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Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of
State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its
fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy
fate!
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The recent blowout election that gave us President Barack Obama resulted in a flood of emotion that engulfed both parties. The one thing they had in common was that neither party could believe it. Political comedian Mort Sahl once said, "Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen." If we have learned nothing else about Republicans, it's that, with few exceptions, they are vindictive, immoral, blood-thirsty, and just plain power-mad. Republicans are so much better at destroying things than Democrats are. They say and do whatever it takes to win. And if that doesn't work -- they seize it anyway.
So we were braced for another disappointment -- not because we didn't share Obama's vision of change and his hope for a better life for all Americans, but because voting machines were frantically flip-flopping votes from Obama to John McCain, minority voters were purged, telephones jangling with robocalls smeared Obama as an alien terrorist -- and John King over at CNN kept ramming solid red "magic" maps in our faces as proof that McCain could not lose.
So, what happened?
We woke up. After snoozing through massive homicide, refusing to confront genocide, ignoring fratracide and the hopelessness that has driven an alarming number of our military to commit suicide...we woke up. We stood united against a national addiction to chaos, bloodshed and corruption. We voted for a leader who promised to break that addiction, and to heal this nation in the name of the people. By election night, we were giddy with relief. We clambered aboard that ship of state and rode the wave of long-lost hope -- free at last. Obama's win ripped a hole in the political air, and millions of us stood weeping as the blissful sound of Democracy wafted through every nook and cranny to swirl around this magnificent moment in our history.
But that was election night. Republicans, terrified of change, were in shock -- in total disarray. But the next morning, they were out in force -- maggots streaming from rotten turds whose blossoms had been stomped on. The Heritage Foundation warned against the danger of the Left's "radical agenda" of health care, education and energy. House majority leader John Boehner was either drunk or stupidly arrogant, or both, when he maintained that Obama may have won, but his "far-left agenda" was out of step with the majority of Americans. Boehner did concede, however, that House Republicans might work with Obama "when it is in the best interest of our nation," and only when it promoted "superior Republican alternatives..."
Boehner's predecessor, Dick Armey, was quick to point out that Obama didn't win -- Republicans lost. And they lost because they were just too damned compassionate. Armey is chairman of FreedomWorks, which advocates scrapping the Federal Income Tax, kicking older folks out of Social Security to keep from overburdening the young, and of course freedom -- such as that of network carriers to manage and control Internet content. According to Armey, Republicans have simply forgotten their principles.
Richard Haass, Council on Foreign Relations president, hissed, "The one thing I'm sure of is, events will test him. ...There will be coups. ...There will be genocide. ... There will be terrorism." Gee, Bush hasn't completed his sprint to the finish line yet, and those like Haass are already waxing nostalgic for the Bush Doctrine.
Georgia Congressman Paul Broun called Obama a "Marxist" who was determined to set up a jack-booted Gestapo civilian security force to use against citizens -- an ominious tactic taken right out of Hitler's playbook. In the ensuing flap, Broun refused to apologize, or to acknowledge that the "civilian national security force" proposed by Obama is, in reality, a two-year-old pilot program -- The Civilian Response Corps of the United States of America trained and equipped to "deploy rapidly to countries in crisis or emerging from conflict, in order to provide reconstruction and stabilization assistance." The State Department has already deployed members to Sudan, Chad, Haiti, Lebanon, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Intolerance, hate -- racism -- runs deep within the heart of this country. It's easy not to be racist, to support civil rights, equality -- but when confronted by a change so abrupt, so momentous as the election of an African-American president, many white Americans have problems calming their inner beast. William Ferris, senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina, said when discussing the hundreds of threats against Obama since Nov. 4, that the election of a black president is "the most profound change in the field of race this country has experienced since the Civil War. Racism is like cancer," Ferris said, "It's never totally wiped out, it's in remission."
Remission? Perhaps, except for those like the feral, all-knowing, all-caring, all-sensing, all-feeling, all-concerned -- pretty much all-everything -- "Maha Rushie" Limbaugh, who has been in shrieking racist meltdown since the day Obama announced his candidacy. Referring to Barack Hussein Obama early and often, Limbaugh stoked racist fear by warning millions of Dittodeadheads they were being taken over by a "half-minority." In April 2007, he aired an insulting Paul Shanklin parody, "Barack The Magic Negro," and went from that to trying to whip up murderous riots at the Democratic National Convention.
Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and their gang of slimy supremacist clones inflame the fires of fear and hate on a daily -- hourly -- basis. They know exactly what they're doing. "The economic mess Bush has gotten us into is all Obama's fault! The Obama recession is in full swing! We will soon be in the throes of an Obama depression! Obama's going to raise our taxes! Obama's coming after our 401k retirement checks! Millions more will lose their jobs! Quick -- burn a cross -- hang a noose in your tree before it's too late!"
And Michael Savage warns that Blacks don't want just a foot in the door; they are poised to take over the entire nation. On his Nov. 18 broadcast, Savage said, "I am telling you that there's gonna be a wholesale firing of competent white men in the United States government up and down the line, in police departments, in fire departments. Everywhere in America, you're going to see an exchange that you've never seen in history..."
If that's not enough to send us screaming into the night, our knees hitting our chins, Lisa Miller, former front-page religious writer for the Wall Street Journal, now Newsweek's Society/Religion editor, asks, in a shameful, code-word-laden piece -- "Is Obama the Antichrist?" Miller quotes several right-wing evangelicals, and she says conservative Christians believe a great battle is imminent. "After years of tribulation -- natural disasters, other cataclysms (such as the collapse of financial markets) -- God's armies will vanquish armies led by the Antichrist himself. He will be a sweet-talking world leader who gathers governments and economies under his command to further his own evil agenda." Miller says, given Obama's liberal positions on abortion and traditional marriage, it's no wonder that "Obama triggers such fear in the hearts of America's millennialist Christians." And, if we want proof -- one of the winning lottery numbers in Obama's home state of Illinois was 666 -- which Miller says everyone knows is the sign of the Beast, or the Antichrist.
The fascist lies and smears of Republicans and their doppleganger radio creeps should come as no surprise to those paying attention. However, the ripples of uneasiness and fear surging through Democratic ranks as a result of these assaults is a bit puzzling. Perhaps it's because after eight years of covering -- and uncovering -- deceit, lies, and monstrous war crimes perpetrated by George Bush, they are hesitant to trust another president regardless of his party affiliation. Or, perhaps they're afraid to have hope because they believe George Orwell's flat, no-wiggle-room assertion that -- "All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia."
Whatever the reason, each day brings a new rash of criticism about Obama's choices for his transition team, his economic team, his foreign policy team. His selection of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff, probable selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, and his decision to keep Robert Gates as Defense Secretary for at least a year resulted in cries of betrayal throughout the left-wing blogosphere. For two Democrats to agree on any one thing would indeed be change. Everybody has his/her own views as to who should make up the cabinet. And, since I'm the most liberal Democrat I know, it seems obvious that Obama should have put the environment into the hands of the award-winning former vice president Al Gore, justice into the hands of Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley, and Defense into the hands of former Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark.
Those on the left who complain that Obama is "loading up his administration with Clintonites" should pause and take a deep breath. Anybody old enough to serve -- who has the experience to serve -- would necessarily come from either the Clinton or the Bush era. Which would you prefer? We should remember it is Obama's policies, not theirs, that will be put into effect. Obama promised change -- to be honest and up-front with all the people. He is keeping that promise.
Last week, in three days Obama held three press conferences wherein he outlined policies that reach far beyond the immediate crisis, such as his plan to boost the economy by creating 2.5 million jobs. "We'll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children," he said, "and building wind farms and solar panels; fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead."
Millions of us who voted for Obama are weary of fighting our way through the tangles of an Orwellian world. We yearn to live in a Wellstonian world, one where "...politics is not about observations or predictions. Politics is what we create by what we do, what we hope for, and what we dare to imagine."
Obama is not perfect. The problems Bush is only too happy to dump on him are almost insurmountable and getting worse by the day. Obama will make mistakes, but he has promised that, with our help, the hopes of all Americans can be realized. Together -- we can change the direction of the country.
We will not jump ship. Come hate or high water -- we can do it.
