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But, I think they are partially behind the overthrow of the original Ukraine government and other countries like Egypt, Libya, and they are still trying in Syria even supplying Al Qaeda with chemical weapons (as a false flag operation trying to make us believe that Al Assad used chemical weapons against his own people) and other weapons and support.
And they are still trying to overthrow South American popularly elected governments by aiding and fomenting internal dissent. Doesn't seem to bother the Obama government that Al Qaeda are cutting off heads of Christians in Syria because they won't convert to Islam.
And I think they are behind some pretty foolish stunts that will lead to another cold war with Russia...or even a nuclear showdown. Every time I hear Kerry or Obama or any of the other US government spokespeople spew their idiotic and hypocritical claims against Russia in the Ukraine I cringe...wondering how they could say these things with a straight face since they are accusing the Russians of the same things the US did in the Ukraine to begin with (ie: assisting the people in rebelling against the government...now, the illegitimate Nazi government). I wonder if Obama has a swastika sewn in an inside pocket.
And the Obama regime certainly did not pull out of the Middle East, nor immediately stop torture in the US gulags in Iraq and in Gitmo. And they also sent people to places, like Egypt, where they would be tortured to death..all with the idea of deniability. Obama, instead of welcoming whistle blowers, as he once claimed we needed more of, he just wants to prosecute them.
So, just like the Republican supporters, and militia, may be useful idiots for the ruling elite...so too the Democrat supporters are being useful idiots for the ruling elite. The Democrat supporters are still being hoodwinked by the "liberal media" that all we have to do is get a majority of Democrats in office in order to change things. But I believe that even if we had 100% Democrats in Congress (not one Republican) and a Democrat President...that the 99% of the people in the US would still not be represented by them. All those Democrats would still be owned by the ruling elite...it would just be harder to blame someone else for their misrepresentation of the 99%.
And there are ruling elite wannabes who play both sides to keep the people forever hopeful of change while they rob the store. These ruling elite wannabes still think they have a chance to keep from being sucked into the abyss with the rest of us less fortunate people. The image that comes to mind is Capos. Capos were Jews in the Nazi concentration camps who had better food, better quarters, better everything compared to all the other Jews. All they had to do was keep all the other Jews in line. They even beat fellow Jews just as ruthlessly as the Nazis did and even killed fellow Jews.
In last Friday's "Thom's Poll"...."Should the right-wing militia groups be considered Domestic Terrorists?"....I made a smart ass comment mocking Lapierre's "freedom needs our defense now," NRA speech. I turned things around a little by pointing out the reality of who needs to be targeted in order to defend our freedom.
My point, basically being similar to that of Thom's tonight, was that the armed citizens indeed feel real frustration and pain, but as Thom put it, they simply have been duped by Roger Ailes and his right wing extremist media, the Koch brothers, Karl Rove, and other billionaire Fascist's into thinking that those actually on their side, "we progressives" , are in fact their enemy. They don't know who their real target is...so I clued them in so to speak. It's tragic and it pisses me off to beat hell that the militias have it backwards. I fight every damn day in my own little way to get the truth out to at least friends, co-workers, and neighbors.... If we all communicate truth to just a few around us each day, I sincerely believe we can overcome the out of control imbalance of those with wealth and power who are currently thrusting, we the vast majority, quickly, into a 3rd world status.
Palin funny thing is our aborigals have road blocks all the time. they never hurt anyone but just protest but it is a pain in the butt. some have used there vehicles as self defence but they just end up in jail. There is two different laws up here though. If you have a band card you can pretty much do what ever you want. We really don't pay much at tension to them They end it faster if you ignore them.
kend: Glad you made it back to Calgary ok! It was getting pretty hot in the Phoenix area, huh?
