We`re McScrewed.

[democrank]

Bad day at Black Rock here. I think I may have even lost my will to participate in this mess any longer. A brazillion emails, dozens of anti-war protests, letters to editors, bumperstickers, yard signs, petitions, telephone calls to my representatives (and maybe yours) and consumption of an entire tin of anti-Bush National Embarrassmints. What do I have to show for it? Joe Biden in an asinine cap at Alito`s confirmation hearings. The Supreme Court is poised to be run over the cliff on the right and Biden does a comedy routine. Maybe it was the hat trick that reduced Mrs. Alito to tears...sheer relief that a showboat showed up in place of a tough griller.

I`ve been on this earth for many decades and try to not remain stuck in the past, dreaming up delightful little stories of how things used to be. Change can be a good thing. Moooooving forward as they say. Well, I`m in the forward now and things don`t look so good.

One missing bridegroom sends the graphics folks at MSNBC into overdrive but hundreds of missing people in New Orleans get barely a mention. It`s the lower ninth ward-ing of priorities, about as sensible as that Alaskan bridge to nowhere while we`re cutting student loan benefits. Sensible as Chris Matthews hyperventilating about George W. Bush`s nobility at the same time our war dead are shoved into cargo compartments like excess baggage. Perhaps we`ve reached the point of no return. Maybe this thing is just plain O-V-E-R. Let the millionaires run the place and forget about the guys living under the bridges. Forget the unemployed neighbor. It`s the portfolio, stupid.

This "bad day" I mentioned left me wishing for the emergence of a regular ball-buster....somebody standing on a platform in Washington with a big "D" on it. Someone who`d take a chunk out of Karl Rove`s lily-white hide then start in on the talking points cheerleaders. A plain talking someone who fires every consultant or anyone who even hints at hiring a consultant. A leader who at least knows what it looks like inside a coal mine or a chicken processing factory. Someone who has had to sweat the rent payment or dug through his change looking for money to buy his kid some cough syrup. I really don`t want any more Bidens. I don`t give a sweet damn about how photogenic they are or where they bought their golf clubs. I want a real, old fashioned Democrat. Scrappy, honest, regular. I`ve had my fill of the big hairs. Forty-something years in this party and I think I`m at the end of my political rope.

[salinen]

1. Ah fuck it

you're funny as a manic depressive.

[Bluerthanblue]

12. ah, we call it bi-polar now- and actually

we can be pretty hillarious at times-
but the flip side can also be equally spectaular-

Hang in ther Dem- times are hard- and life really can suck- (or blow) depending on your outlook.

Hope you feel better.

[sendero]

20. Maybe being bipolar..

.... is the reason I think it's a beautiful essay. Believe me, I know the feeling - it seems like no matter what happens, nothing happens.

America just hasn't hit rock bottom yet. Give it time.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Look on the bright side... it certainly cannot get any worse... and if

you feel threatened.... you can always run out and buy visqueen and duct tape ya know... just in case. I miss the seventies.... would it not be great if we were allowed by the great spirit to have an option to go back to the happiest times in our lives with our present knowledge..... it would be worth a digit or two. Hope you come out of your slump, good batters are hard to find and even harder to do without.... 4

[acmejack]

3. Illegitimae Non Carborundum!

[Vinca]

4. We must've had a similar day.

I've been muttering to my husband about splitting the country in half. We'd have our side with health care for all, education for all, jobs for all and they could wage war on whoever they felt like. My husband pointed out it would most likely be us.

[AtomicKitten]

5. The pins are set up.

Just be patient for a teensy bit longer. When these bastards go down, and karma dictates they must, you don't want to miss the show. Stock up on popcorn.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

9. I'm Getting Tired Of Waiting

I am honestly beginning to believe that there is no way to stop them, and that this country is headed in one direction. I really think there is very little hope for those of us on the left.

[AtomicKitten]

13. sigh, me too. nt

[pretzel4gore]

18. 'men learn by suffering'

i read that long ago in arnold toynbee's 'study of history'...apparently the ancient greeks believed that it was suffering from their mistakes which taught people to at least try not to make the mistakes again and again; maybe try something else.....possibly our problem as a society is that too many of our fellow citizens actually think that personal animal comfort is the purpose and point of life, government etc thus justifying the madness that junior bush epitomizes continuing month after month in control. maybe the total ruining of the american social organization, and all the frantic rage that will one day be unleashed when the implications of that come clear, is not such a bad thing(??)

