking it out in California. I have no plans to take over a neighboring state and cause your housing market to bubble.
After all, I can legally marry here, whereas some neighboring states (namely, Arizona) think I belong only in a mental asylum simply because I am not supportive of W.
Trust me, I tried Arizona when San Fran priced me out - and that was the WORST mistake of my life.
Germany is another place I'm not going to right now - because of the fallen dollar.
I will be lucky if I make it to my next two US destinations - stay tuned!
"I hate the gooks," McCain said yesterday in response to a question from reporters aboard his campaign bus. "I will hate them as long as I live."
slugbug
Let's remind McCain that a "gook" is a Korean War-era term for North Koreans, that somehow got applied to the North Vietnamese.
The last time I checked, he was a follower of the ultimate gook - Reverend Moon.
slugbug
You aren't goint to Germany - me neither. I gotta save for the house first.
And as for BMW, they can keep selling to the richest 1%, who will use the Bush-McCain tax cuts to buy more Bimmers. I'm not that rich, so I am gonna save - and if/when I do have the money to blow on a luxury import again, it'll be a Mercedes or an Audi.
Of course, BMW is also a supporter of Pope Benedict, and a major homophobe.
Christy
One way to duck the "no fly list" is to become a frequent flier at some airline. (No, you don't even have to fly that often - just enough to keep your miles from expiring.)
A first-time customer definitely gets more scrutiny, the way the system is set up. And paying cash for a one-way ticket is a VERY bad idea.
United Airlines may boot off its Muslim and Orthodox Jewish customers off its flights, but it never messes with me, because I am a known quantity (and I am known to even chat with flight attendants during their breaks about the stupidity of the W police state).
Lush Limpball the...pedophile...?
Hmmmm. That would explain more than just a few things.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3574879
I still get the eeriest feeling when I think of that conversation I had with my mom that one day, and she pointed out that it would be a benefit for the GOP to recruit sexual deviants because they are 'controllable'.
Every time I hear that accusation about lush limpball I get the same feeling, because it just 'fits' him, so well.
I went through airport security with an Obama book and the Transportation officials were very nice to me.
Speaking of Limpball, he got a multimillion dollar contract with Clear Channel through 2016 or something. It's obscene.
Boycott Clear Channel & anything having to do with them.
Hey. If Rush isn't a pedophile, I'm not sure it's morally correct to post that everywhere.
Though I do remember he took a trip to with a bottle of illegal viagra.
Clear Channel also runs many Air America affiliates.
Clear Channel loves all kinds of money - conservative AND liberal.
Christy
Saw this at DailyKos (by Lithium Cola - recom diary right now - it came from a Canadian friend)
It's on the whole "suffering" and "selfishness" thing & pretty good!
You Americans Aren't Selfish Enough
by LithiumCola [Subscribe]
Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 05:52:42 PM PDT
You pay all these taxes but you don't want anything in return for it. You don't want free health care. You don't want time off of work. You don't want anything. You're not selfish enough.
You get mad when someone is taking welfare and sitting on their ass. What have you got against sitting on your ass? The whole point behind having a government and paying taxes is to have more time to sit on your ass. That's what technology is for. You Americans work longer than anyone, pay all these taxes, make all these robots, and then you not only don't you sit on your ass, but you get mad when anyone else does. You're fucking crazy.
LithiumCola's diary :: ::
Robots are so you can sit on your ass, don't you get that? In other countries they make the robots and then get in some good ass-sitting. You make the robots and go homeless, which you think is your fault because you were sitting on your ass. Bonkers.
You aren't selfish enough. That's your whole problem. In a regular country, if anyone tried to take away health care and free time, there would be riots in the streets. Why? Because people want free health care and free time. That's all. They are selfish.
That's why people in other countries have a goverment. That's why they fund all the robot-making. I can't for the life of me tell why you have a government and do all the robot-making. Near as I can tell, you have machines that do more work than you just so you can be homeless and die. Which is the wrong kind of ass-sitting.
You say, "people on welfare are lazy." What the hell is wrong with lazy? Do you want lazy people to starve to death? Don't you want to be more lazy? Don't you want a hobby? Why not?