By the way, concerning the Cliven Bundy affair:
"Back in 1993, Cliven Bundy began declining to pay the government fees required to allow his cattle to graze on public lands, and in 1998, as part of an effort to protect the endangered desert tortoise found in that area, the government obtained the issuance of a court order requiring Bundy to take his cows off that land. In July 2013, a federal court finally ordered Bundy to get his cattle off public land within 45 days or risk having them confiscated by the government and sold to pay off the fees and trespassing fines (reportedly in excess of $1.2 million) that he owes"--snopes
"The site that ENN Mojave Energy was planning to buy in order to build a solar plant is nowhere near the public land Bundy has been disputing with the government, and ENN gave up the solar project and terminated its agreement to buy land to house it as far back as June 2013"--snopes
"Even the conservative Breitbart site debunked this conspiracy claim, noting:
Despite the obvious partisan gain to be had if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's son Rory (a failed 2010 Nevada gubernatorial candidate) had somehow been involved in a "land grab" affecting the Bundy family ranch operation — the facts just do not pan out as such. Indeed, Rory Reid did in fact have a hand in plans to reclassify federal lands for renewable energy developments. Just northeast of Las Vegas and Nellis Air Force Base, plans were drawn by Reid allies to potentially develop 5,717 acres of land for such use. While it would be fair to claim that such activity was in Bundy's relative neighborhood, the federal lands once leased by the family were more than 20 miles away, east of Overton, Nevada."--snopes
http://www.snopes.com/politics/conspiracy/nevada.asp
Thom, just because you say it is so (about Conservatives) does not make it true. You do not understand the conservative way of thinking so you are a poor judge of the how/what/why of our thinkingness.
If any of you had taken the time to listen to talk radio, you would know that there is at least as much concern that Bundy is a deadbeat in paying his fees as there is concern about how the government is handling the situation. Bringing the Koch brothers in to the mix is simply absurd, but you are trying to sling any possible situation, as mud, to try and tarnish the reputations of those gentlemen.
Your blog post is dishonest and truly another desperation move to try to get people to foget how completely incompetent our president and democrat senate has managed the affairs of the country.
Perhaps if you bothered to question the motives and actions of those in your own party you'd have some credibility here, there or anywhere.
ML, Dave
Trying to quote Mr. Hartmann here, but as usual neither the <quote> option nor the [quote] option will work for me. Hence I'll type it in by hand:
"...the idea of armed gunman blocking the highways and checking drivers' licenses conjures up some pretty scary images."
Indeed it is terrifying, but no more so than our future. Just as the cities are being gentrified into the baronial strongholds of the very rich (scroll down at http://lorenbliss.typepad.com/loren-bliss-outside-agitators-notebook/201... ), so is much of the countryside becoming the baliwick of the Bible-thump Bumpkin Brigade.
Soon the roadblocks will be used, as they are elsewhere in regions of religious strife, to authenticate one's orthodoxy, with the result that anyone who does not have the proper church membership card, or any woman who is not dressed as modestly as an old-time nun, will be dragged out of their car and shot on the spot...or worse.
Somalia? Yes indeed: it's Somalia North, precesly what the One Percent -- having looted the USian Homeland of everything that's lootable (except slaves) -- is making of what used to be the most promising nation on Planet Earth.
Welcome to the REAL future: not Star Trek but Les Miserables and/or Apocalypse Now.
The Al Qaeda BBB (or, would it be KBB?)cut off heads on the spot of those who refuse to convert to Islam. So, if these nitwits, with rifles, try to stop someone on the highway and the driver manages to freak out and create some militia road kill maybe these militia will be more hesitant in trying to stop people. These people aren't uniformed policemen...probably just normal clothes....what would most people think if someone like that tries to stop you on the highway? That they are armed killer madmen who could kill you? So why wouldn't using your vehicle in self-defense be a good idea?
I just drove from Phoenix to Calgary 2400 km or 1500 miles through Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Utah and Montana And saw nothing but bare vacant land. For the life of me I can not understand why they would want to kick a farmer who has been on that land for over a 100 years OFF that land.