[NoFederales]

19. And sometimes in public life being stoic has its advantages, but try

selling suffering and stoicism to the general public. The RW has apparently had some success with the fundies, playing on their notions of victimization, and has "them" visualizing a power role-reversal. But I don't want to go there with them., or live in such a culture.

Here's a toast to us all at our keyboards: "To a future filled again with innocent smiles and remembrances of how to have fun again." Can't make the sadness go away so I'll bend my elbow.:toast:

Peace.

NoFederales

[pretzel4gore]

22. gee, it's mid january here in canada and it's shirtsleeve weather

even the rw knukkle draggers are starting to suspect that that which they've been pshing for generations (greed is only good) is affecting the earth in biblical type terms......maybe. when thomas friedman, bush promoter and republican mouthpiece, says that to be 'red, white and blue, you must be green!' then it is such fun to reply 'nevermind tom, it's too late' hahaha..
yeah, a good stiff dr pepper would be a good idea!:beer:

[MadisonProgressive]

33. I was kinda hopin for 'Instant' Karma...

[alcibiades_mystery]

34. There is no karma

The brutal despots of Europe ruled through hundreds of years of the Middle Ages. Colonialism killed millions. Slavery in American lasted for hundreds of years. The good years of good governance are the exception. Karma is a myth told by the oppressed to themselves in order to inflict imaginary revenge on their oppressors - like heaven and hell (there is no heaven and no hell either). There is no going down. There will be no moment of triumph.

[salinen]

45. Karma

is a inactive persons justification for staying on the couch.

[MuseRider]

6. To me we had one

but he had big ears, funny hair and was too short.

[DemBones DemBones]

And no one could pronounce his name.

K-U-C-I-N-I-C-H

[MuseRider]

10. Damn shame.

He pretty much fits the description of the OP.

These are bad days for a lot of us. I am not feeling very good about it myself.

[renie408]

7. It's the salmon thing.

I wrote in another thread earlier that I feel like those salmon trying to jump up the waterfalls. The majority just get tired and eaten by bears or just die at the bottom.

I am dying at the foot of the falls. I don't have the energy to try to jump against the current any more.

[Surya Gayatri]

8. Beautiful mad rant, demo...

but please don't give up the struggle. I know it's a cliché, but as they say, it's always darkest just before the dawn. I agree that the ridiculous spectacle of Biden is enough to make anybody despair for the future. But, hold out at least until 11/06. If nothing changes then, well maybe we can all drink the poisoned chalice en masse. :shrug:

[DemBones DemBones]

11. I've had a lot of days like that since 12/12/2000.

I recently took several weeks off from reading or posting here and at other forums. Sometimes I really think the situation hopeless and I should just try to enjoy the rest of my life, ignoring all the shit I can't do anything about.

[MuseRider]

14. I have tried

but I can't stay away long enough and when I do I am usually fighting equally impossible politics here in my state.

If Alito is confirmed without a filibuster I think I just may take a long break from national politics. I am getting worn out and seriously depressed.

How do the good ones keep this up?

[DemBones DemBones]

16. I had many peaceful days, hardly watched any news.

I think I'm about to do it again. Life is too short to focus on what can't be changed. You know the prayer: "God grant me the strength to change the things that can be changed, the serenity to accept those that cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference."

[PretzelWarrior]

15. kicked and nominated

very well put. Where's Mr. Smith when you need him?

[PassingFair]

17. The Wish Fairy is here!

I've got a HOWARD DEAN in my magic hat!

He's working. And working. And working.

He may not have had to "sweat the rent payment", but he's scrappy, honest and "regular".

[gordontron]

21. can we run him in 2008?

or will he just be working for the dems

[jen4clark]

23. Do not lose heart. We were made for these times.

Letter To A Young Activist During Troubled Times

By Clarissa Pinkola Estés Ph.D.

Mis estimados:

Do not lose heart. We were made for these times.

I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world right now. It is true, one has to have strong cojones and ovarios to withstand much of what passes for "good" in our culture today. Abject disregard of what the soul finds most precious and irreplaceable and the corruption of principled ideals have become, in some large societal arenas, "the new normal," the grotesquerie of the week. It is hard to say which one of the current egregious matters has rocked people's worlds and beliefs more. Ours is a time of almost daily jaw-dropping astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.

…You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking. Yet ... I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is — we were made for these times. Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement. I cannot tell you often enough that we are definitely the leaders we have been waiting for, and that we have been raised since childhood for this time precisely...

