Just a profound sense of loss and betrayal.

[seafan]

Since the turn of the new year, I've reached some kind of threshold in the way I view what is happening to us. I really cannot adequately articulate it yet, because it is a change so overwhelming in scope.

In the insufferable day-to-day rancor over Tiger Woods, Rush's satisfaction with his health care or the absolute standstill of Congress and the deliberate, cynical failure of our elected officials to mind the business of the people, we are finding ourselves careening toward a concrete wall with no control over the wheel.


With headlines bringing news like this over the weekend:

There has been zero net job creation since December 1999. No previous decade going back to the 1940s had job growth of less than 20 percent. Economic output rose at its slowest rate of any decade since the 1930s as well. ----Washington Post, January 2, 2010

.....

About six million Americans receiving food stamps report they have no other income...

One in eight Americans now receives food stamps, including one in four children.

Here in Florida, the number of people with no income beyond food stamps has doubled in two years and has more than tripled along once-thriving parts of the southwest coast. ----NY Times, January 2, 2010

It is profoundly difficult to pick yet another battle to fight.


Then I read Bob Herbert's column in the NY Times today, and it perfectly describes what I am feeling-- a penetrating forlorn and a deep sense of loss.




Bob Herbert in the NYT:

January 5, 2010

I’m starting the new year with the sinking feeling that important opportunities are slipping from the nation’s grasp. Our collective consciousness tends to obsess indiscriminately over one or two issues — the would-be bomber on the flight into Detroit, the Tiger Woods saga — while enormous problems that should be engaged get short shrift.
Staggering numbers of Americans are still unemployed and nearly a quarter of all homeowners owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Forget the false hope of modestly improving monthly job numbers. The real story right now is the entrenched suffering (with no end in sight) that has been inflicted on scores of millions of working Americans by the Great Recession and the misguided economic policies that preceded it.

.....

This is a society in deep, deep trouble and the fixes currently in the works are in no way adequate to the enormous challenges we’re facing. For example, an end to the mantra of monthly job losses would undoubtedly be welcomed. But even if the economy manages to create a few hundred thousand new jobs a month, it would do little to haul us from the unemployment pit dug for us by the Great Recession. We need to create more than 10 million new jobs just to get us back to where we were when the recession began in December 2007.

.....

The fault lies everywhere. The president, the Congress, the news media and the public are all to blame. Shared sacrifice is not part of anyone’s program. Politicians can’t seem to tell the difference between wasteful spending and investments in a more sustainable future. Any talk of raising taxes is considered blasphemous, but there is a constant din of empty yapping about controlling budget deficits.

Oh, yes, and we’re fighting two wars.

If America can’t change, then the current state of decline is bound to continue. You can’t have a healthy economy with so many millions of people out of work, and there is no plan now that would result in the creation of millions of new jobs any time soon.

Voters were primed at the beginning of the Obama administration for fundamental changes that would have altered the trajectory of American life for the better. Politicians of all stripes, many of them catering to the nation’s moneyed interests, fouled that up to a fare-thee-well.
Now we’re escalating in Afghanistan, falling back into panic mode over an attempted act of terror and squandering a golden opportunity to build a better society.

Just a profound and crippling sense of loss.


And besieged with leaders who lack moral courage, we are on a collision course with tragic social upheaval.

[WT Fuheck]

1. given the tragedy that is the status quo,

I do not agree that the coming social upheaval is necessarily "tragic."

[closeupready]

4. Personally, I'm getting tired of being mad, so I've decided

to move on in my own way, so as to stop feeling betrayed and sold out.

[Better Today]

8. So you're going to pretend it isn't happening? Be happy?

I've thought of doing that, I'd probably have to quit DU and any news sites I read, no more MSNBC either. . .

But then I realize that putting my head in the sand or putting up with betrayal and loss as though it was nothing, is just what those corporatists, lobbyists, and the congresscritters they own, want us to do. I for one do not want to accommodate them in this. Find the way to be happy in spite of their actions, nope, I think its time we quit that, stay on top of them with the reality of our disdain and dissatisfaction of their choices against their constituents.

[Ladyhawk]

75. You have more stamina than I do. nt

[sui generis]

66. I'm with you. Worrying changes NOTHING.

Feeling bad about it changes NOTHING. It is what it is, and it's even a bit sadder to realize that the "sad" people don't appear to care any more for the untold tragedies happening in places other than America.

Do what you can, be as good as you are able, then sleep soundly. Staying awake and staring at the ceiling changes NOTHING.

[Name removed]

97. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Better Believe It]

5. Social upheavel may be just what the doctor ordered. It's been awhile.

[Knight Hawk]

26. A little problem

As things stand now we are actually more likely to have social upheaval from the right whether than the left.Do not look now but the zeitgeist of the country is drifting right.................

[pattmarty]

28. agree.

[Bluenorthwest]

30. Hey, a couple of notes

We say 'don't look now' not 'do not look now'. Also in general, we don't say 'the country' but usually 'our country' or 'this country' as the indeterminate 'the' smacks slightly of ego. There are other countries than this, we are not the country but a country.

[ljm2002]

60. It's a real possibility that the upheaval will come from the right...

...although by all the polls, the *real* zeitgeist has been moving to the left (given that the polls have shown strong support for the public option, single payer, and other liberal positions).