First I heard it was over turtles. LOL. Anyone who knows anything about cows and horses will tell you they will never step on a living animal.
Then I heard it was over a Chinese companies solar plant. Again just fence it off.
can anyone help me here. Why would they want him to move.
is it true that Harry Reid and his son have some financial interest in this solar plant. I am so confused. As a outsider this whole thing is insane and makes no sense at all. It is kinda funny how it all ends up brining the Koch bros fault. Like they would give a poop about some frickin rancher in the middle of no frickin where.
I teach all Language Arts, Social Studies, and Religion for the middle school, and May happens to be when I do the poetry unit. This is mostly for two reasons: 1. Poems are shorter, just like the student's attention spans just before summer break, and 2. It gives us a chance to go outside and write.
Thank you. It's always easier to be honest when you're also anonymous online, I think.
I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this - but it seems to me that the more your physical self fits into societal ideals (young, fit, etc...), the more you tend to lean left politically. Colleges and Hollywood both lean heavily to the left, because they are full of people who physically look like what society has taught us is the ideal body type.
Conversely, it seems, the further you stray from that ideal, and the further isolated you are from being social, the more likely you are to lean to the right politically.
Or maybe I'm wrong. I can only atest to my own observations.
ChicagoMatt ~ That is most disturbing, indeed. This very well may be the result of Reaganomics. However, it could also be the result of immature guilt and the position of privilege--as well as a plethora of other issues. They might just be belching forth what their parents feed them.
What I would suggest to you--since you already appear to have a course that includes writing--is to have a poetry contest. Give your students say two weeks to compose the best poem they can on any subject that strikes their fancy. Ask them to dig deep for creativity and tell them that the top five poems will be read and posted in class for the duration of the semester/year. A cheap and easy way to make them dig deep and deliver on their most hidden emotions; and, make them share and contemplate them.
If the result warrants, tell them you could not decide which is best because everyone did so well. Then read and post them all in class. The call is yours to make.
This might reveal more of what your students are really feeling than any essay contest ever could. Food for thought.
I know some of the other reasons for my self-centeredness. It's come up in therapy sessions before. This may sound weird, but when you really think about it, it starts to make sense: I am and always have been a large guy, both tall and wide. I was taller than my second-grade teacher. I finally topped out at 6'6", which would be good if I wasn't also overweight.
ANYWAY, my freakish physique precluded me from a lot of the normal social milestones growing up. I had very few friends. Couldn't get a woman to agree to a date with me until I was 21, after two years of working out to lose a total of 140 pounds gave me the confidence to approach a woman. Ended up marrying that woman. She is the only person I've ever done anything with, including kissing. Ok, maybe that's a little TMI.
So, according to my psychiatrist, missing those normal social milestones during my teenage years made me feel like I was separated from society - feelings I hold to this day even though I have a successful marriage, career, and three beautiful children. Seeing everyone have more success than me during my formative years - success with their social lives that is - has made me strive for more success than them later in life.
Yes, I know I sound like a whiney, immature loser. But I'm going for honesty here.
I honestly feel like there is a direct connection between the rising obesity rates, and rising levels of Conservativism in the last 30 years. Being physically separated from your peers leads to mental separation throughout your life. I hope I'm making sense...
ps - Thom, if you happen to read these things, that might be a good thing to discuss on your show. It also fits in well with the "corporations are evil" mantra Progressives have. Corporations that control the food supply and put sugar in EVERYTHING - sugar that is more addictive than cocaine - are just a culpable for the health problems they cause as tobacco companies are.
Part of what shifted my political idealogies slightly to the left was watching my father die of diabetes-related health issues at age 59. Fortunately, I've been able to break the diabetic cycle in my own life so far, thanks to my weight loss. I sincerely think that my father's death at a relatively young age is due, partially, to food company practices.