Again, I could understand that if you weren't paying all these taxes, I guess. But you are, and you seem like you don't want anything for it.
Oh, defense. Yes. You give money to the government and then they give it to Boeing and GE for defense. And that's why there's no money left to sit on your ass and get free hip-replacement surgery. Got it. Feeling safe are ya? You and you busted hip and 60 hour a week job that you could lose tomorrow?
There is something wrong with your calculations. And here it is: you aren't selfish enough.
Growing up means understanding self-regard. And you got none. You think anything for you must be bad. You're like a kid whose hand has been slapped above the cookie jar. Thing is, you made the cookies, idiot. This is your country, your government, and your taxes . . . you get to say what is done with it. And here's a clue: you want to sit on your ass more. You want free health care.
The above is an embellished version of something a Canadian friend said to me recently. It was such a strange thing to my American ears, and yet seemed so obviously correct, that I thought I would pass it along.
slugbug
Just saw that on MSNBC as well.
I'm pretty sure the Repukes are all torn up about this - on one hand, they want to secure the border, on the other hand, they want to make America a lot like Pakistan.
"Though I do remember he took a trip to with a bottle of illegal viagra.
Not just any 'trip' with Viagra.
A trip to a country that is best known world wide for it's child sex industry. It is best known for catering to visiting pedophiles.
They do not just have child prostitutes, they have a whole INDUSTRY. Most people ONLY know them for their reputation for supplying 3 year old sex slaves to sex tourists.
So what in the hell does a man go there with a whole bottle of Viagra for... if not for ..that...?
And don't forget that Hasteret also was rumored to be doing the same damn thing in the same damn place, along with others who were all in some way connected with Abramoff.
BTW TY for the Kos article and Amen!
Ummm. Wow.
http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/FoleyTipOfIceberg.htm
Christy,
With regards to the Tomflocco site...don't forget there are probably dems who will get stuck in that net too.
With regards to RL...what country had he gone to?
(Thanks to AdBusters
http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com
Rush Limbaugh had gone to Dominican Republican, known for its sex trade.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Grove
I do not freaking care if 'dems' get 'caught in the net'.
If ANY member of congress is actually involved in child sex rings, do you really care if they are dem or republican...?
Do you realize that is probably exactly how they are 'controlling' the dems in the first place? Not over 'child sex rings' per se... but if every hustler in DC has something on someone, then it is certain that they are using it.
I mean, think about it.... Why would the dem leadership do what they have been doing...?
Because they are being BLACKMAILED. And if it is not a member of their family being used against themselves, it has to be sex.
There has always been something unseen here. Something malevolent that is 'threatening' our congress and senate so much, they have never seriously challenged georgie a SINGLE TIME in 8 years. They can not all be bought. Most of them, sure, but there has always been something else there that they are deathly afraid to approach. So afraid that even now the dem leadership will not confront him, even though he only has 17 weeks left in office. The Worst President in history, and they can not stop him a single time, no matter how wrong and disgusting he is, they are completely impotent in the face of....something.
It has to be blackmail. Nothing else, not even money, could keep them in line like this.
Oh, and BTW, all that crap about Congressman Barney Frank, letting a gay prostitute work out of his house... Now why would ANY congressman do that, unless he is collecting a secret pool of information for later use, maybe even against members of his own party...?
Just because dems are almost certainly going to get caught in the net, is not a good enough reason to hesitate any longer.
If they were doing what they were not suppossed to be doing, and got caught, and blackmailed,,,, then they are no longer truly dems anyway, they are working to satify a blackmailer, not We the People. And they should all be dragged kicking and screaming into the cold light of day, no matter which letter they put in front of their name.
July 8, 2008
After the Battle, Fighting the Bottle at Home
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
Most nights when Anthony Klecker, a former marine, finally slept, he found himself back on the battlefields of Iraq. He would awake in a panic, and struggle futilely to return to sleep.
Days were scarcely better. Car alarms shattered his nerves. Flashbacks came unexpectedly, at the whiff of certain cleaning chemicals. Bar fights seemed unavoidable; he nearly attacked a man for not washing his hands in the bathroom.