So I think it is the media and rightwing $$$ that have managed to make it seem as though the zeitgeist is moving to the right. Of course that will be small consolation when their rabble rousing actually brings about a rightwing populist movement, which I do agree is a real possibility.

[pundaint]

73. Well, that's the thing with upheaval - once it starts, it runs the show.

Here's a scary thought. Maybe the upheaval is planned, and our foreign wars and the inhuman treatment of our National Guard by our military leadership is just to break their natural humanity so they will be willing to turn on their rebelling fellow citizens when the shit hits the fan here. Careful they're rounding up the paranoids.

[glitch]

51. The social upheavel is more likely to follow the Shock Doctrine unless we can get informed and stop

it.

[Crunchy Frog]

78. It's likely to be the wrong kind of social upheaval

like what the Germans got in the 1930's

[leftstreet]

2. The economic upheaval has been happening for decades

The more it rises to the higher incomes, the more tragic it may seem for some.

General Strike!

[pundaint]

74. Yes, we need to demonstrate supremacy of the People

[HCE SuiGeneris]

3. From "Land Shark"

Depression is the pause and sinking to catch breath before Action - the antidote to despair

[Land Shark]

17. Thanks this was a surprise - just saw it after I posted #16 below. (providing more detail on this)

Pain is a signal. It gets people's attention. Gives us critical survival information (rare folks without pain nerves often die of accidents at a very premature time)

But reply #16 is the few sentences of expansion on the quote HCE SuiGeneris cut and paste from me. Here's a jump link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7403130&mesg_id=7403895

[Ladyhawk]

77. Really? How come mine has lasted for twenty years?

There is nothing positive about depression except the ending of it. Depression means not having the energy to seek an ending, except for the ending of one's life. Even that seems too hard. Depression means feeling like giving up. It is the lack of motivation, not the catalyst for it.

This is one of the most untrue statements I've ever read.

Sorry, Land Shark. You don't know anything about depression.

[nightrain]

6. If Obama has a tendency to avoid conflict, then any true social upheaval could be

very instructive and healthy for us and him.

[Knight Hawk]

27. Russian Proverbs

There are two Russian proverbs Obama would do well to incorporate into his psyche."Act like a lamb and you will soon meet a wolf"."If you want to make an omelet you have to crack an egg".

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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

[EmeraldCityGrl]

18. +100,000,000 outstanding article.

[earth mom]

23. +100,000,001!

Thanks for posting that! :thumbsup:

[seafan]

36. 'We stand on the cusp of one of the most seismic and disturbing dislocations in human history....'

Chris Hedges carves away the cultivated reality to expose the painful, ulcerated truth:

.....

The American oligarchy—1 percent of whom control more wealth than the bottom 90 percent combined—are the characters we most envy and watch on television. ..... The working class, comprising tens of millions of struggling Americans, are locked out of television’s gated community. They are mocked, even as they are tantalized, by the lives of excess they watch on the screen in their living rooms. Almost none of us will ever attain these lives of wealth and power. Yet we are told that if we want it badly enough, if we believe sufficiently in ourselves, we too can have everything. We are left, when we cannot adopt these impossible lifestyles as our own, with feelings of inferiority and worthlessness. We have failed where others have succeeded.

We consume these countless lies daily.

.....

Celebrity culture encourages everyone to think of themselves as potential celebrities, as possessing unique if unacknowledged gifts. Faith in ourselves, in a world of make-believe, is more important than reality. Reality, in fact, is dismissed and shunned as an impediment to success, a form of negativity. The New Age mysticism and pop psychology of television personalities and evangelical pastors, along with the array of self-help best-sellers penned by motivational speakers, psychiatrists and business tycoons, peddle this fantasy. Reality is condemned in these popular belief systems as the work of Satan, as defeatist, as negativity or as inhibiting our inner essence and power. Those who question, those who doubt, those who are critical, those who are able to confront reality, along with those who grasp the hollowness and danger of celebrity culture, are condemned for their pessimism or intellectualism.

The illusionists who shape our culture, and who profit from our incredulity, hold up the gilded cult of Us. Popular expressions of religious belief, personal empowerment, corporatism, political participation and self-definition argue that all of us are special, entitled and unique. All of us, by tapping into our inner reserves of personal will and undiscovered talent, by visualizing what we want, can achieve, and deserve to achieve, happiness, fame and success. This relentless message cuts across ideological lines. This mantra has seeped into every aspect of our lives. We are all entitled to everything. And because of this self-absorption, and deep self-delusion, we have become a country of child-like adults who speak and think in the inane gibberish of popular culture.

.....

The juxtaposition of the impossible illusions inspired by celebrity culture and our “insignificant” individual achievements, however, is leading to an explosive frustration, anger, insecurity and invalidation. It is fostering a self-perpetuating cycle that drives the frustrated, alienated individual with even greater desperation and hunger away from reality, back toward the empty promises of those who seduce us, who tell us what we want to hear. The worse things get, the more we beg for fantasy. We ingest these lies until our faith and our money run out. And when we fall into despair we medicate ourselves, as if the happiness we have failed to find in the hollow game is our deficiency. And, of course, we are told it is.

