Things will never be the same...

[kentuck]

I don't mean to sound pessimistic. I think back to 8 years and 3 weeks ago when George W Bush was sworn into the office that he stole, with the assistance of our very own Grand Supreme Court. I remember what he inherited. There was more money and jobs than we knew what to do with. For the first time in several decades, we had a Federal surplus of $250 billion plus and we anticipated a several trillion dollar surplus by January, 2009. We had even paid down some of the national debt and the Federal surplus was bigger than the Social Security surplus, which we did not have to borrow from, for the first time in a long time.

But it was not to be. "It is the people's money", they said. Once they were in power, one of the very first things they did was cut income taxes on these "people". By the end of their first year in office, the surplus was about half gone. And 9-11 happened, despite clear warnings to those in charge, including Mr Bush. (Remember the August 6th memo?) It was the first time we had been hit since the early weeks of the first Clinton term. We were not hit again until 8 months into the new Bush Administration. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Even now.

Then it was not long until we started running huge deficits of $300 billion and more. Although they promised that cutting taxes would create more jobs and bring in even more money into our Treasury, it did not. It was the lowest job creation and the highest deficits in our modern history. So much for "trickle down" Reaganomics.

I remember how really bad those Clinton years were. <sarcasm> All those blue dresses with preserved cum. All those rope lines and impeachment hearings. But everybody working and making money and minding their own business. We did not know what we had. They say you do not miss your water until the well runs dry. I remember well those terrible Clinton years...

[leftstreet]

1. Remember when you could go to the airport just to watch planes land?

The BushInc years ushered in so many seriously fucked up anti-terra measures. The whole face of our society has changed and no one is talking about rolling it back.

[underpants]

2. "Starve the beast" as Krugman aptly described it

drain all the money (power) out of the Feds. The government does things like desegregate and actually have these court things that allow people just everyday "Joe nobodies" the ability to take money from the corporations the most elegantly bread and educated run.

The three goals for the Cheney operation were clear, and mostly achieved
1. Empty the Treasury
2. Raid the public trusts
3. Invade Iraq

[grasswire]

3. did you read Chris Hedges' latest essay? (eom)

[kentuck]

4. No.

Why do you ask?

[PM Martin]

5. I didn't notice.

<sarcasm off>

[Birthmark]

6. Remember when the food supply was safe?

Boy, those were the good old days, weren't they?

[CoffeeCat]

7. Those were some good times!

Yeah, wasn't it great when FEMA didn't kill people by taking three days to arrive at a disaster site?

Good times.

Remember when the FDA actually banned drugs that killed us and caused horrendous side effects?

Those were good times too.

And when our telephone conversations and emails were private?

Ahhhh...the good ol' days!

[rhett o rick]

8. Where is Thomas Paine when we need him?? nm

[tom_paine]

9. They made sure and suicided him before he got well-known enough for anyone to notice.

Now THERES one helluva plot for an alternate-universe "Twilight Zone" episode!

Do one in the alternate universe where the King of England used Bushiganda tactics to destroy the Founding Fathers before they got their revolution off the ground.

Oh, the scenes with Bill-O and Rushbo, British-style, with a panel of all "impartial" "British" experts ganging up on Ben Franklin and using their Bushiganda template to totally confuse and destroy his Founding Ideals and his Liberal Abolitionist stance to further discredit him with the usual Bushie Template of Racist Codewords.

Possibilities limitless. Of course, Corporate Cable TV would die before allowing such a thought-provoking and consciousness-raising show on their airwaves. Their job is not to make people think. It's to make people STOP THINKING or think poorly, if they bother.