-Cont.

http://www.kporterfield.com/healing/estes.html

Hang tough democrank. We all need to take turns being down, but we're all here to help each other up again!



:grouphug:

[renate]

26. jen, you ROCKITY ROCK ROCK ROCK

As always.
What a perfect essay for this thread! Anybody feeling the way the OP does--and who among us hasn't felt like that, maybe even daily? Stronger people than I, that's for sure--should read it carefully, word by word, to feel better. It's so lovely and inspiring.

[ClayZ]

27. I needed that! Thanks.

…In the language of aviators and sailors, ours is to sail forward now, all balls out. Understand the paradox: If you study the physics of a waterspout, you will see that the outer vortex whirls far more quickly than the inner one. To calm the storm means to quiet the outer layer, to cause it, by whatever countervailing means, to swirl much less, to more evenly match the velocity of the inner, far less volatile core – till whatever has been lifted into such a vicious funnel falls back to Earth, lays down, is peaceable again. One of the most important steps you can take to help calm the storm is to not allow yourself to be taken in a flurry of overwrought emotion or despair — thereby accidentally contributing to the swale and the swirl. Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts — adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I loved "Women Who Run With the Wolves" I think I will go buy "The Faithful Gardener"

[Dora]

28. What a wonderful essay - FOLLOW THIS LINK, DUers.

[democrank]

48. jen4clark....

Thanks for the link. "Properly bewildered"....maybe that`s it.

[unkachuck]

24. and now you're going to make me cry....

....what the hell do you think this is? Isn't this is big-money cut-throat politics? Aren't we fighting two enemies....pukes on the outside and corporate Dems on the inside?....and don't they all hate us?....

....the one thing we've got going is we're RIGHT....and we're RIGHT for the RIGHT reasons....we'll find that ball-buster you're looking for and when we do, things will turn, and turn fast....

[Beam Me Up]

25. Well, as bad as you make it sound, I'm sure it is going to be much worse.

Reality can be a bitch.

This is what happens to societies that allow themselves to be ruled and plundered by traitors and mass murdering criminals.

I do not jest.

And the rest of the world isn't going to put up with it the way we have--so don't get too comfortable in your feelings of powerlessness.

We're going to need one another more than ever. Perhaps the person who should stand up on a platform with a big D on it (figuratively speaking, perhaps) is none other than yourself. We all have to tell it like it is and keep telling it no matter what. It may be the only thing we've got left.

[kentuck]

29. Less than the faith of a mustard seed...

We cling to the last shred of faith in the American people to open their eyes and see what is happening before it is too late. Only the strong will survive. Will the mustard seed sprout this spring and move a mountain?

[schrodingers_cat]

51. 'The Never Ending Story.'....

Where a boy saves the World of Imagination right before it has crumbled away to mere speck.....

I'll be the one rolling the rock crusher......

[atomic-fly]

30. My unconsious mind expresses this last night...

I had the a very strange dream last night. I thought about it as I drove to work this morning.

In the dream:
My wife and I had decided to purchase a new house. For some reason we were
locked into buying before actually seeing it (I don't recall why, perhaps wife made decision without me)

We go to look at house and the first thing we see is a huge camp/facility near the house.
This facility was built for disabled soldiers in wheelchairs. The intent of the facility was to teach the
disabled soldiers to perform/entertain in kind of a circus/globetrotter kind of way. I was disturbed that it was so close to the
house and thought of all the noise and lack of privacy. Also a little freaked out by it.
So we finally see the house. It turns out that one of our old neighbors owned it and were giving up on it.
(These neighbors in real life lived in a very nice Victorian home and spent all their weekends fixing it up.
They had a couple of kids, stay at home mom. The guy actually looks like Tucker Carlson and even wore the
bow tie. I suspect they were Republicans. So they seemed pretty successful.)
Back to the dream. We were thinking it was cool that we could afford a house that this family had, but then
I realized that the whole roof was caving in. It was very damaged. I was feeling very apprehensive.
We had already agreed to buy it....feeling very anxious. The house was very nice at some point, but was
in need of major repairs now. So we look on the inside and the hardwood floors were all painted
a deep crimson and were flaking. We would have to strip all of this off and refinish. It uses oil for heat.
I was not happy about that. We were both very apprehensive about our commitment. Then
I figured out a lame solution. We would keep our old house and try and pay on this one while fixing it
up. Then we would rent or sell it(pass it on?).....don't recall after this.....