I spent two years traveling the country to write a book on the Christian right called “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.” I visited former manufacturing towns where for many the end of the world is no longer an abstraction. Many have lost hope. Fear and instability have plunged the working class into profound personal and economic despair, and, not surprisingly, into the arms of demagogues and charlatans of the radical Christian right who offer a belief in magic, miracles and the fiction of a utopian Christian nation. Unless we rapidly re-enfranchise these dispossessed workers, insert them back into the economy, unless we give them hope, these demagogues will rise up to take power. Time is running out. The poor can dine out only so long on illusions. Once they grasp that they have been betrayed, once they match the bleak reality of their future with the fantasies they are fed, once their homes are foreclosed and they realize that the jobs they lost are never coming back, they will react with a fury and vengeance that will snuff out the remains of our anemic democracy and usher in a new dark age.

'We stand on the cusp of one of the most seismic and disturbing dislocations in human history, one that is radically reconfiguring our economy as it is the environment, and our obsessions revolve around the trivial and the absurd.'

Thank you, SunriseStorm for bringing us this dose of reality. The clear-eyed truth.



And, welcome to DU. We are truly all in this together.

[Ladyhawk]

76. Wow...I gotta bookmark this. nt

[Lorien]

58. Great read. Deserves a thread of it's own. Add the underwear would be bomber

to that list. I don't watch TV, so I was astounded by the uproar over that non event.

[rockymountaindem]

9. I'm really dejected that this is the world I've grown up to inherit

So many people my age have graduated and can't find good jobs, many of our parents are struggling, and our country is in extremely fragile shape, with nobody seeming to do anything about it.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

19. And I am really sorry for leaving you a world like this.

I really feel my generation has failed all of you young people.

[Goldstein1984]

21. I understand what you are feeling because my three children and

I discuss this all the time. They face such a difficult world compared to the one that I faced that I feel like my only choice is never to retire so that I can continue to help them. When I think of the three--soon to be four--grandchildren, my heart sinks over the world they will inherit.

I've started collecting everything I've written over recent years to assemble in a journal to leave my grandchildren. I want them and their children, if they feel enough hope by that time to think having children makes any sense, to know that not every member of our generation stood idly by as the world disintegrated.

[xiamiam]

32. very good idea goldstein..to assemble your writings

i haven't changed so much from the idealistic young person who marched against the vietnam war..and became interested in a sustainable conscious lifestyle..many, however, have changed or have been dummied down by our media and preoccupation with celebrity and greed

a few days ago, i was riding to an event with a friend...she's clueless, politically..i love her ...i brought up the war in afghanistan..she didnt want to discuss it...i mentioned my disappointment in obamas administration..she didnt want to discuss it..i reminded her that before we invaded iraq she told me that my opinion, to not go to war, was not very popular and that we both know how that turned out...she didn't want to disucss that either...she is 60 years old and represents far too many americans today..she could tell me, however, if i had any interest..anything that the cooking channel or other tv programs provide...she's also a victim of this economy...oh well

[Goldstein1984]

45. I see the same thing

I use my Facebook page politically, and when I do something like recommend a book to my "friends" I get comments like, "Maybe you should try reading something that isn't so depressing."

We live in a nation where people are pacified with entertainment, manipulated by fear, and I think they also have a sense that they can't change anything, so why bother trying?

But they can tell you who got voted off of "The Biggest Loser" last week.

[DemReadingDU]

59. so many are addicted to those reality TV shows

Survivor, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Biggest Loser

It's really sad. I fear for the life my toddler grandbabies will grow up in.

[Goldstein1984]

62. I have a little hope where by grandchildren are concerned

Just a couple of minutes ago, I was on the phone with my daughter. She called to tell me that her doctor had just diagnosed her with diabetes, and he wants her to lose weight. She was an incredible athlete when she was young, including a 2nd degree black belt with two national championships. Following an injury and a bad relationship, she gained some weight that she hasn't been able to take off.

So, we discussed the evils of fat, sugar and salt, the benefits of whole grain cereals and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and the benefits that I have enjoyed since I stopped eating beef, pork and poultry. She's decided to make her recovery a family affair, including us and, to my point, our two grandchildren. The refined sugars, animal fats and hydrogenated vegetable fats, high-salt foods, processed foods (chicken nuggets, pizza rolls, tater tots, fish sticks, ketchup...) are leaving the house.

As for TV, she's always been pretty good about that, but she's decided to use this opportunity to "turn on and tune out" of the mainstream consumer culture in general, and dropping for 200 channels to basic cable, more reading time, more outdoor time, and more arts are a part of it all.

I view this as an opportunity to create better human beings than pop culture could have created.

[DemReadingDU]

65. Good for her!

My son and daughter are in their mid-thirtys now, but when they were growing up, I never bought any of that junk food, carbonated pop; just healthy foods, like fruit, low-sugar cereal, etc. But when they were adults, both started eating junk foods and cokes, and both gained weight. They can't figure out why. duh.

My son has 2 toddlers, and the family doesn't eat much healthy foods. I have mentioned to his wife that if the unhealthy food is not brought home, there is no temptation to eat it. She says...That she buys the candy and junk because she likes to eat it. another duh.

