I'm afraid.

[Ripley]

I know! This doesn't sound like the Ripley I know either.

For the last week I have been observing and listening. If I had opened my mouth in most situations, I surely would have lost friends, family and others.

People are merry. They feel safe and good. Lots of people have new cars due to the absurd rebates over the last few years. Lots of families like that child credit and expect more. Two Alabama soldiers have died in Iraq this week, yet they are thrilled they protected US. However, this is not just a local thing. The whole country feels GREAT.

Today, I was in my car behind a woman in the bank drive-thru who had a brand new bumpersticker that said "Don't Blame Me: I Voted for Bush Again."

What does that mean? I think I know. I am very afraid.

We may not be able to fight this thing, at all.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. I guess it means she was kind of expecting shrub to lose. But she

better take off that bumpersticker since she HAS the ONE PARTY rule in this country that she wished for.

[high density]

2. I guess that bumper sticker means that...

...the liberals are going to continue to screw up the country even though the Republicans still control everything? LOL.

[Ripley]

4. Bingo. Oh wait! That's gambling! Not allowed!

Yes, I'm pretty sure that was her point. Not an ironic Democrat in the car.

His followers are cut of the same cloth: NO ACCOUNTABILITY. NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS...IT'S NOT HIS FAULT...THE GOD-BOY TRIED HIS HARDEST.

we are so fucking screwed. how much gold can I buy?

[sonicx]

3. "What does that mean?"

Clinton's Penis Did It

[Baja Margie]

5. Keep saying to yourself

these famous words, "There is no fear, but fear itself." and abide by them.

[Ripley]

6. Okay, but..

It is easy to be brave from a safe distance. -- Aesop


Fear has its use, but cowardice has none. I may not put my hand into the jaws of a snake, but the very sight of the snake need not strike terror into me. The trouble is that we often die many times before death overtakes us. -- Mahatma Gandhi

I didn't say I quit.

[ethereal]

14. Fear is the mind killer . . .

[bigtree]

7. Hey

Reality is about to hit hard. Record debt, record spending for a manufactured war. Huge expensive autos and houses in my area, dotting the landscape like wayfaring giants, are inhabited by famlies with shrinking wages, shrinking benefits, higher property taxes, and job loss and insecurity. Don't be buffaloed by their bravado. Just brace yourself for the recrimination that follows their crumbling lifestyle in the wake of their Fuerur's revived gentrification regime.

[Ripley]

9. Re-read your last sentence. I repeat...I am afraid.

:hi: bigtree nice to see you.

I can't quite discern the "waiting for the Rapture types" and the simply "ignorant fools" these days. While I believe the downfall of America will hurt us all, I think there is a large number of Americans who are waiting and praying for that downfall as proof of some weird cult minded shit or they will be glad to blame it all on something other than our government. Either way: looney tunes prevail.

[bigtree]

12. Truth will out. at least.

"Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion—and who, therefore, in the next instant (when it is evident that the minority is the stronger) assume its opinion ... while Truth again reverts to a new minority."

Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Danish philosopher

[wiggs]

15. Uphill battle

These were issues in 2004 also. Plus more.

When one party and its even smaller group of leaders control three branches of government, the media, districting (district boundaries), the election process, and is able to marginalize its opponents, create distractions, control the types of stories told to the public, use fear as a political tool, limit civil liberties, rally the public to oppose scapegoats (intellectuals, gays, liberals, shadowy terrorists), you have a serious uphill battle.

Unless an unimpeachible, ungaggable whistleblower steps forward, or unless voter fraud is proven somehow, or unless media ownership changes, or unless people use their enormous economic power to change media behavior it doesn't look good for the next four years and beyond.

[ethereal]

17. Exactly.

Couldn't have said it better myself, bigtree.


The housing market has been booming since 1993. It's due for a natural correction. The Fed has been keeping it artifically propped up for a while now, as it has been the only sector of the economy to flourish under Bushconomics. With the recent Fannie Mae accounting snafu and the continuing fall of the US dollar, I think a lot of the McMansion owners are in for a huge shock.


We are considering selling and getting our equity out while we can. I've been in real estate for the last decade, and all the indicators I see are scaring the bejesus out of me.

[cheshire]

8. What makes us afraid is that they make no sence. They prove it with the

bumper sticker after voting for the moron. They prove it by being mad even though they think he won. As if voting for him was not enough. They are scary because they're the ones who are obviously crazy or brainless and there seems to be more of them than us.

[Ripley]

11. My Mom in NC said the Repubs there were mad at Kerry

because he didn't concede soon enough (like at 2:00 AM).

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

(she voted for Kerry btw)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. I don't know where you live, Ripley, but in Minneapolis,

people were as glum as I've ever seen them on November 3.

[deadparrot]

13. It's the calm before the storm.

The last three two-term presidents have all had major scandals break in their second term:

Nixon and Watergate
Reagan and Iran-Contra
Clinton and Monica

We know the * administration has been much, much worse than any of these. Give it time. He's dug himself into some deep holes, and he'll have to get out of them. He can't blame Clinton, he can't blame the "lib'ruls" in Congress, he can't blame "activist" judges on the SCOTUS.

[Cronus Protagonist]

16. Ripley: Believe it or not?

I choose not. Did I win anything?

Show your support for the president, wear a FUCK BUSH button!

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13
(We usually ship same or next day by first class mail)

[ethereal]

18. You win!

You win a year's supply of falafel.


To claim your prize, send an email to www.billoreillyfucksloofahs.com

[Guaranteed]

19. That's one dumbass bumpersticker.

Lady, you're getting ALL the blame.

[not systems]

20. No one is feeling "GREAT" in Northern California.

In fact the mood is quite sour.