Perhaps a metaphor for the state of affairs?

[rniel]

36. The house represents

the united states of america.

Maybe time to buy a new house and become canadian.

[xiamiam]

31. its the media which brings us down...if they would report the truth...

instead of the spin there would be some hope that we are getting back on track...but they give us no hope...no hope that the fundamentalist right wing crap will ever change..and the boldfaced LIE that the majority of americans hold their philosophy of bigotry, hatred, and greed....no matter what awful truth is brought before us..torture, justifiable?..spying on americans, justifiable? a war of agression, justifiable?...incompetence, justifable?..breaking treaties, justifable?...war crimes, justifable?...on and on....if i turn off my tv..and never channel surf to oleilly, scarborough, matthews, carlson, hannity, novak, wolfie...etc etc...and just talk to the average citizen...we all feel the same...I travelled over this holiday from California throughout the south west...EVERYONE I spoke with felt the same..EVERYONE...I travelled to Mexico in the fall...lots of expats there who feel the same...and whose message to me was get the hell out of the US...since 2000 when I watched the election be stolen and the Supreme Court participate in the shenanigans, I've watched with disbelief as my country has become the rogue...at the legal attempt to supress diversity of thought by the media and this administration...its depressing for all of us..or anyone with half a brain...I've wanted to jump out of my skin...Katrina marked a turning point...at least some of the media questioned....but still..its depressing....I speak with friends all over the country..and we all feel the same....unsettled...and terrorized by the government and the lies of the media...and the country we have become....but its not representative of us...its just not...

[Walt Starr]

32. I'm very close to entirely giving up

Hey, they cheated and they won. Our side decided to be wimps and lost it all.

There's no way to get it back with any remote chance at civility.

It's over. Tiem to buy guns and build a bunker because it all goes downhill from here.

[sirjohn]

35. Not to mention Kennedy's subpoena tantrum blowing up

in his face.

If these guys had raised real issues (such as Turley did) rather than these clownish shennagins, they might have been able to stop this dangerous man.

[underpants]

37. Every word

kicked recommended and bookmarked

[Gregorian]

38. Some of us are over the edge. Please throw us a rope.

I'm falling. And I should leave the forums before I start saying things I'll regret.

Everything you said is valuable. Where are they? All I hear is an echo. It's empty. And the lights are out.

With liberty and injustice for all some.

[martymar64]

39. He ain't heavy . . .he's my brother

If you feel the need to sit it out for awhile, we understand, let some others take the field. It's tough to keep going under such odds and pressures, but we know where your heart is. It make take years and money and tears and blood, but we will win, I just know it. When victory does come, rejoin us for the parade, we'll be happy to have you.

Peace

[kentuck]

40. You must know how the soldiers felt at Valley Forge?

Cold, hungry, and hope was thin. But they kept fighting...

[Armstead]

41. As a middle-aged lefty, in some ways it's better than the 80's and 90's

As someone who is somewhere near Paul Wellstone/Bernie Sanders on the political spectrum, I know exactly how you feel. Sometimes I feel that way myself.

But on the bright side, at least the awareness level is creeping forward in the right direction. In the 90's only a small minority were paying attention to issues like corporate power, globalkzation, shrinking middle class, etc. "The working class is getting screwed? Too bad. Give me another stock option please."

Now there is much wider level of awareness and concern. Even Lou Dobbs is talking like a 90's lefty about certain economic issues.

And, in the shorter term, Bush is now a minority preident. He always has been, but they got away with the illusion that he really was widely popular for a few years when the nation was under Post-911 distress.

I agree that it is immensly frustrating to be in this state of mid-term Bush limbo. And too many of the powerful Democrats (like Biden) still don;t have a clue.

But at least things are moving in a better direction in the respect of growing awareness and concern over important isues that were swept under the rug for too many decdes.

[wiggs]

42. Chances to pull this out

Doesn't look very good, IMO. This has been planned for decades and the people who have gotten us here won't easily give up on their investments. Many on both sides of the aisle are complicit and the deck is stacked high against anyone who challenges established power.

I don't have much faith in the opposition party, elections, 4th estate, judicial branch, or entire legislative branch to halt an historic abuse of power and public trust. I guess I still hope that meaningful oversight and balance could come from the above, but it is not an optimistic hope. I mean, come on....the list of misdeeds and scandals is so damn long and outrageous that one has to resist the "NOW B*sh is toast" mindset and conclude that this adminstration is pretty invulnerable.