Until someone in the family has an illness that requires eating healthy, nothing will change. The best of luck to your daughter. She sounds determined, and it really helps to have the support of the whole family.

[Goldstein1984]

68. Obviously, a common pattern

Nice to share stories and opportunities.

Thanks

[Moochy]

10. " Oh, yes, and we’re fighting two wars."

:kick:

Stop one of the wars and we can pay for a robust job stimulus & retraining program to spur development in the renewable energy sector.

Stop both of the wars and we can join the civilized world and provide health care to every person in America.

[Faryn Balyncd]

11. K&R......Feeling betrayed is justified...But now it's time to FIGHT LIKE HELL :

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7402961



(Thanks for your post. I agree with the substance, and share the feelings.... You speak the truth. And that is good for the soul...

But the corporatists are counting on our dispiritment at this time.

And we can't afford to give that to them.




K&R

[Amliss Vess]

14. I am tired

I am tired of fighting Obamas battles for him while he sits by. I wasted a lot of time last summer protesting, calling my representative, wrtting blogs, donating money for a HC bill I thought the president cared about just to find out he doesn't give a shit which way the wind blows. PO or no PO he doesn't give a shit.

[Scruffy1]

85. yes

You can either sit around and mope or fight like hell. Believe me you'll feel a lot better if you fight like hell.
I just laugh out loud when I see somebody crying about O being a traitor after they worked so hard for him. Knocking on doors, handing out fliers attending meetings and all. This is just normal advocacy. when I think of the events of my lifetime such as the civil rights struggle where I had friends murdered and I still have scars. The protest against the Vietnam war which got me arrested and beaten more than once. The fights over Indian rights where I had more friends murdered and got me so targeted that I had to go into hiding for a time. So now I am involved with the poor peoples human rights campaign which keeps me going. I'll quit fighting for justice when I'm dead. Until then
count me in. Do these people really believe that change comes from the ballot box. "They count the votes and they have the guns."

[kentuck]

12. Is that what it is?

I've been puzzled about that.

I thought the left was only mad at Obama because he doesn't listen to them?

Is it a betrayal? Perhaps?

Loss? What did we lose? A dream?

[Greyhound]

13. Why so bummed? The Obamas will come out of this just fine.

Now quit whining...
:sarcasm:

[Missy Vixen]

15. Thank you

You, me, and Bob Herbert get it.

It's unfortunate that our public officials and officeholders don't. The average American doesn't have the holidays and Tiger Woods to distract them anymore.

I'm wondering when the other shoe is going to drop myself.

:hug:

[Land Shark]

16. Doom and Gloom = ENERGY TO CHANGE. Let's not be so "depressed" we can't help steer this energy

You've got to hit rock bottom, as they say.

If there are really, really things to scream or worry about NOW, doesn't that mean that the cause of change is THAT MUCH STRONGER? What's totally depressing about that???

In addition to your heart (which is most of what triggers "depression" for many these days), may I suggest ya'll try to adopt a little of the perspective of the revolutionary -- a revolutionary would be welcoming things getting worse - it means complacency goes bye-bye and things can finally change. That's when they jump into action and make things happen their way.

[winyanstaz]

20. K & R.....you are not alone my friend...

I too feel sick at heart. And I am so tired of the in-fighting when at this time...more than ever in our history I believe it is crucial for us to set aside our petty differences and work together...because...
The damned boat is sinking and we are all on this ship together.

[Goldstein1984]

22. I feel the same sense of loss, but I refuse to cross the line to

helplessness.

We don't need a majority to create change. A well-led fraction of the population can bring the system to its knees.

Voting, and especially voting along party lines, will never result in meaningful change.

There is a storm coming. I sense it. I welcome it.

[chimpymustgo]

24. K&R. Herbert's piece is profound and profoundly sad. Should be read by all. The Chris Hedges essay

a bonus in this thread.

[waronbanks]

25. I simply cannot believe what I see anymore

I cannot believe our elected officials are so clearly in the pockets of the corporations. I am stunned at the ignorance I see of people voting against their own well being. I stare in disbelief as Sarah Fucking Palin is portrayed as an American hero. This president has turned on the middle and lower class as he plays murderous games with health care, jobs and wars. He is actually sending our children over to protect a heroin cartel and when questioned about it laughs it off...I saw this 60 Minutes and could not help but to tear up for those who will die or come back maimed. And after so many of us believed his campaign bullshit and helped get him elected.

I weep for my 2 children who have been abused by this society and are headed for a life of struggle. Maybe they will make it through the coming revolts and live to see a brighter day in America. That is all I can hope for at this time. Right now America is a cesspool of ignorance, greed and waste completely devoid of any compassion.

[caseymoz]

29. I just consider this to probably be . . .

. . . the equivalent of what World War II was to Europe, and how it tore down that continent for fifty years.

This isn't going to change until the powers that be realize that they are mistaken, and until even the teabaggers are so totally bad off that they begin to abandon their ideology. The Great Depression took four years to bottom out in 1933, and only then were people ready to do something drastic. If what's happening here follows in that pattern, we're just in 1931. In that year, people weren't even aware of how bad it was.

