filled with rage during this season of "peace" -

[laruemtt]

i've never been this far into anger and i hope not hatred. out in my one day of mandatory shopping (for friends and coworkers - blue stuff), i felt rage at this consumer-driven mindlessness going on all around me and being "forced" to some degree to participate in it. rage at the SUV's pushing their way through wherever the hell they wanted to go with no thought of others on the road by maybe using a signal, knowing they'll all be at church on christmas, feeling smug about their "holiness." rage at the fact that at least half of these morons voted to put the idiot back in office despite proof of treason just to prevent gay rights and abortions. rage at this stinking war. mostly rage at this stinking war. thanks for letting me get this off my chest. it's so bad today that my hour-long workout this morning did nothing to take the edge off. again, thanks for listening. no where to go with the rage.

[chelaque liberal]

1. I know exactly how you feel.

Neither of my children can come home this year and I am actually glad. I feel so much anger about the things you are angry about that I could explode. I have resisted sending the anti-Christmas cards that I have been tempted to send, and so far have held back from saying the things I have wanted to say to people....

One thing to add to your list: the Adopt a family, and food collection projects going on in my neighborhood by people who practically foam at the mouth the rest of the year about lazy welfare moms, immigrants, ect. Everyone loves to play at being compassionate at this time of the year. F--- them all.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I've felt the same since Nov. 3. I live in a 'red' state and find

myself saying, "Dumber than dirt" to everyone who makes a turn in front of me, doesn't have enough sense to turn on their headlights when it's dark or snowing, who comes barreling up behind me and wants to run 75MPH in the 40MPH zone. I decided to cancel my newspapers, not listen to any network or cable news, and rely solely on the internet and international news. I swore that I would no longer make any charitable contributions in support of people within the US. Gave my money to UNICEF, Heifer Internatl., enviromental groups, and animal shelters. Put my house up for sale by owner on Nov. 6th and took the sign back down 2 weeks later (after about 25 calls), since with the US dollar being worth shit against the Euro, I can't afford to move to Ireland. Plastered my car with bumper stickers and am just waiting for comments. One calls the GOP the Friendly Fascists, another says, "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people." Another says, "If you want a country ruled by religion, move to Iran" and another proclaims, "We are the rogue state". Didn't put up a single Xmas decoration nor send a single card. I hardly speak to anyone but my dogs!

[gennifer6]

6. Proud of you....

THAT is exactly the kind of thing we need to be doing as a whole group. Those knuckle-draggers want to make this "us vs. them" I'm all for it, and your response is exactly what we should all be doing.

Another good idea: Don't get caught, but write something similar to your bumper stickers on your almost-worthless paper currency. :evilgrin:

[PROGRESSIVE1]

10. Me too! We must understand that it's us vs. them! Tell that to Franken.

[gennifer6]

3. understandable.....

I'm also enraged at us, for not REALLY doing anything about it. I see hundreds of thousands of people in the Ukraine standing in the capital in 20-degree weather fighting back and they are winning; the election has been recalled. That's such an embarrassment to our own democracy. Why didn't we get serious about this? We're enraged, and we bitch because we need to in order to save our own sanity, but we need to fucking DO SOMETHING........not as individuals but as a collective whole, strength in numbers. thanks for hearing me vent as well. It's a raging snowstorm outside, even Mother Nature is pissed.

[laruemtt]

5. cold and gray here too - no snow yet.

i'm sure part of this is the feeling of helplessness - after marching, writing, calling, donating till i'm dry, and - NOTHING. we're ignored. so tired of getting hopes up just to get slammed back down to earth. is this whining? maybe. too tired to care today. wish i had more energy and $$ to give - that would probably help.

[gennifer6]

8. seems like its a problem for all of us...not enough energy and $$$$

we're feeling pretty overrun, but keep in mind the election only happened about six weeks ago. I'm also convinced that organization is half the battle won. If EVERY SINGLE PERSON who voted against Bush were to all form under ONE name, ONE agenda, ONE solution, it would make it easier on all of us.

Where are you at? I am in Cleveland, the snow just started and they expect about two feet before tomorrow!! Mother Nature and her paybacks....