Yes. We. Can.
47 Comments so far
Show AllThe way Obama has been talking about Afghanistan is unacceptable
We cannot surge our way to a safe world. Its just another policy that's going to breed resentment towards the United States in the middle east and cause the threat of terrorism to grow.
We cannot afford that. Nor can we afford to finance more war.
Everything in this country is in a state of rapid decline. Healthcare, education, the economy...and if Obama is in fact planning to govern in a Clinton-esque manner (pandering to the right) during this state of crisis nothing is going to be solved.
I voted for "change" on election day and he better deliver it.
When I see Bush and Cheney incarcerated,then I may start to believe: YES WE CAN!
Jeevee
YOU CAN GET THE VOTING RECORD OF EACH AND EVERY U.S.OF A. SENATOR AND CONGRESSMAN from the careful compilation of the League of Conservation Voters.org. This shows us what we're REALLY facing.
A very serious question: Why have all the major candidates ignored the almost irreversible climate crisis we're in? Does everyone not care for their children and grandchildren, and that of other animal species?
Once again I suggest sending a Christmas stocking filled with coal to Congresspeople with bad records on clean energy and the environment. Thanks for providing a more specific gift list.
Joe
Zbigniew Brzezinski is a major "advisor" to Obama. His son, Mark, was also an "advisor" to the Obama campaign. His other son, Ian, was "foreign policy advisor" to the McCain campaign. Daughter Mika reported the campaign for MSNBC.
Take from this what you will. Do your own research on Z. Brzezinski and draw your own conclusions.
There will be war. There will be ever diminishing freedoms.
Wake up, people. Wake up.
-- EKATON --
While channel surfing last night I came across the "Beltway Boys" show on Fox News. They were giggling like children on Christmas morning in disbelief and joy at their good fortune as they reviewed Obama's choices for cabinet and staff positions. Seems like the Conservatives are warming up to this "change".
Sure, why shouldn't they be delighted? It shows that appearances to the contrary, they actually won the election. What's demonstrated here is that even when the rightwing "loses" an election, they still control policy. After all, both parties serve the same class interests.
This article is a shining example of silly liberal self-delusion. Obama has no "vision of change" nor any real "hope for a better life for all Americans." All that was just a marketing spiel, which naive Democrats like Ms Samples swallowed hook, line & sinker.
Samples claims grandly that "...We stood united against a national addiction to chaos, bloodshed and corruption. We voted for a leader who promised to break that addiction, and to heal this nation in the name of the people."
- Obama promised no such thing. He didn't even have the courage to call the "national addiction to bloodshed & corruption" by that name, or by any similar name. When did he ever say that the Bush administration was guilty of any serious wrongdoing? At most, he gave vague & occasional hints that he didn't entirely approve of certain aspects of it. But he took no stand against any of it, and voted for most of the bloodshed & repressive national-security measures himself. To support the "War on Terror," as Obama does, is to be committed to US militarism.
Every single appointment Obama has made so far, and all his advisors, are foreign policy hawks and/or shills for Wall St. If he had the slightest intention of breaking the addiction to militarism & ceasing to serve the plutocracy on bended knee, he would have made different appointments & chosen different advisors. Liberal self-deluders like Ms Samples are unable to even recognize when they've been slapped across the face.
Samples gets some mileage from rightly criticizing Republicans for their ugliness, but that's far too easy a target. She fails to see that Democrats have been complicit in virtually every single Republican crime, & that when in power, US policy does not really change. The rhetoric & marketing approach change, but the core policies barely budge.
Hillary ("Obliterate Iran!") Clinton will be Secretary of State. In what way is Clinton any better than Condoleeza Rice? She's not. They're two of a kind. And Obama chose to retain Robert Gates at the Pentagon, thereby ratifying Bush's own choice. Gates was a strong proponent of the "surge," you might recall. Yet the wishful-thinking Democrat Samples tries to ignore the implications of these ominous choices.
"Obama's policies, not theirs, that will be put into effect. Obama promised change -- to be honest and up-front with all the people. He is keeping that promise."
Actually its his "vision" that is going to be put in place, coming from himself only.
Sheila, Well written and well said.
"Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and their gang of slimy,supremacist clones inflame the fires of fear and hate on a daily-hourly basis". Folks, this is not free speech it is hate speech and this is domestic terrorism against the President elect and this sounds like a perfect place to use the treason act, oops, I mean the Patriotic act. If anything happens to Obama, these right wing extremists that spew vituperation and miasma on our public airwaves and the preachers that say one needs to go to confession if he voted for Obama need to be held accountable!
Sioux Rose
PAUL: This is a valid issue. I hope the guy has others taste his drinks, and wears a bullet proof vest!
I agree. I want Obama to remain personally safe, both because he is a human being (which is sufficient reason alone) and because violence is a barrier to rebuilding a democracy. Our political criticisms should be incisive and truthful, but avoid hysteria or demonizing the man as an individual. (This Mumbai situation shows how easy it is to inflame people, even here on CD. Add racism into the mix and it can become volatile.)
Criticism should be linked with positive suggestions and organizing. We should be reaching out to everyone with proposals about the economy, education and the environment. Convincing and organizing require work and constant learning. That will keep us grounded in reality and not allow it to fly off in hysterical rhetoric.
The means always shapes and colors the results.
Joe
It is refreshing to see someone giving our future president a chance. Who among us would have the job on a bet. The man hasn't even started and all of his former friends in leftblogistan.com are wailing and moaning what a disaster he is turning out to be.
Let's keep in mind that presidential politics is like a poker game. There are lots of hands to play and it's a long night. One thing about Mr. Obama is that he plays for the long game and that is the one we need to win. He's also good at not tipping his hand.
The income tax as we now experience it is a tool in the hands of the corporate elite who run this country (and pay little or nothing themselves) to intimidate the common citizen. The complexity of it makes this university graduate feel stupid. The threat of audit reduces people to servility. The Constitutional guarantees of privacy are meaningless when every aspect of ones financial affairs is reportable to government agents with the power to prosecute. We will never be a free people in the sense that the Founders intended as long as we are subject to a hypercomplex and intrusive income tax system.
"Georgia Congressman Paul Broun called Obama a "Marxist" who was determined to set up a jack-booted Gestapo civilian security force to use against citizens -- an ominous tactic taken right out of Hitler's playbook."
The truth is that the Republicans have setup the jack-booted Gestapo and are petrified that the nation will be told by the new Democratic Leadership.
Bush/Cheney have spent billions on a boots on the ground Nationwide Spy network with lots of money going to their Republican pals.
But worst of all is the use of security programs in community's as a form of Gang Stalking Torture.
This will all come out after Obama is sworn in.
These programs were designed to help Republicans get rid of their political enemies. Town by town the local Law enforcement, Fire Fighters and Ems responders have been used to train scores of community watch groups and local business's not only how keep an eye on undesirables but to slander and destroy potential political enemies using torture.
Gang Stalking right-wing self-righteous religious fanatics are trying to cleanup there towns using illegal warrant less surviellance gang stalking torture tactics.
I for one, am ecstatic at the major win for the Dems.
These right wing thugs have been reading my email, all the posts I have ever done, mobbed me in their cars , follow me 24/7 and executed major noise campaigns around my home.And who knows what else.
I would not be surprised at any illegal activity they would stoop to doing, these are a group of boring, misguided , sexually repressed , sadistic torture freaks.
Even more gratifying might be that the Democrats will have control of the spy network to either dismantle and shift the money to legal programs or use to destroy Republican torture freaks.
BornFreemen
Save the constitution and jail all the thieving sadistic republican torture freaks.
7 years of crap,,, thanks nut no thanks.
Its PAY BACK TIME
How about changing things so that the power shifts back to the people:
http://www.thoughts.com/RedNeckPossie/blog/a-way-to-give-power-back-to-the-people-184665/
Amen to "Through a Hole in the Air" by Sheila Samples.
I am not surprised that there are sore losers on the right and on the far left and that they are slinging mud. But we should remember that America chose Barack Obama and by doing so all of us are victorious. We should also keep the conviction that Sheila communicated so well:
"We will not jump ship. Come hate or high water -- we can do it. Yes. We. Can."
We will be on that boat with you Sheila!