What I mean by mistaken is this: in 1929, capitalism might have been there, but nobody was arguing that it was the best system for everybody. I mean, the Robber Barons and such never promoted it that way, they just wanted to get wealthy. Since then, we've had Ayn Rand and a bunch of intellectuals come out and claim it's socially the best thing on earth, and a media that has grown up to promote it.

[mmonk]

31. Your last sentence sums up our danger and it is very real.

I really want my children to live somewhere else if it keeps becoming evident this cannot be turned around. It's no longer a matter about being a loyal American but survival in life.

[xiamiam]

33. getting in the streets, en masse, is the only answer...people will

but not until there is no other solution...health care, foreclosures, jobs...war war and more war while wall street rakes in record bonuses...oh yeah, as more people are affected, the rising swell of anger will find its way to the streets..and then the people on the sidelines will follow..like they always do...there are only a few leaders...the rest are waiting to be told what to do..

[dgibby]

34. I share your sense of loss and betrayal

As soon as Obama said he was going to "look forward", I realized he was not the person I thought I'd voted for. The idea that he was willing to let the previous admin. literally get by with murder with no fear of being brought to justice was sickening. Nothing after that has been much of a shock, just very sad.

The second demoralizing discovery was realizing that the Dems are also bought and sold by the highest bidder. Silly me! I had hoped there was a real difference, but the health insurance "reform" has certainly disabused me of that crazy notion. While there are many progressives/liberals working hard to make things better, the party is in the death grip of the DLC, DINOS, and Blue Dogs, and they are so busy pushing their "centrist" agenda, they can't see they're destroying everything the party stands for.

As for the coming social upheaval, if it brings about the end of Empire, then perhaps it will be for the best, although I dread the thought of what it will do to "We the People". It could make the Civil War look like a picnic. Ugh!

[Odin2005]

35. I feel lied to and betrayed.

:grr:

[MissDeeds]

48. Same here n/t

[Bluebear]

56. As do I.

And looking back, it started a long time ago with these pols.

[emilyg]

86. I'm with you. Sad.

[Jakes Progress]

37. K&R To our leaders, a long range plan

is what to eat for breakfast tomorrow. They see only their own self and selfish interests and only that for the short term. We are blessed with an administration and congress that is either stupid or self-obsessed. Of course they can also be both.

[olegramps]

38. Your despair is not shared by those in power.

For the 1% of the population that totally controls every aspect of the economy they don't see the present situation as a disaster, but a grand opportunity to consolidate their investments and buy up anything worthwhile for ten cents on the dollar.

And do you know what you can do about it, nothing? The workers screwed themselves when they swallowed the corporations' propaganda that organized labor was their enemy. The working class are just headed back to sharing the grueling condition of the workers during the early twentieth century. Nothing will stop the downward spiral until the workers are desperate and finally are driven to organize and demand a Better Deal. As long as it was someone else's job that was being out sourced people didn't give a damn until it was their job that vanished. If the workers keep swallowing the bull shit that tariffs are bad, free trade is the wave of the future and don't demand reasonable taxation of the ultra-wealthy they won't have any future for themselves or their children.

[juno jones]

53. You hit the nail on the head.

As long as someone else's job was in the cutting, it was no big deal.

It began in the early '80's. Practiaclly entire towns were laid off as factories moved.

We were all supposed to become MBA's in those days. Many of my peers did. The bottom line was a holy thing and a restaurant was the same as an office store only with a different product. Either were easier and cheaper than actually making something.

I think the difference this time is that the internet gives us all a chance to compare notes in RT.

[clear eye]

39. I've been commenting on what has happened and what can be done

for a while now. Here are a couple that made it into my Journal:

It's not so much that we've been had (as in fooled) as that the electoral process
Posted by clear eye in General Discussion
has been so compromised by enormously powerful players that we aren't given much choice. What's most disturbing is that this group of loosely allied mega-corporatists, while pursuing what they believe is their own advancement, are taking the world in a direction from which it will be hard to recover, especially regarding the environment. As a friend of mine said succinctly, "They're drunk w/ power." Only if we acknowledge what has happened, will we be able to begin to correct it. Although it...

More

Yes. It's likely that people are justifiably afraid to take point on
Posted by clear eye in General Discussion
large-scale organizing b/c of the terrorist laws (I said the same in a comment a couple of days ago), and others are afraid to participate b/c of the "non-lethal" weaponry that nonetheless maims. And even the biggest demonstrations can be ignored by the media these days w/o a readership drop in response. Why anyone bothers to read American papers mystifies me. The stuff they leave out exceeds in both importance and quantity what they include. Where I have to differ w/ you is your implication...

More

Here is a coalition organization created to enact a federal public financing option for election campaigns: http://www.fairelectionsnow.org/coalition (made up of 38 NGOs). This, along w/ banning e- voting and counting, is a major structural change to combat the predominance of corporate over public interests in Congress. There are a number of ways given on the website to participate.

Finally I encourage you, seafan, to sign up for DUer emlev's Revive Your Passion for Changing the World -- Moving from Good Intentions to Powerful Social Action free telephone seminar. (More info & link here.)

[Javaman]

40. Gardening...

try it. It has helped my sanity.

Knowing I have a little bit control over something in my life helps me. Plus, I grow good things to eat, help nature in a way and save myself some money.

Piece of mind while the rest of the world screams at each other.

