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Let first start by expressing that I too had hope. I voted for President Obama twice, like there was much of an option. But let us not dilute our selves into thinking that President Obama has done all he could. To be honest I am quite disappointed in him. We wanted a President Roosevelt(a social progressive) and got a President Clinton(conservative centralist that plays the middle of the field) in a game were they moved the middle to twenty yards to the right wing neo-conservative victory goal. Yes they blocked every thing he did, but let us look at things he could have done with out any support.
1). closed Guantanamo Bay
2). brought light to NSA abuses
3). stopped drone attacks
4). re-investigated 9-11-2001
5). not gone after whistle blowers with more vigor than any other president in history, instead he could have chosen to help protect whistle blowers.
So I do not want to vilify Obama, but let us not ignore the mistake he has made as humans inevitably do.
bobcox ~ Thanks for that little tidbit. I understand that statement was made in a closed door meeting and reported by a German Newspaper; but, widely ignored by the American media. I managed to find the story doing a websearch. Here is a bit of an article I found in The New American.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/16043-jimmy-carter-defends-snowden-says-u-s-has-no-functioning-democracy
Thanks for the heads up bobcox. I've always liked President Jimmy Carter. You can alway count on him to tell it like it is.
One other thing I would like to see a conversation on is, the power of passion. What I mean by this is, that the tea party was never full of a bunch of critical thinkers, no offence. And the same can be said about President Ronald Reagan's Reaganomics supporters that helped us get were we are today. This is not letting the Bankers off the hook, it is just trying to be honest so we can fix this mess. That said, they showed and used passion, and beyond the billions funneled to them to act, their passion is the other key part to the success of manipulating the agenda of our nation (whether you agree with them or not). We need that passion and we need not underestimate the power of passion.
This is exactly what we need to rebound. Ok this and a thousand other out of the box ideas. I find any tools that the people can use, with in reason, is a good idea. But this is nice because it uses the correct application of capitalism in check, or also known as healthy capitalism.
USA TODAY says democrat super pacs are out-raising the GOP. Which I have not heard alot of
chatter about. Separate subect: If American Intelligence had investigated the Russian tips about the Boston Bombers as well as the oil executives in Latin America, alot of crime could be stopped. This shows that oil Barons have too much government influence, and oil is over-priced.
Like Building 7, "get back, that building's coming down soon!.."
BTW PLEASE
DO NOT BE FOOLED by this SIT OUT propaganda........THE TEA are saying this so STUPID DEMS also SIT OUT
THEY FOOLED YOU ............but TEABAGGERS WILL ALL COME OUT TO VOTE !
ONLY stupid Dems sit out elections.............the TEA are POWERMONGERS and never miss the VOTE.
SO STUPID and lazy DEMS ..........GO to VOTE in ALL ELECTIONS specially in 2014 Midterm so you can ATONE for not having voted in 2010 and given US the WORTH CONGRESS in HISTORY.
DO you not see that those TEA in the HOUSE have MORE POWER than the PRESIDENT ??
IN 2012 DEMS got MORE POPULAR votes forthe HOUSE ......but because of GERRYMANDERING TEAbaggers kept the MAJORITY
DEMS Now NEED ONLY !7 more SEATS...............IT CAN BE DONE....................remind those folks in RED Districts
DO YOU NOT LIKE Social SECURITY ? DO you not like MEDICARE.?
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY gave you those LIFE SAVING programs ! AT LEAST be grateful and five them YOUR VOTE !!!
Anything that will eliminate obstructionist, racist, un-American and troglodyte legiskators -- a,k,a, Republican'ts -- is more than welcome. It's sad, however, that it may take the last two years of the Obama administration to undo/retrofit the damage already wreaked by ignorance of the Tea Baggers in government.
When you use fear to motivate people, you get fearful people. People retreat into absolutism as a way of coping with their fears, and absolutism is just another form of extremism. When you use concocted beliefs to generate and manage peoples' fear, they require further concoctions for their safety from cognitive dissonance. A concoction is just another word for "lies" and we all know the path that liars are forced to take; creating ever bigger and more elaborate lies to cover their tracks. This becomes a self-reinforcing cycle and the march to further extremes is assured and accelerating. Eventually, people who follow this path eventually have an epiphany or a complete meltdown. Epiphanies are good, meltdowns are usually bad especially when coupled with access to assault weapons.
Some Democrats are not happy with even the Obama has not been as tough as they think he should. some are not happy with their representatives for not fighting as hard as they think but they will stick by them. Most understand that you have to give some to get what you want. I myself believe that Obama has not pushed and given into what the republicans want but I still support him. Yes at times I think he should use the Bully Pulpit to get things across to the public. Even though I am a registered Democrat I do not vote a straight ticket. I vote for Independents in my district. I have pulled completely away from voting for republicans as those that on the republican ticket here are way to conservative and extreme.
2014 could be an interesting election year, indeed. Another example of a house divided against itself cannot stand. Before you count your votes prematurely, don't forget how split the democratic party is as well. Very few people in this country are at all happy with their "Representatives" or how the Government is being run. There is no consensus in the Democratic Party that will give it any advantage this election cycle over the Republicans. However, lots of people are happy about the performance of Independent candidates such as Bernie Sanders. This might be a good omen that if both parties are significantly enough split it will open the opportunity for viable third party candidates. Those are the only possible options for me anyway.
Just saw this in the Burnt Orange Report: http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/13898/some-texas-republicans-very...
