Namaste,
I have read many of your posts and thought you were deeper. The good vs. bad, black and white, Lakers vs. Celtics mentality is extremely shallow. I mean oh my God! Do you really think good guys wearing tall, white hats would sell out our privacy, refuse to uphold the constitution, and continue to fund a murderous imperial war for plunder? It's laughable.

I liken this type of thinking to what must go through the mind of a frog sitting in gradually warming water. They must think, "Hey it's a little uncomfortable but I can take it"...until they cook.

What boggles my mind is the mental contortions Democratic Party apologists go through to rationalize their vote for traitors not realizing they are already cooked.

Namaste your goose has been cooked. We now live in a country where the "opposition party" has allowed criminals to be retroactively pardoned for their crimes because they are wealthy and power. Democrats like you are okay with that and continue supporting betrayers.

Your sold out, "good guys" Democrats:
1) Your Democrats voted to give W the green light for war.
2) Your Democrats fund W's war.
3) Your Democrats refuse to impeach W.
4) Your Democrats allow illegal spying.
5) Your Democrats allow W to trample on the constitution.
6) Your Democrats helped out Mukasey.
7) Your Democrats legalize crime for the rich and powerful (only).
8) Your Democrats voted for right wing Supreme Court Justices.
9) Your Democrats allowed Mukasey to be confirmed.
10)Your Democrats have sold us out.

Look enough said, Namaste, go vote for your "good guy" Democrats.

Angel2shine..You need serious help! Have you considered a DIY lobotomy?

Senator Byrd says... "The majority of the American people have come to see this war as a costly mistake that needs to be brought to a close. This legislation brings us no closer to that goal."

Costly mistake? Do you think Haliburton or Boeing or General Dynamics or United Defence Technologies or any other corporation considers this war to be a mistake? Hardly. Serious legislation would focus on the wants of the Iraqi majority. Instead of trying to talk about vague timetables for withdrawal, serious legislation would tie into the will of the people. e.g. X number of dollars will be spent until 2009 when the US government shall then follow the recommendations dictated to them by the Iraqi government. But if Americans can't control the American government, why should we expect the Iraqi government to have any influence?

Whew! Being a natural born free thinker I have to thank god there aren't even more people talking about glorious wars in Jesus name. It seems that's what half the Iraq occupation is about – bullshit religious dictums from ancient times controlling narrow minds to the point of murdering those who disagree – all in the name of a god that didn't see fit to tell the billions of non-Muslim/Christian/Jew humans that God was coming to enlighten them. It seems that this depiction of god thinks they – Buddhists, Hindu's, and Native's - don't count in the mix. I guess that is where all that prerequisite proselytizing comes in handy – convert or kill the heathens – convert or kill the white devils… kill, kill, kill until there are no more. These are people who can't find God in their heart but fiercely defend a book – pick your poison - which they don't adhere to anyway as the source of their skewed morality. "Here's what to think, no worries." What a crock of shit.

Meanwhile, people suffer and die over fairy tales. The Bogeyman doesn't need any help with these folks for he is them. This is the religious progress of 2000 years.

It gets worse and worse and worse by the day.

The spiral continues downward.

Next stop Iran.

You don't really think this is going to stop with an election do you?

People........when do we take to the streets? When???

Where are the people?

Someone tell me........where the hell are the people???

Namaste: Let's make Obama and McBush a bit worse (okay, okay, QUITE a bit worse) than they are and recast the election players: in the role of Obama is Hitler and playing "war-hero-by-continuously-crashing-aircraft" McBush is Josef Stalin. Hitler is said to be responsible for, what, 20 million deaths? Stalin had 30 to 50 million notches on his belt. So that means I should cast my vote for who? You KNOW where playing the-lesser-of-two-evils game will ALWAYS get you: in bed with evil.

This is why we desperately need publicly-funded campaigns and a demolition of all the barricades the (R)s and (D)s have erected for 3d, 4th, 5th, etc. parties: the assinine signature requirements, anti-fusion laws, ad nauseum.

If so-called progressives and liberals would only commit to their VALUES and ISSUES (peace, justice, freedom, the fight against sexism, racism, and specieism, environmental concerns, a secular nation/government, blah blah blah) INSTEAD of marrying - 'til death do they part - a political party, an act which demands compromise from the moment joined, we would see candidates like Cindy, Nader, McKinney, Kucinich, Sanders, et. al. as office-holders and viable presidential contenders.

I will NOT vote for a faux-liberal like Obama no matter how many Obamagasms he induces in the pubescent body politic; I will live with myself by voting for McKinney or Nader. I will not allow the (D) party to take my vote for granted as they triangulate ever-rightward. And if McBush wins the day, I will expect Senators, regardless of the party in control, to hold his administration accountable: filibustering poor judicial nominees, reigning in an imperial administration, advancing just and noble causes. If they fail to do so (as they have failed to do so so far) it will not be the fault of either my vote or my candidate(s). The responsibility will belong, just as it belongs now, to the (D) party and those citizens who abandoned their principles for the sake of being on the side of the presumed game-winning team.