I threw the towel in a long time ago. Don't get me wrong, things still get me pissed off, but honestly, I can do without the stress and daily insanity.

So each day, I check my cabbage, onions, broccoli, garlic, cauliflower, spinach and assorted herbs.

I see them grow. I watch as the rain and my watering helps them, I see how the sun nourishes them.

I've had to take a very philosophical view on things. Stress makes people do some crazy shit and the last thing I need is to be talked down from a tower. :)

Peace.

[proudohioan]

44. Gardening...... I love it!

You know, it really IS a comfort to get back to nature, to experience the cycle of the seasons and each wonder that accompanies them. Preparing the garden in spring, tending to the garden in summer, harvesting in the fall and watching the silence of the winter snow cover the garden with its' blanket, to lay dormant until the spring comes around again.

And it always does.

[Jamastiene]

50. I agree that gardening is THE BEST stress reliever

that there is. It is tied at #1 with spending time with my 2 cats and my dog friends in the neighborhood.

[HERVEPA]

55. I vote for dancing as the stress reliever

[midnight]

105. I agree..... Dance, Dance, Dance....

[blindpig]

41. This is what happens as Capitalism 'matures',

as predicted by you know who.

[1776Forever]

42. Your quote about jobs not improving since 1999 struck home! Thom Hartmann spoke on this yesterday..

He played a voice mail that was left for a reporter that I believe he said was 4 years ago. This woman stated that she and her husband had been laid off and they were 2 months away from loosing their home. He spoke on the fact this was 4 years ago and that it has gotten worse since then. We lived in Florida in 2004 and in 2008 we left there to move back up North because of no jobs, high taxes and unbelievable insurance rates that the insurance companies were charging since the 4 2004 Hurricanes. it is a very sad day right now in the United States and every time I see celebrities doing something for other countries I wish they would do more for our own country. Maybe they and the Politicians don't really now just how bad it really is here! The American Dream is dying and the Statue of Liberty is crying!

[Ticonderoga]

94. K&R +1

[Zenlitened]

43. K&R (n/t)

[ChiciB1]

46. I Stand Here Right Along With You!! We Probably All Know WHY This Is

happening... MONEY, however THEY just don't care!!

The Repukes must be LAUGHING at us BIG TIME!! But then, maybe it really is just ONE PARTY... RepugliCrats!! SICKENING!

Is there NOTHING we can do! Don't say vote them out, it pretty hard to do... I KNOW... been trying to get my message across about Bill Nelson here in Florida FOREVER! And yet, he will very probably get re-elected because of MONEY, and his friends who have MONEY, and those friends who have more MONEY... and THEY know his name!

He's DLC and for sure a DINO!! But it now seems that way with so many Democrats that got elected by us!! We've been HAD!! Where do we go??

[proudohioan]

47. I hear ya, buddy; I'm feeling it too.

:-(

[bvar22]

49. You just need to look on the bright side.

Thanks to Obama and The Democrats, there are no failed Wall Street Bankers clogging up the Unemployment lines.

Why can't you be happy for the Wall Street Bankers? :shrug:

[glitch]

52. Next comes anger, then awaremess and action.

What is going on has been going on for quite some time. I highly recommend reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Not at night before bedtime though.

You are not alone.

[snot]

54. What worries me most, though, is

that it's v. difficult to educate people about the real causes of our problems so long as the oligarchs control the vast majority of information/education outlets.

Just yesterday, I got a screed from a friend who should know better ranting in gigantic all-caps about high taxes -- as if that's our main worry.

[Lorien]

57. We're beseiged with "leaders" who are bought and paid for. Without election reform

we will continue to stay the course.

[havbrush]

61. Sense of loss and betrayal also

I too have this sense that the country is on the wrong path. Industry groups seem to be in charge even though the Dem's won the election. The big banks gorged on the nation's treasure with the bailout money and won't lend it out to help the economy recover even though they had a huge hand in creating the crisis with their lobbying to repeal Glass-Steagall and all the money they made fueling the housing boom that busted. The oil industry had their turn a couple of summers ago when the price of gas was over $4.00 for months. And look, the price is creeping back up again. The insurance industry will get theirs when this inadequate HC bill passes -- everyone will have to buy insurance from the big companies because there's no public option. Big Pharma's plan, and it's working, is to get everyone on some kind of drug, even if they have to invent them. Who ever heard of 'Restless leg syndrome' before that TV commercial for the newly created drug that allegedly cures it -- pay no attention to the endless list of side effects that run on and on after the pitch for the drug. And of course if you ever have to go to the hospital you're not coming out without at least four prescriptions you have to spent lots of money on to get filled every month. I've probably missed some things but my point is that we're dangerously close to corporatism where the big companies call the shots behind the scene and the president and the Congress get all the media play but aren't really in control while the rapidly shrinking middle and working class get screwed out of jobs sent overseas by the corporations who don't care as long as they make obscene profits. I take that back. We're already there. Corporatism is here in all it's slickly gussied up form of fascism. It's the inevitable outgrowth of our country's long-practiced foreign policy of sending gunboats, troops, and warplanes to protect American corporate interests overseas from Iraq all the way back to the banana republics in South America to the Philippines in the early 20th century to pre-Castro Cuba to pre-statehood Hawaii even (we overthrew the monarchy there to protect the pineapple acreage of the Dole company). And all the while proclaiming that we are the defenders of democracy and the beacon of liberty and justice for all. Much of the country bought and still buy it while much of the rest of the world detests our policies. I'm beginning to doubt if the new president can do anything to dislodge the corporations grip on the real power that runs our country. It might come to serious upheaval by the people. After all, everyone is not going to starve and be out of work and homeless forever.