Matt, I commend you for your honesty. That was way more personal information than anyone should feel obligated to share on this forum. Much appreciated. - AIW
Every year I try to teach two nonfiction books to my students. And every year one of those books is "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Pollan, which explains a lot about the modern food industry. It changed the way I feel about food, but fortunately I have the means and the ability do most of my shopping in the organic section of the grocery store, and prepare my own meals. Pretty much any food that comes to you in a box, or through your car window, is bad for you. And for a large portion of the population, that is their only option. I think people from both the left and right sides of the political spectrum can agree to that.
But here's where we're going to disagree: the solution to the problem. But that's probably a topic for another blog post.
"...the idea of armed gunman blocking the highways and checking drivers' licenses conjures up some pretty scary images." The political forces of capitalism, with violent media images of Rambo, funded by the NRA, a military war machine, and dousing the flame with god, old fashion, centuries old region hate. News sources have become a type of "reality less less" television with the likes of CNN spending half of its budget talking with "experts" who have no knowledge about the location of an airplane - or a relatively inconsequential, obnoxious billionaire who espouses venous hate towards the color of the skin of the NBA players. I share alarm about what has been taking place in Nevada - and moreover, that a large, politically motivated corporation with incredibly large television, movie, newspaper, and worldwide media distribution delivery systems, took an obscure, mediocre, legal issue, and poured emotional kerosene on it. The labels we use in our political discourse seem to be backwards. E is nothing conservative about laying on a freeway overpass with a high powered weapon targeted at law enforcement. There is nothing conservative about stirring up the flames of hate against the government and provoking a lone wolf of taking the first shot, such as what we saw several years ago in Tucson. Indeed, we live in perilous times with communication tools and technology absconded by a few corporations. Are we to see a new militia of anonymous faces of hate promulgated behind the scenes by corporate board rooms, ready to up their ratings with live images of a blood bath over a rancher refusing to pay a reasonable fee to rent land? I am thankful that law enforcement showed restraint and avoid a shoot out at Bundy's OK Corral. I will be damned if I am ever stopped by a group of warlords, "Corporations are people my friends." - M Romney
ChicagoMatt ~ Well said, and most provocative. The obesity epidemic in this country must have a simple explanation and a simple cure. Otherwise it wouldn't be such an isolated problem in the grand scheme of things throughout history. Personally I believe Industrialization is behind the root cause of this problem. However, a well thought out show by Thom would be very interesting indeed to shed more light on this totally preventable problem. I second the motion.
Another thing I've noticed about my students and their "greed is good" desire to be rich even at their young age - they tend to make fun of poor people. Not all of them, but the majority of them. When we do creative writing exercises, there are a lot of homeless people in their stories, always the butt of jokes. They joke about their classmates growing up and living in cardboard boxes while they themselves live in mansions.
I'm not sure if this is normal for students at this age (since they tend to take everything lightly), or if this is a new phenomenon. These students are now the second generation to live under Reaganomics - most of their parents are in their 30s or 40s. Just something to think about.
What gets ignored every time is the issue of welfare ranching. Bundy and his ilk believe that they own our public land and that it should be for their cattle and their profit. Every dollar they make was subsidised by the citizens of the US. we get nothing in return. But what is even more important to me is that these welfare queens and those who want to frack, wind machine, mine or otherwise use up our public land at our expense are wiping out the wild horses and burros who are legally supposed to be protected at the request of the public via an act of congress in 1970. No one even looks at how they are being decimated and sent to live in torture holding chambers operated by BLM until they are so sick they get sent to slaughter. It is criminal. And btw fracking kills the water, the earth and all life. So the fracker intersests that want our public land in reality want to murder our public land for all time. to learn more go to these two groups: http://www.westernwatersheds.org/ and http://wildhorseeducation.org/
I'm free, white, blue eyed and well long past 21. I'd be offended AND afraid if someone dressed like a militiaman or woman had the audacity to stop me and demand any form of I.D. So, if even I am dubious of this kind of dangerous rhetoric, think of what our brothers and sisters with just a darker/a lot darker skin might have to feel or be put through, if they find themselves stopped by similarly dressed people!