In May, Texas tea party leader Ken Emanuelson said this at a Dallas County Republican Party event: "I'm going to be real honest with you. The Republican Party doesn't want black people to vote if they are going to vote 9-to-1 for Democrats."
... Burgess made his views known by questioning other Republicans "about the wisdom of giving citizenship to '11 million undocumented Democrats.'" That comment was made in the Capitol basement in a closed-door meeting, but it made it to the public.
Always suspect the suspicious. Conservatives have been trying to move forward by walking backwards, as in moving away from progressive agendas instead of walking forward towards applicable alternatives, for so long now that they're only tripping up from bumping into each other. Lesson to be learned? Fight for a cause, not for glory. It took me almost ten years to quit smoking. It was impossible to do when all I wanted was to prove a point that I could do it. As soon as I genuinely desired to sing better, run farther, smell better, and save my lungs instead of just validate my own resolve I discovered the true path to walk forward on, instead of trying to walk backwards away from the cigarettes. It's hard for me to trust anything founded on resisting rather than founding. Unless it's some new diet plan or technique. ! ps. sorry for blowing up on your chat room yesterday, Mr. Hartmann. I clearly lost my way for a moment.
Flopot ~ As you wish! You can count on it!
akunard ~ An excellent point! Yet not only does it show a lack of effort to protect people, but it also shows a lack of increased security after sacrificing privacy. Most of all, it shows that despite the spying efforts Snowden exposed, two kids already identified by a foreign enemy were able to evade capture and pull of a very successful terrorist event with nothing more than two backpacks and a homemade bomb. Any overpaid, overfed "intelligence" community that can be foiled by two would-be Boy Scouts doesn't do anything to impress me. Personally, I'd feel safer with a Government that would just simply take a Russian intelligence tip seriously. What so hard about that?
Obviously, this is no 'War Against Terror.' This is a war against American Citizens and The US Constitution. The real enemies are the Corporate Fascists who "hate our freedoms" and want to destroy our way of life. The real enemies are from within and not from without. The real goal is to turn the US Government into a profit making Corporation--The United Corporations of America. The real solution is separation of The Private Sector and State. We should all push to Amend the Constitution to make that the law of the land and Exorcise these profit fed Demons from our Government.
If NSA was using the data collected the way they claim, NSA would have stopped the Boston bombing. Russa warned us about the older brother.
It's all about control!
Again, George Orwell's 1984 is coming true inthe U.S. and former Pres. Jimmy Carter's statement that the U.S. is no longer a Democracy is being verifies.
Nothing new with these folks. Obamacare was their idea until the President accepted it as a compromise. They are willing to create as much damage as they can hoping that some of it will stick with the Democrats rather than allowing the Democrats to get credit for doing anything good for the public. The Republican members in Congress are behaving as though they are domestic terrorists. Their newest plan is to shut down the government if they cannot have their way. You cannot negotiate with terrorists like this, you must defeat them at the ballot box. You must show them for who they are and the American public will reject them.
OK TYPO CORRECTED BELOW (darn voice text tool sneaks in words).
This is the obvious result of government secret spying, not to be used for national security, rather go for drug offenders prostitutes, who knows maybe masturbation because church groups have far too much power over government.
There's a grain of truth that our government should protect, but there's also the problem of government gaining too much power over the people, and historically that's how fascist regimes gain power in the first place, via fear. More people are killed by deer's crossing the road than terrorists in America.. What makes terrorism truly dangerous, are idiots and demagogues using fear 2 gain power in government here at home.
How can this invasion ever recede? I am seeing the world so differently these last few months. It is not good a good look! - but I cannot imagine there is anything we can do about it. Thankyou Edward....better the devil you know, as they say.
Thom Hartmann should retitle his blog as "Shenanigans of a Corporatist State". It's hilarious! Forget about any notions of "precrime"; it is more like framing someone for a crime that didn't happen. Virtual Crime? The authorities make up a crime and then prosecute someone for nothing, basically. Null Crime?
Seems like a system going to EXTREME lengths to try and justify its existence. And all under Obama, the great Fake O'. Next time around please, please, please vote third party, independent; anything but the corporatist puppets.
Nora, the dictionary definition of the word "sequester," is:
To hide, separate, confiscate, appropriate, commandeer.
So actually, it's kind of an appropriate word, because it is the rich people hiding their wealth, separating the poor from what little money they have left, appropriating what little property the middle class has left, and commandeering all government programs and resources for the sole benefit of the wealthy.
I think what the republicans are counting on is that now that they have dumbed down our education system horrifically for so many years, very few average citizens know what the word sequester means, and so the republicans think that that big word will impress at least some people enough so they won't notice the republicans stealing their last penny.
OPERATION ZEUS:
Sound familiar?
http://intothefire.org/petition-eu-operation-zeus-release-detainees-greece/
Palindromedary, thank you for the history lesson. Very interesting. I'm going to find that book. "A century of war: Anglo-American oil politics and the new world order" by William Engdahl.
And you know, I have wondered the same thing: is Obama just another stuff-shirt fascist hypocrite who happens to be black, or is he doing the best he can with his extremely limited courage which is rooted in his deep fear of anyone thinking that he's an uppity black man, when in fact he SHOULD be an uppity black- we voted for him because he promised that he would be an uppity black. We haven't had much luck finding any uppity white politicians, other than a very few such as Bernie Sanders.