I DO hold out SMALL hope that a major, credible, principled insider whistleblower could blow the whole thing out of the water. It would take someone on the level of Powell, Tenet, Blair, Lott etc to come forward with documents and a demand that things change. Many have tried and failed (Voinovich, Clarke, O'Neill, Kwiatkowski, Dean, McGovern, Sibel, Wilson, Wilkerson, Tice, and many more). Even then, someone worthy on the left who is NOT part of the problem (not in the corporate pocket) will have to step up and convince millions to take a risk on him/her.

Otherwise....how exactly can someone new overcome the inertia of runaway corporatism, trillions of dollars on the line, fundie pressure, media bias and ownership, mysterious and frustrating dem complicity, GOP willingness to smear and lie like sociopaths, bully pulpit of the POTUS, an outrageously flawed election system, control of thousands of secret ops folks perhaps willing to stage events for maximum political gain around election time, etc? Not likely.

Demanding apologies for outrageous statements, hearings in basements, Rule 21 gambits without followup, carefully worded speechs, token and limited challenges to vote certification, gathering online protest signatures, half-hearted investigations, threats of fillibuster, etc get us temporarily excited but have NOT NEARLY been enough to spark effective oversight or build some durable public perception of what this administration is about. (Current low polling for the administration could change overnight in the face of any one of a dozen new developments, all of which are controlled by the administration itself.) Resistance seems token and short lived. A new approach is needed, because we're getting further and further behind the longer we play the normal political game by the normal rules.

Cheered up yet?

[Kurovski]

43. I know how you feel, but I'm not quite ready to toss in the towel.

I keep thinking that Howard Dean guy might give Dems a much needed haircut. :-)

Absolutely terrific piece of writing. Recommended.

[CrispyQ]

44. Everyday I am boggled at what these fuckers get away with

& I am ashamed that too many in my party do not stand up against them & that the media is complicit in the entire subversion of the United States of America.

I wish I had something comforting to say, but I feel as you do. I persevere, but it gets more & more difficult every day. :hug:

[pretzel4gore]

50. "contempt is to the contemptable, as air is to birds

or the seas to fishes" - William Blake
really, i want the bushviks to fail primarily so i can savour their suffering, but if they instead succeed, they just suffer worse!
(notice there's never been any speculative fiction on what would have happened had the nazis won ww2? the reason is that the nazis weren't that different from the guys who actually did win ww2, and that was very embarassing to them, at one time....)

[adigal]

46. No - don't give up!

Where did your ancestors come from?? Did they suffer to get here to have you lose your will to fight?? I know, some days I can't go on, but you must. They are trying to take away our country. Change it, so we don't recognize it.

Please - don't give up. Walk away tonight, watch a funny movie, drink some wine, and come back. Call your senators and YELL at their machines, tell them that if they don't want some angry-ass constituents, they had better oppose Alito.

Don't quit. Never.

[Catchawave]

47. That which doth not kill us.....

...makes us stronger :hug:

Great rant, I even feel better for having read it :hi:

[TroubleMan]

49. Just wait until the beginning of March/end of February...that's when it'll

get even worse.


Using Israel as a proxy, the US will go to war to keep Iran from opening the oil bourse. Also, the Federal Reserve stops reporting a stat called the M3, which means that can print as much money as they want without telling anybody.

All this is "coincidentally" timed for this March.

Your looking at war/hyperinflation/recession or worse around that time.

Have a nice day :)

[marions ghost]

52. our opponents

are very powerful. They do not play by the rules. Expect the worst from them and you will not be disappointed. These hijackers of our government are completely corrupt and they really do seek to rule by exploiting their own people, as unthinkable as that may be. This is nothing new to the world but it may seem new and depressing to Americans. At this point I think it helps to kill all delusions about how things used to be, or how things should be. Once you get over the expectation of things to be working as they always did, or according to some ideal, then you can dig in and resist the multiple assaults without so much of an emotional roller coaster ride. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task but we DO have the numbers and we DO have the Power of Truth on our side.

So don't give up -- esp not now that the tide for them is ebbing. In simplistic terms their obscene war is not going well and their ruthless domestic agenda has been exposed by Katrina. And now several prominent Repuglicans are being investigated for serious crimes. Even those sheeple who don't follow anything else get that much. The majority in this country now want a big change. We the People really don't have the choice to opt out entirely right now. This is a struggle for everything we care about.
This is our lot in this time and place. We will see some awesome changes before this era is over.