[laruemtt]

14. am in western wv -tri-state area,

and will be moving to st. lucia next august. just need to hang in till then. i usually love the winter for its coziness. would just like to be able to enjoy it without all this hoopla...

[gennifer6]

18. sure....

I told my Repunklican family to use those tax cuts they think Caligula Bush is going to give them and buy their own Xmas presents......

make hot chocolate when you get home tonight, or a fantastic dinner. Since travel will be impossible here, I am staying in and baking fish with asparagus and parmesan cheese sauce for dinner and having the neighbour over for TV night. I got him started in the "Twin Peaks" series last week and now he's hooked!!
Maybe a similar evening will help you feel better???

[laruemtt]

19. mmmm, baked fish sounds fantastic.

maybe a little fudge to go with that too? and of course, a Red Stripe or two...... thank god for movies, no? enjoy tonite!

[kerry-is-my-prez]

28. It will only help if we have LARGE numbers of people to join us.

AND if the media dares to report it. It's just spun into that any protesters are "a bunch of crazies" or disgruntled Democrats who hate poor little Georgie Bush. We're also called unpatriotic and people who "hate" the troops.

[stellanoir]

4. Rage. . .like guilt

according to some traditions, can only be transformed by redemptive action.

It sounds silly and simplistic, and many of us are immobilized by the very same rage over the obvious hypocrisies of the so called "moral values" crowd but. . .

At the risk of sounding obnoxiously sanctimonious, do yourself a favor, and go help someone less fortunate than yourself or go out and try to get 10 absolute strangers to smile, and you'll feel much better I swear.

[LiberalEsto]

7. I hear you

I did 2 things that helped:

1) I wrote the Xmas Letter I REALLY felt like writing It's titled "Merry F*cking Xmas" and it helped let some of the steam out. I shared it with my family and a couiple of friends. Then I managed to write a "nice" Xmas letter to send out.

2) I finished shopping as fast as I could, and this week I'm using my free time to make cookies. Cookies that take a lot of kneading and rolling, to work off some of my feelings. There is a recipe -- you can probably Google it, called "Aggression Cookies" which involves a bit of physical effort to mix. Not only will you get to pound the daylights out of some helpless cookie dough, but you will be rewarded with a batch of yummy cookies.

You need, for the sake of your own health, to give yourself a tiny bit of a break from the rage. Once you've let go, you can get back in the fray with renewed vigor.

Good luck!

[LiberalEsto]

11. Here's the cookie recipe

Aggression Cookies

1 cup flour plus extra for stamping the cookies
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup softened butter
2 cups oatmeal (quick or oldfashioned but not the stuff in the paper packets)

dump everything in a bowl except the extra flour. Moosh it around with your hands till it's mixeed, then form into 1 inch balls.
Set on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Put extra flour in a soup bowl. until it's flat. Repeat. Imagine that your are squashing some idiot rethug when you do it (don't break the cookie sheet, though).
Bake 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Makes 24 to 30 cookies.

[LiberalEsto]

25. lookit all my typos

Lousy keyboard deleted half a sentence!

Put extra flour in a soup bowl. Dip your fist in the flour, then smash each dough ball until it's flat. repeat...

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[laruemtt]

12. so Jesus should have called a

psychiatrist when he "felt anger" at the money changers in the synagogue? sheesh. go away. btw, i am in NO way comparing myself to JC, so let me nip that one in the bud, o wise one.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[laruemtt]

15. so the point was -

there are times when anger is justified. don't you agree? or should we all just down prozac whenever anything riles us in the least rather than looking at why it does...

[SariesNightly]

16. I've made up my mind to count my blessings..

.. after reading this,

Christmas Wishlist...
I have to make this fast.

No electricity for three days in a row (well, unless you count that glorious hour we got 3 days ago...). Generators on gasoline are hardly working at all. Generators on diesel fuel aren't faring much better- most will only work for 3 or 4 straight hours then they have to be turned off to rest.