The strident tone of this article repels me.
"Keep your friends close, your enemies closer"?
or
"We shall know him by the company he keeps"?
There is no "company" in Washington, D.C.
"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." H. Truman
I agree with Sheila Samples for reasons other than those she stated. Reality- based policies will be imposed by circumstances more than political will. Our way of life is based on the illusion of cheap and plentiful petroleum-based energy. It is also based on the accessibility to cheap and plentiful supplies of potable water. Both of these are rapidly disappearing. As they do, this reality will impose change we cannot resist.
Our way of life is also sustained by debt-financing (what Walter Mondale told Ronald Reagan in '84 was like living on a pile of credit cards thinking that the bill will never come due). This debt financing is dependent on strong currency that is used as the medium of exchange worldwide. The currency is losing it value and its legitimacy as a worldwide medium of exchange. The bill has come due and we cannot pay it off. This reality will impose change we cannot resist.
Fraudulent trade in subprime based securities is quickly alienating foreign capital from investing in any US stocks. They are continuing to withdraw their funds from the market with no corresponding investors to take their place. That's why the Dow Jones Average has lost half its value over the last year or so. It will continue to lose value and as it does this reality will impose change we cannot resist.
The mantra of thiw country will become not "yes we can", but rather "yes we must". Take heart progressives because reality will accomplish what spineless poiticians of all persuasions cannot.
Poet
Sioux Rose
POET I agree with your astute analysis; and while I do not share the same level of enthusiasm the article's author shows for Obama, it does trouble me that the well-paid hate manufacturers are already PRE-EMPTIVELY pinning all of the economic fall out of mostly Bush's policies (Clinton deserves some blame for NAFTA, deregulating the FCC and allowing Grahm to push aside the intelligent Steagall-Glass Act that maintained a safe firewall between the banks & Wall st gamblers) on Obama. Even if he could "win" against these odds, as you've explained, our currency ain't worth shit to a tree, and most of us will see diminishment of value in our homes, 401 Ks, or stocks. The nation IS beginning to pay for an economy based too largely on war and the pillage of resources of other lands, lands where the poor struggle (as does a growing segment of our own domestic population) to feed their families.
"Take heart progressives because reality will accomplish what spineless poiticians of all persuasions cannot."
And what is that reality, but we.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
Precisely right Ted but perhaps in a way you did not intend. Many of the writers featured on CD feel like Obama is betraying those who elected him. I don't buy it though--Obama is doing exactly what the overwhelming majority of this country wants--even if the appointments made and measures promised are just reworked Clintonite twaddle (call it Bush-lite-lite). Most of this country wants to keep on doing what it has been doing and for the political leadership to make all the problems magicaly go away.
Like the song in "The King and I", everybody in the political leadership is just whistling a happy tune so no one will suspect they're afraid. They are even hoping that when they fool the people they fool, they'll fool themselves as well. As this trance of anesthesia takes hold, the protective adrenalin rush that accompanies the confrontation of lethal danger subsides. However, when the ground of reality meets the skydiving economy with no parachute to slow its descent the damage will be just as severe.
Poet
Poet:you're gonna have to prove (to me,and that's optional, chuckle):"Most of this country wants to keep on doing what is has been doing". Or just clarify.
Clarification (because "proof" varies from person to person):
Let's take a look at that other South Asian crisis that has been pretty much ignored because of developments in Mumbi. There hundreds of protesters (supported by thousands of onlookers)have blockaded the main airport of Bangkok and pledged to hold it until the current prime minster resigns.
Both the police and army have wisely refused to go in and shot, gas, or otherwise fight their way into control over the situation. When we have well-organized mobs of common people blockading Kennedy or Dulles airports (with thousands of supportive onlookers cheering them on)and the constabulary refusing orders to take them down, then we will know that Americans are fed up with "business as usual".
Until then Calvin Coolidge's analysis of his country still holds, "the business of America is business", and for the present (from the point of view of most of its population) business is still good.