[Tigermoose]

63. Man-up

nt

[Vidar]

64. K&R.

[shadesofgray]

67. K&R

[truedelphi]

69. This Administration is not only escalating the war in Afghanistan

(And Pakistan, and Yemen) but it is being told that to have a true victory there, the Administration must insist on capturing the hearts and the minds of the populace.

To do that, say the experts, we need to build water santitation facilities, and have schools built, and so on and on.

Yet we are boarding up the libraries and schools in our country!!!!!!!!!!!!

[madmax]

71. Oh man, I'm with you on this.

Add repairs needed to our infrastructure. This country is ass backwards.

[havbrush]

72. Infrastructure repairs

Unfortunately the priorities in the government seem to be about preserving corporate interests in the countries where our troops are, not infrastructure here, or jobs here. I've often wondered what happens to a newly elected president? Is he then breifed on the real deal, how the government really works by the powers that be -- the corporate and bank heads, the generals,the intel people -- and what he's expected to do, and if he doesn't what can happen to him, like what happened to JFK. This almost happened to FDR as well. Several heads of industry, including Prescott Bush, were inamored with the fascists in Germany and Italy and wanted to install that kind of government here. They were highly upset with Roosevelt in his attempts to install Social Securtiy, unemployment and other bills that benefitted vast majority of the people and not just the rich. They even started an organization, The American Liberty League (please google this), and attempted a coup and recruited a retired general to lead an army of all the discharged and out of work veterans from WWl in the country. They were tripped up however as the general was a real patriot who just went along to find out who the leaders were then tipped off the Feds. They were some of the most prominent industrialists in the country. The funding came mostly from the Du Pont family, as well as leaders of U.S. Steel, General Motors, General Foods, Standard Oil, Birdseye, Colgate, Heinz Foods, Chase National Bank, and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The media of the day weren't entirely in the loop as the president used the information as leverage to pass his New Deal programs. He threaten the whole traitorous group that they would be exposed if they didn't go alone with the passage of his bills. That's how we got Social Security, unemploment insurance and other New Deal programs and that's also why the Rethugs have been trying to get them overthrown since then. All the traitors were forced to abandon their fascist plans under thread of jail. They did rise again however, witness Reagan, Bush1 and the last horrible administration, only interrupted by the Clintons.

[truedelphi]

83. Wow, that is one heady post.

I had heard some vague references about this coup, but now that I know to google the American Liberty League, I imagine I will get up to speed, so to speak.

The thing is, that in his day, FDR knew the press would carry his story. maybe not all the press would be on board at once. But some newspaper somewhere would get on board and then the rest would follow suit. Now that our "media" consists of only four or five different conglomerates, all of them interested ONLY in the notion that The Corporations Uber Alles, the President doesn't have those options.

Last night's local California news stories -

Lead story one - the excitement of 3 D movies. (Basically a huge ad for the movie "Avatar.")

Lead story two, something about a new technology that the "google" phone or phone aps is bringing to the fore in competition against Apple. So basically a big ad for Google and Apple!!

Meanwhile the state is in a horrific drought, as the Federal Courts spent last summer not giving the farmers in the Central Valley any water. {This due to EPA's protection of the survival of some tiny fish (never mind that when a million acres is not watered, entire bird, reptile and animal species could perish.) Then should the drought suddenly end with more winter rains and water than expected, the state's system of decaying levees could go down, with another Katrina style result (We are basically damned if it rains, damned if it doesn't!} But should the levees go down, not only would two to five million households be swept away - 25 million Californians would be without drinking water!

But why concern us with details from any of those stories!! It costs money to put reporters in the field, and so why not just have all Ads all the Time...

[stillwaiting]

100. They were not interrupted by Clinton. Or Obama.

The history of the Business Plot needs to be known by all Americans.

Thanks for your post!

[bertman]

70. K & R

[whatacountry09]

79. Just a profound sense of loss and betrayal.

COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT BETTER!!!

[Geek_Girl]

80. I think If I didn't have my mother to to help out I would move to Canada

I really started looking into about 5 years ago but decided to stay because I'm an only child and my mom really doesn't have anyone except me and my family. She lives with us now because she can't afford to live in her home with just her Social Security.

[KoKo]

81. As I said before on another post...It's just a profound sense of sadness of what could have been....

and what isn't.

Just Sad... What do we do about it? I honestly don't know.. It will require much thought.

[sulphurdunn]

82. FDR saved capitalism from itself

and from a socialist revolution in the 1930s with the New Deal. That is unlikely to happen again because their is no FDR or Democratic Party worthy of the name. The good news is that this time unregulated capitalism will perish of the same "masters of the universe" hubris and greed that spawned the Great Depression. The bad news is that its death knell with usher in the Greatest Depression. The only question is who will be standing to pick up the pieces and build a new world when the smoke clears: the people or the pharaohs.