Ok- what is the typical Iraqi Christmas wishlist (I won't list 'peace', 'security' and 'freedom' - Christmas miracles are exclusive to Charles Dickens), let's see:

1. 20 liters of gasoline
2. A cylinder of gas for cooking
3. Kerosene for the heaters
4. Those expensive blast-proof windows
5. Landmine detectors
6. Running water
7. Thuraya satellite phones (the mobile phone services are really, really bad of late)
8. Portable diesel generators (for the whole family to enjoy!)
9. Coleman rechargeable flashlight with extra batteries (you can never go wrong with a fancy flashlight)
10. Scented candles (it shows you care- but you're also practical)

When Santa delivers please make sure he is wearing a bullet-proof vest and helmet. He should also politely ring the doorbell or knock, as a more subtle entry might bring him face to face with an AK-47. With the current fuel shortage, reindeer and a sleigh are highly practical- but Rudolph should be left behind as the flashing red nose might create a bomb scare (we're all a little jumpy lately).

By the way, until further notice, please send any emails to [e-mail] as I'm having some minor problems with the other accounts.

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

[laruemtt]

20. so very deeply sorry for what this country

has done to iraq. we really did try and are continuing to try to stop it. you certainly did put things in perspective. thanks. be safe.

[wicket]

23. Just a Shrub believer, right?

:nopity:

[wicket]

22. How Christian of you

:eyes:

[OneBlueSky]

17. know how you feel . . . but I won't go near a mall this time of year . . .

for the minimal amount of shopping I need to do (mostly nieces, nephews, and a godson), I'm strictly an internet shopper . . . you can find whatever you want, at reasonable prices, very often with no shipping charges or taxes, and have it delivered right to your door . . . no traffic, no parking, no crowds, no muss, no fuss . . .

[starroute]

21. The right is deliberately trying to make us angry

Gloating. Rubbing it in. Projecting a message of "We're going to do exactly what we want and there's no way you can stop us." Pulling every trick they can to emphasize their dominance and our powerlessness.

Righteous anger is one thing. The sort of helpless rage being expressed on so many of the threads today is something else. They're pulling deliberate mindfuck operations on us, and we're falling for it.

So instead of pounding poor, helpless cookies to death, why don't we think of secret good things that they have no clue to and then get together and laugh about them in public.

[MsConduct]

24. Yep, they like that our anger keeps us off balance. LOL I love

your idea about thinking of 'secret good things'. I'll start. they have no clue that when the US goes down the drain, they're going too.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

26. I've moved from anger into "I don't give a crap" about this country phase.

There's just too few of us good people and too many assholes. This country is mainly comprised of assholes. Look at all the people who support the Death Penalty in this country - despite the fact that there are many people who had been on death row that have been found innocent. Most also could care less about the fact that we have killed 100,000 Iraqis. The uncaring and/or bigoted people think it's "Collateral Damage" and that Arabs "deserve it." The unintelligent and the unquestioning believe the BushCo propaganda.

I figure this country doesn't deserve anybody better than BushCo as President. Maybe this is our punishment.

Us Duers don't deserve him but even many Democrats deserve him for either NOT lifting a finger to try to change things or for not bothering to go out and vote.

I can see why there are a lot of people in this country who just say they are apathetic and don't care about politics. I'm even beginning to understand people who don't go out and vote - maybe it really DOESN'T make a difference. If there are voting machines that malfunction all over the country and the media is so biased - maybe it really doesn't make a difference.

If the black, poor and Democratic commmunities cannot vote because
they have 9 hour waits, are sent to the wrong precincts, have their votes thrown out and have screwed up machines - how can Americans really truly vote for their leaders.

[AngryAmish]

27. We all feel the same

We can't beleive that so many of our so-called neighbors are soulless and live their life so wrongly. There are so many subhuman Repugs out there it scares one.

[CrispyQ]

29. My rage has eased to a low boil . . .

but it is always simmering in the background. It is something I've never experienced before. I see the thoughtlessness & rudeness of others toward their fellow beings & am overcome with a sense of "Where did we go wrong & will we ever get back on track? And if so, how?"

The mindless consumerism is a huge part of the problem. It anesthetizes people to the things that really matter in life -- like relationships & connectivity to others.