Poet
Poet:Hi. I don't see a parallel between an organization barricading in Thailand's two airports with US airports. And it's not "well organized mobs" according to the BBC News as I heard it on radio. When I read your comment, that I question your saying Americans don't want change, I thought you meant domestic issues. On foreign policy, who knows what most Americans know? Did you hear/read/see DemocracyNow this morning on Mumbai? Transcript should be online soon. www.democracynow.org Tariq Ali, one of many (and a favorite journalist of mine) was on round table today.
1) I thought G W Bush was the Antichrist.
2) Yes, we live in a white-supremacist country, and the Right-Wing echo-chamber will do anything, anything, to turn people against their enemies.
3)However, that does not mean that those that elected Obama should now keep silent when they have legitimate issues to raise about his decisions. "You voted, now shut up?" Is that it?
Ms. Samples, are you on the DNC payroll?
Can we?
Yes.
Yes, we can.
Should we?
Yes.
Yes, we should.
Could we?
Yes.
Yes, we could.
Would we?
Yes.
Yes, yes we would.
The light of Obama's hope shines bright.
I have faith that we are witnessing the birth of a brand new day.
The flame of freedom is burning like a phoenix rising from the ashes of injustice.
May Obama endow each with the courage and fortitude to work for change, equality and peace.
I have news for the forces of greed and the defenders of the status quo: your time has come--and gone. It's time for a change in America.
I have hope for the future, I have faith in the American people, and I believe in Obama's vision of the kind of country we can build, together.
This election was about putting power back in our hands and putting government back on our side. It's about putting people first.
I want an America where "family values" live in our actions, not just in our speeches--an America that includes every family, every traditional family and every extended family, every two-parent family, every single-parent family, and every foster family--every family.
People are pleading for change, but government is in the way. It has been hijacked by privileged, private interests. It has forgotten who really pays the bills around here -- it's taking more of our money and giving us less in return.
We have got to go beyond the brain-dead politics in Washington, and give our people the kind of government they deserve: a government that works for us.
Our priorities must be clear: we will put our people first again. But priorities without a clear plan of action are just empty words. To turn our rhetoric into reality we've got to change the way government does business -- fundamentally. Until we do, we'll continue to pour billions of dollars down the drain. The Republicans have campaigned against big government for a generation. But have you noticed? They've run this big government for a generation. And they haven't changed a thing. They don't want to fix government. They still want to campaign against it, and that's all.
But, my fellow Democrats, it's time for us to realize that we've got some changing to do too. There is not a program in government for every problem. And if we want to use government to help people, we've got to make it work again. Now, I don't have all the answers. But I do know the old ways don't work. Trickle down economics has sure failed. And big bureaucracies, both private and public, they've failed, too. That's why we need a new approach to government--a government that offers more empowerment and less entitlement, more choices for young people in the schools they attend, in the public schools they attend, and more choices for the elderly and for people with disabilities and the long-term care they receive--a government that is leaner, not meaner. A government that expands opportunity, not bureaucracy--a government that understands that jobs must come from growth in a vibrant and vital system of free enterprise. Obama offers our people a new choice based on old values. Obama offers opportunity. Obama demands responsibility. We will build an American community again. The choice we offer is not conservative or liberal. In many ways it's not even Republican or Democratic, It's different. It's new. And it will work.
Absolutely right on!
Obama, man-like god or god-like man....
He leadeth me O blessed thought.
This is not church. The inspirational words do not fit what is happening. Politics is about who gets what and how. It is mostly a dirty fight for dollars. So far it all seems to be slip sliding away. A lot of your "choices" are false choices - choices for young people in the schools they attend, for example. Most people cannot afford private schools and have to go to public schools. And in some areas the schools are all bad. And the draining of money for the unaccounted for trickle down bailouts, invasions and more invasions will guarantee that the choice of schools remain bad. We are seeing that everywhere.
The country is being bankrupted before Obama sets foot in office. And the Democrats are complicit. I see it coming. A government that gets even leaner for the many and fat fat fatter for the few.
Please do not be lulled into thinking Obama will be a miracle worker. Demand your due and run authentic candidates from your neighborhoods to evict the spineless wonders now in office at all levels.