Oh, and curmudgeon99 June 28 2:43 am: excellent point. They are FOREVER playing with the numbers. Considered to be employed are also those formerly middle class folks who have lost their $100K/year jobs and are now working two $25K/year jobs and falling ever deeper into debt.

Finally, to Cindy and tailcap: warm feelings and a shout-out from me to you.

There always is money for wars, yet peace goes begging.

~ TAILCAP ~ _ and _ ~ KGARY ~

( 1.) _ I have had many screen names, including ~ NAMASTE ~, ~ PRESENCE ~, ~ NSPIRE ~, and have had to constantly created new ones to escape permanently being ba_n☠ned from CD.

(2.) _ The Hindi word Namaste is a salutation, that many in India use as a greeting, whcih acknowledges the inner truth of both in each other's presence.

(3.) _ Several other posters have also used Namaste in their postings at the end for the exact same reasons that I choose to use it, as it inspires us to see the good in all others. Included in this list of other posters is ~ ANGLE2SHINE ~, who's screen name is attached to the post from June 28th, 2008 1:35 am -- that you were BOTH responding to.

(4.) _ I have attempted to make use of screen name ~ Presence «Namaste» ~ in part to discourage incorrect identification based on the final word of a posting being Namaste ( which I encourage ).

(5.) _ The powers that BE, have found reasons to cen_☠sor me and de_lete many postings, which I protest by perennially returning.

Thank you for noticing my postings, I will likely be returning as "whoknowswhat" someday soon.

Presence
« Namaste »

« We must be the change we wish to see in the world » — Gandhi
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed » — Gandhi
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — ML King

kgarry June 28th, 2008 12:10 pm
"I will live with myself by voting for McKinney or Nader. I will not allow the (D) party to take my vote for granted as they triangulate ever-rightward."

-Well said my friend.

Orwell knew.

Re: "The majority party has repeatedly failed to force Bush's hand on Iraq since taking over Congress in 2006 elections."

That quote from this article is about the best compressed journalistic nugget I've yet seen. It says it all.

The perfidity of Democratic Congressmembers in continuing to fund the wars - in this case, ostensibly to get GI educational funding - is truly mind-boggling. Educational funding is a thin rationale promoted by Congressmen Obey and others to bamboozle their constituency as if they were dumb sheep. Of course, the sacred troop withdrawal timeline had to go from the bill (an excuse Senator Obama has used to continue war funding).

Is it asking too much of Dem/Repubs to remember these kinds of votes come November?

Progressive?/Regressive!
What do we do now?

Now is the time to support President McCain and his hot young wife! Through Jesus' Guidance, even the Vietnamese Heathens now recognize his wisdom!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25418965

P L U C K I S T A N I _ P E T E

We might need any excess plucking feathers you have laying around, over on the tar-sands "vacation" thread, perhaps we could make use of a few extra chicken heads as well ?

Namaste

...more trailer park trash.

There is no reason why we shouldn't have third parties. If the two major parties don't produce a candidate worth voting into office, why not vote against those the R & D parties support?
It's infuriating when our candidate may not get elected because too many votes go to the third party but . . . Why shouldn't they?
I've voted green before probably will again but not this time.
Democracy is a balance of every individual's belief. As a nation we're not Progressives or Conservatives or anything in between. We're not homogenous in any other way. Democracy is a compromise of all our differences and beliefs as it has been from the start.
Those of us who can't abide the compromise this time, must either not vote or vote for the third party candidate.
Those who can see something worth voting for in the R or D candidate, will make that choice.
I do agree we get the government we deserve.
The trick is: Yes we have laws but we citizens must be diligent to force our leaders to follow the laws.
It's only recently that I realized having laws doesn't guarantee any rights. All it means is that if the law isn't followed we have recourse.
When those in the Nixon Administration learn from Nixon's fall to break the law better next time if they're just given the chance, what chance did we have against them when too many of us weren't paying attention.
There will always be unscrupulous people. Vigilance and oversight must be ever present by every citizen. We've become lazy choosing to believe what we're told rather than the way it really is. There's no excuse other than ignorance.
If we don't educate ourselves when our government fails to provide, we allow those to play us as suckers.
It's okay to get angry and frustrated at our government as long as it prompts action. Noise is like pissing in the wind.
Our government can't be any better than we are, but if we're all watching. . . we can watch out for each other.

The reasons for war that prevailed in 2002, still prevail today: Protection of oil interests, gaining control of oil fields, protection of Israel from its Arab enemies, and satisfaction for the hawks in America.
The question is: Will Barack Obama have the guts to put down the powerful right wing that wants to continue this war and even escallate it to Iran for more of the same reasons.