Desperate for sleep and relief, Mr. Klecker, 30, drank heavily. One morning, his parents found him in the driveway slumped over the wheel of his car, the door wide open, wipers scraping back and forth. Another time, they found him curled in a fetal position in his closet.
Yet only after his drunken driving caused the death of a 16-year-old cheerleader did Mr. Klecker acknowledge the depth of his problem: His eight months at war had profoundly damaged his psyche.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/us/08vets.html?hp
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who has primary jurisdiction over the executive branch, is considering legislation to eliminate Karl Rove-type advisers in future administrations.
The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hints broadly that such a bill could ban the use of federal funds to finance such a politically partisan office.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/07/karl-rove-figures-outlawe_n_111327.html
Hey Waxman!! I have a great idea!
Instead of worrying about FUTURE Karl Roves, why don't you DO SOMETHING about the PRESENT karl rove....?
NOW THAT WOULD BE F*CKING HELPFUL!
Yet here we are. Without a single damn person who can step forward and stop this toad. Oh, but... but... we can stop the NEXT ONE!
If you can't even stop this one, with the MOUNTAINS of evidence piled against him, then don't bother with the next one, because you will still be utterly IMPOTENT.
Stop the next one..... Whatever bitch.
What do these people in congress do to earn their paycheck? Cause they damn sure have not done anything for We the People in at least 8 years.
And I for one am utterly freaking sick of it.
Let's see. Between child molestation and prostitutes, they cram their fundraising into all open slots, while jumping in on all the best photo ops possible, while completely funding a war criminal and domestic tyrant, making radio commercials, and tv commercials and foe news punditry performances, and writing books about themselves and getting their family members all the best government contracts and jobs, suppressing as much information as they can while all openly engaged in manipulating the press in one way or another, shutting down investigations, opening up questionable investigations.... And after all that...
They go onto the House and Senate floor and talk to empty chairs about marshmellow peeps, or baseball, all the while openly admitting no one has time to actually READ all the bills they are discussing and voting on and signing into law.
WHEN IN THE HELL DO THEY ACTUALLY GET AROUND TO DOING THEIR JOBS??????
monkey
I am pretty sure Mann Coulter is part of that club.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Grove
Very, VERY CREEPY.
Today's post at NY Times on the subject of the proposed Baker-Christopher revision of the War Powers Act.
The original Op-Ed can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/opinion/08baker.html
Given everything that has happened since the beginning of the Bush Presidency, I'm sorry, but only a law that clearly establishes the dominance of Congress in matters of war and peace will do.
By stipulating that only Congress could declare war, the Framers clearly intended that Congress should have the dominant role in this area, even if Presidents since Thomas Jefferson - who was still in France in 1787, and consequently, did not even attend the Constitutional Convention - have subsequently claimed that they have the greater authority. Every historian that I’ve read or heard speak on the Constitutional Convention states that had the participants not already known that George Washington, the indispensable man, would be the first President, it is highly likely that the powers of the American executive would be even weaker than those subsequently enumerated in the document. The President’s role as Commander-in-Chief must be seen as that of leader once Congress has made a determination that war is inevitable, and not that of an instigator of wars.
I agree that it is urgent that the War Powers Act be replaced, ideally as soon as possible. Through exploiting the existing provisions of this act, President Bush would be free to attack Iran within the last sixty-to-ninety days of his Administration without any Congressional consultation or approval whatsoever. Congress must act immediately to restore the Framers' intentions – not to mention protect our brave men and women serving in heavily Shiite areas in Iraq from the inevitable sectarian reprisals that must follow any military adventure in Iran.
Christy,
If any Dems or Repubs get caught--or just citizens--personally, I want them jailed and castrated. But my warning was simply that they'll use the ONE dem as if the whole party is infiltrated with pervs--just like the republican one is.
Frankly, with the recent Supreme ruling against the death penalty for people who rape children...personally, I can understand that ruling as long as we can castrate them, and put a effing scarlet letter on their forhead.
I admit it. I'm not going to hide behind the idea of being "compassionate" to anyone who rapes or hurts others. It's not about death. But vengeance sounds damn good to me!