Joe
Sioux Rose
JCLIENTELE: Sound analysis. Joe Hope is drunk on his own drug: hope. Day after day the POSITIONS Obama has been taking (added to the disappointing votes prior to his electoral victory) have worked against his compelling mantra of change. Add this betrayal to the media's marketing slogan of "experience" to counter what awakened citizens already see insofar as a massive sellout in the form of lining up the same old ducks that led us to where we are. Talk about pouring "new" wine into the same stinking wine skins! I am convinced that if our population was NOT fed a steady diet of shit for news, that even intelligent persons have lost all contact with TRUTH, we would see the masses storming our Bastille.
Because in the face of the latest theft ($800 billion to the bankers who essentially have defrauded the ENTIRE U.S. economy by selling many times over, that which NEVER existed... debt is NOT a product! Debt is the ABSENCE of funds, yet it was treated as a new "product," and that FICTION sold around the world, became the cancer that eroded REAL value... which now everyday people are experiencing as very real fallout to their savings accounts, etc.) they are being TOLD it's all we can do, and that the EXPERIENCED are handling it. Man, it's like "You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie" on steroids applied to the international system of finance and commerce! And the public stands there watching, soporifically convinced it's in GOOD hands...
I no longer trust ANY insurance company. It's the same with banks. Insurance by nature is based on integrity, an agreement that the TERMS of a contract will be honored. Because capital is gone, and/or witnessed a complete erosion of VALUE, if a calamity hit, the $ would simply NOT BE THERE to insure those expecting as much.
Last night I was discussing with a friend, we're both in our early 50's, what our options for health care were. She pays for catastrophic only, and its still $300 a month PLUS her deductible is like $5000. This nation is POISIONING citizens through irradiated food, preservatives added for "shelf life," with food an INDUSTRY, and devoid of NOURISHMENT; and that's when sugar/corn syrup are not added. Plus the TONNAGE of pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, big pharma's run-off added to other wastes that are now a fixture of our water, soil and air supplies. Against this onslaught bodies weaken, and when they begin to fail it's "you're on your own." The mantra of personal responsibility only counts for citizens, not the corporations that wish for all the legal benefits of citizenship, devoid of ANY responsibilities to BE good citizens... which is to say, by creating products that DO NO HARM.
This is the end of an age... an age that made a lot of noise about Jesus, but primarily has shown its homage to Mars (militarism, the $ wasted on weapons with the US the leader in the trafficking of armaments of destruction) and Mammon (whatever makes a profit owns legitimacy, regardless of its costs, tangible and intangible, to LIVING BEINGS and entire ecosystems). This model is doomed by the gods it serves, and we are seeing the new fall of a hybrid Rome-Atlantis. Welcome to the fall...
"The country is being bankrupt..."
Only if you believe that dollars backed by no gold and created out of thin air by a private banking cartel, represents the wealth of America.
Our Nation's wealth is: It's peoples' talents, compassion, and productive nature; it's natural resources and the vast possibilities of as-yet-undeveloped sustainable, energy efficient technologies that can be implemented to create new employment as well as better living conditions; and our educational infrastructure that allows the possibility of a much greater good for all.
This wealth must be invested in the way we have previously invested in Wall Street and Get-it-while-you-can ideology of Money as Wealth!
Money is simply an agreement of value for something without any tangible worth as equal to actual time, skills, knowledge, industry, stewardship. It is a way for someone who can do nothing - to trade with those who can sustain him. If the people were to once more recognise the inherent value of bartering value for value - the rich would lose their power over the many.
Live Simply So That Others May Simply Live
Some things to think about here. We have to consider national wealth in terms of the quality of life, pride in work, taking care of the earth, leisure time to enjoy and create happiness. What good is a high GDP if it is squandered and not shared?
One sticking point for me is that, for some people, money has not been created out of thin air but has been earned by hard work, time, knowledge, talent and strength, big parts of their one life. Sometimes it is exhausting or painful. People have traded in their lives hour by hour for a paycheck for money, symbolic though it may be. Still money buys food and things. After all that faithful effort, the money has been stolen from them by people who do no work or just push paper.
Barter is impractical sometimes. What would a person barter for train ride, dental care or a 9th grade education, for instance. You wouldn't arrive at the door with a chicken or something. How would that work?