Surely these so-called militia thugs are breaking County or State Laws! They must be stopped, however that has to happen. Where are the Nevada National Guard? We can't allow these rural gangs to antagonize the rest of us, and make those who might not pass muster drive many miles out of their ways to avoid trouble.
Palindromedary ~ I'm sorry. I thought that was one gunshot to the back of the head and one from inside the mouth.
Of course, anytime there is a suicide with more than one gunshot to the head it is obviously going to raise eyebrows. (No pun intended!)
I'm still waiting to hear the Bundy family's legal argument for the use of this land. Surely over so many generations the question came up? Hello! I'm listening!
"Bunkerville?" Is that a typo, or are you serious? Well I guess Bundy and the Oligarchs just couldn't have picked a better named spot for a show down, could they? Pardon me while I try to compose myself after laughing my head off.
Seriously though, I thank Thom for thinking this through and filling in the gaps. I knew from day one of this story that if the Bundy resistance wasn't obliterated on the first day that there must be ulterior motives at work; and, now thanks to Thom they seem pretty clear.
One thing though. I have to wonder if this hatred of the Government by the Bundy clan is a genuine hatred--such as that we progressives have--and not simply a hatred of the color of the man in charge. If you ask me, this scheme by the Koch brothers may run deeper than just a few misguided nitwits. They are being baited by race more so than anything else if you ask me.
Don't forget that idiotic bigoted rant Mr. Bundy shared with us. In my opinion this is more about the black guy in office than any real land dispute. I know Thom likes to see the best in people. So do I. However, only racial hatred can make anyone act this blatantly stupid. I would hold off on my lofty assessment of their actions and spend a little more time listening to what they say. What I hear is that black men aren't capable of raising a family and do their best as slaves. Doesn't that say a lot about how they must feel about the current President? Doesn't that explain their hatred toward the Government? Do you think this standoff would have ever happened if the current President was White? And, do you really think that this entire scenario isn't part of the Koch plan?
DAnneMarc: That Tim Carpenter had terminal cancer is not a sudden surprise...it was mentioned in a public forum last year. I would imagine that if any kind of radioactive poisoning were the cause then we would have heard about it. Short of actually getting his medical report, or an autopsy report, I think we have to just conclude that he just naturally got cancer...unfortunately, that can happen to any of us at any age. It is just a pity that he had to die so young and a real pity that we lost such a great activist for the progressive cause. Now, if he had died with two gun shots to the back of the head, as some outspoken-against-the-right-wing have then I'd have to conclude there was foul play.
Aliceinwonderland ~ Absolutely not. It is very reasonable to suggest that as well. Most unfortunate too. However, it just really rubs me the wrong way how the best amongst us always seem to die so young. I guess I'm just getting tired of that trend.
ChicagoMatt, this is ChicagoMark. I don't agree that "the purpose of college is to separate yourself from everyone else", at least not in the way I think you mean it. I think college is for what the Army used to claim as its purpose, to allow you to "be all that you can be", to realize all your potential to be and contribute all you can. If you must distinguish yourself in college you should by your academic performance not by having rich parents.
I have indeed noticed that you kids born in the '80s, since the Reagan Era, seem to have accepted the "greed is good" mantra pretty uncritically. So much so that it seems "the air you breathe", unquestionable to you like the fact of the Sun's rising in the East and setting in the West. Even lefties of your age group seem to have that problem.
You seem different from other millenials in that you don't seem "post racial". I'm Generation X in Chicago and I positively love Chicago for its diversity and have no trouble feeling kinship with other racial and ethnic groups and most people I know feel the same way. They are really small barriers to overcome - if you try.
We'll have to come with another theory as to where your self centeredness comes from.