[Ticonderoga]

99. I'm all in.......for the people n/t

[Peregrine Took]

84. 'Should have stuck with my original feeling about him. Blech.

I heard him speak at a union sponsored anti war rally a year while he was running for the Illinois Senate. Even though I am fairly up on politics I don't think I'd ever heard his name before. You had the feeling he was definitely being groomed for something big - just the way there was a buzz about him there.

My impression of his speech was just blah blah blah - long and boring - really a lecture. Just the speech of a typical politician who talks and doesn't say anything. He wasn't for that war but he wasn't anti war. Just his same "Just War" speech that we heard at the Noble Peace ceremony.

Somehow, I got caught up in the hype, too, much to my regret.

[Captain_Blue]

87. Hope of Change

I spend most of my free time on the internet, searching for an emerging leader that will take the people to the streets. I haven't found a promising candidate yet, but He or she will step forward any day and when he/she does become a factor, I expect a firestorm of support. We thought for a moment it was Obama, but it wasn't him. Who is it going to be?

[seafan]

91. It will be each and every one of us out here in America, in cities, towns and countryside.

We have fallen into the trap of looking for a leader, and when he/she is found lacking, we flail about until the next surrogate appears on the horizon.

I think that is where we have lost our way. One leader cannot do the work that is the responsibility of 300 million Americans. It is up to every last one of us to become active citizens in our democracy--- reading, writing, discussing with others, learning about what has led us to this place in our history, questioning authority when the agendas are hidden from us, taking part in running for office, and supporting candidates who demonstrate that they will truly represent the people and not the corporations and campaign contributors instead. And a general strike may be closer than we think.

We need our own 50-state strategy. The corporate frat boys have laid waste to our homes and jobs, wrecked our cars and yard, and stolen the horses out of the barn. Now, we kick them out and get to work on rebuilding.


We have the collective power in our hands to take control of our government back from the forces of greed and imperialism.


As someone so eloquently put it, WE are the ones we've been waiting for.

[certainot]

104. you're right, but the general strike should recognize

the embassies of corporatestan are the the local R W radio stations, which do the groundwork for the GOP and lauder the corporate talking points all day long.

liberals can strategize all they want but they're wasting their time if they don't recognize that.

a general strike will be defined in the MSM by 1000 radio stations spewing coordinated uncontested repetition 24/7- such a strike/protest could actually get results if the picketing was happening where the corporate power centers are represented, where their biggest soapboxes have been uncontested.

[certainot]

88. the GOP obstructionists are to blame and whining won't fix it

it's like a whole shitload of new dem voters got excited to vote for obama and figured all would be better and all they had to do was blog

no, dems have a very small voice in this, usually screamed over by 1000 UNCONTESTED radio stations and a sympathetic MSM. if not for this the GOP would be NOTHING, but the left continues to ignore it because it gives them headaches to listen to it. what a pack of whiners.

[Moochy]

89. "what a pack of whiners"

Yeah its those damned fair weather bloggers in their bathrobes! :eyes:

[certainot]

101. yeah really, the modern KKK has 1000 radio stations and they sell lobbyist talking points

on the side, and the left figures they can ignore that and then whine that the first black president can't get what they elected him for!!!?

what a pack of whining sacks of shit. just getting someone in who does less harm than good would be a blessing after the reagan bush disaster. if these dumbasses really thing those two political 'dynasties' can be overturned with a flick of the wrist they are supremely naive.

[Moochy]

102. Sounds like you have Lowered your Expectations

"The Left" figures that you are not one of them whiners, but a real reality realist who just wakes up every day and thanks the Spirits that ReaganBush is not in power.

[certainot]

103. i'm a realist who realizes that much of the left evaluates and strategizes in a

talk radio vacuum, plugging in CD after CD while 1000 radio stations spew coordinated UNCONTESTED repetition to a crowd the size of the one that voted for obama, attacking 24/7/365 all liberal causes and candidates, doing all the framing and enabling the republican owned MSM needs to keep doing what they do for corporate america, making real democracy impossible.

[BrklynLiberal]

90. Bob Herbert's column was superb.

[defendandprotect]

92. ... but wasn't that always the way it has been . . . what of African-Americans trying

to overturn Segregation, Inc.?

The native American suffering genocide here -- still trying to educate us - pass on their wisdom.

What of homosexuals still fighting for human rights?

What of Jews who have been victimized by Christianity for a thousand years and more?

What of women who are still conducting a non-violent revolution for equality?

Union members who continue to fight for the dignity of labor --

Our most serious problem is Global Warming which has resulted from patriarchy/capitalism's

exploitation of nature and their suicidal thinking/agenda to control our wealth and

natural resources.

Global Warming does make this time quite different from any other time --

[UrbScotty]

93. Don't let the mega-corporations win! NEVER SURRENDER!!

[earcandle]

95. you are so right on in what you have just said. We have to fight the entropy to

pull ourselves out without them.  We are many, they are few. 
Our dollars empower them, maybe they need to now empower you.
Think Mondragon.  

[treestar]

96. I guess you'll just have to give up

How terrible is life for you.

[Name removed]

98. Deleted message

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