Joe
You are so right that many have traded much for money... and since the powerful who control the money, control the value of that money, we must trade our efforts, talents, and time for their tokens. We are out of the habit of value for value. Money must be used because we do not know the ones we buy from or sell to, so cannot exchange something else of value... but that could change if enough decided to do so... trains, taxes, and the like would probably always require money - but I have traded with another for payment of a train and entertainment tickets, for medical attention, for lessons - and know of trades for a vehicle, land, a house, tools, labor, materials...and many other such trades... It is more complicated because we are often "strangers" to those who have or need... Money is easy to carry and "common tender"...
My point was that real wealth is real ability / possessions - and now that our money has no actual "backing" - its value is only as secure as the ethics and intent of those who mint it.
Perhaps it is time that American people recognized that much of our time and efforts are grossly undervalued by those who declare that what they do is worth 400 times what we do... Many of the "well-to-do" have not proven to my satisfaction that they are worth as much, let alone many times more than we who actually have developed skills, abilities, or sweat equity!
Live Simply So That Others May Simply Live
Sioux Rose
MAINESTAY: You raise good points, and are right on about the PREMISE Of value. My commentary was in response to the SYSTEM of finance that engineers crises as Naomi Klein has so brilliantly explained.
Bail On Titanic Nation
Bail on thou banksters of our fate!
Bail on O mammon rule the strong the great!
Future hope is for the broken state
for submerged is likely on the slate
for the late and great
titanic nation
Yes, right on target! But let's move on, all of us, to fulfill the aims of our new president-elect... change we need. We can do it, we must do it. Leave the whiners to the whining. We WILL move forward as one nation to repair the ills of the past eight years. Only the rich and powerful can be happy with the way things are, but change is in the air and they will never again get away with what they have in the past.
I'll believe in Obama just as soon as he presents a plan that allows the US to stop running huge yearly deficits, estimated to be a historic 1.2 to 2 trillion dollars for fiscal year 2009 alone, and when he presents a workable plan to pay off the already 10.5 and soon to be at least 11.7 trillion dollars. We were paying 400 billion dollars a year in interest alone when the debt was around 9 trillion dollars. Interest on the national debt must now be close to or exceeding 500 billion dollars yearly. I see only two ways to cancel this debt, either by default or by allowing or engineering a period of rampant inflation in order to pay the debt off with worthless dollars. This of course destroys everyone's savings and retirement plans.
So. Obama. Please enlighten us. What is your plan in this regard?
-- EKATON --
The old line from the Tao te Ching comes to mind. There are two translations that I am aware of:
The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.
sometimes translated as
The journey of a thousand miles starts from where your feet are.
"Political comedian Mort Sahl once said, "Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen."
WHAT a volumes-speaking QUOTE!
A perfect-pitch article--yet another vividly bittersweet acid-take on "what-just-happened", and thank our uncrossed lucky stars, what-just-didn't. (Germane to your point)~
For A Stronger, Yet Softer, Superpower
. . ."THAT ONE"
takes the world's breath away
in seeming to so get it: the BIG pic,
with everyone reasonably featured,
after eight bone-headed,
red-bandaged, world-bashing years!
getting in effect
how a softened superpower will prove
deadliest of all to its enemies
into arteries of tyranny "easing"
desire and vision like poison
through a worldwide screen-patch, as it whir,
a penultimate app of conscious ubiquity~ inexorable.
Finder's Keeper's, stressful grace
~found & lost--a potentially-majestic overdose!
More
than the ocean-crossed embrace
of a clear blue privilege--also, somehow,
--it was a dark and stormy rite
before us then, and now. . .
So That One made it to us in time?
With his eloquent notion
of Nation and Change? We'll see.
Or not. . .
Imperfect, but charismatically
ambitious: @ the very least,
Political poetry in motion.
--Artist General
(google)
The Sturmabteilung wing of the Republican party is now in their whine mode. Enjoy it with a healthy dose of schadenfreude tempered with caution. Remember it when their tune changes. Use it to speed their irrelevance.
www.wunderman-comics.com
Sioux
NATE: What's the best translation of the word "schadenfreude"? Thanks...
taking joy in the bad things happening to others
"Perhaps it's because after eight years of covering ..."
The word is "cowering".