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What I said about the "shock value" as played out in the media of the "crack of a gun" doesn't muster the same uproar as the slow relatively quiet deaths of people with cancer...the leading killer in America...way outnumbering deaths by guns.
I am currently experiencing the really gut-wrenching and very sad occasion of the slow and painful death of a relative...a Vietnam vet who has cancer that has spread just about everywhere in his body...he is under treatment at a VA center but doesn't have very much longer to live..maybe months..maybe days. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be a lot better to just die unexpectedly and quickly rather than being in pain and knowing that you are terminal.
It is really sad and hard to see him in such pain...that occurs when the VA administered narcotics wear off...and we, the family members, have not let him go a day without visiting him in the VA center (except on a day we all had to attend a close friend's funeral) and making sure he gets his meds. I'd have to say that the VA center has, so far, been really fantastic in caring for him. And the people at the VA, the nurses, etc..are all very wonderful and friendly.
There are no media exploiting the shock value of cancer as there is with gun death....or wedge issues such as there is for guns. Concerns about all of the carcinogens that cause cancer...like those in tobacco...and a lot of other things...just don't seem to make the "shock list" of things that the media can use to, well, "shock us". I have known many smokers and have lost a number of friends and relatives from their use of "coffin nails". Many are just plain hooked on nicotine...they are ever as much "junkies" as anyone else strung out on other forms of narcotics. And many won't even admit even to themselves that smoking causes cancer. It's like a junkie saying "Oh, I'm not hooked...I can get off any time I want...but, first, just a little taste!"
Since so many more people are killed each year by the use of tobacco products...why is the public not as up in arms about tobacco causing cancer. Why do they not demand that tobacco companies stop producing these drugs...which are quite a bit more destructive than guns?
I'm sure that Thom has put out a topic on tobacco related cancer deaths before...but how would it be if he put one out that was captioned: "Once again, another slow and painful cancer death is tragically the top story"?
Or: "Another slow and painful cancer death in America..."?
Or: "The second slow and painful cancer death in the US in just two seconds"?
Or: "Why does the US have such a high rate of slow and painful cancer deaths?"?
Or: "Why Should Cancer-causing Tobacco Nuts Viotate the Rights of the Average Person?"?
I'd say the right to live is quite valid here!
I agree that electing the Green party will not entirely fix our problems...there is even the possibility that no matter what Jill Stein says in seeking the election...if she were to actually win the Presidency...there is no guarantee that she will hold true to any of what she now says. Just like Obama! We want them to say..."Oh, damn, we really did blow it this time, didn't we...people are too smart to believe in our lies and propaganda any more...maybe we should try to rebuild the Democrat party so that people can trust us again."
But, breaking recent historical precedence...showing the nation and the world that the crooked money controlled two party system will no longer control us and that if they don't go to bat for those who actually have to vote for them...then we just will not vote for them again. In fact, I'd say you were "wasting your vote" if you vote for Obama. Your vote for Jill Stein of the Green party will be a loud and clear signal that the ruling elite do not "have it in the bag". The Democrats really do deserve to lose this time! No good can come from re-electing them...except for the ones that really have gone to bat for us. And I really hate to say that because I consider myself to be a liberal, progressive Democrat.
The act of ushering in a new era led by the Green Party is way better than what may very well be coming down the pike at us if things don't drastically change very soon. No one really wants massive violence to break out. But, unfortunately, there are few remedies. Obama has already shown who he is...and it is not who he pretended to be when seeking election for the Presidency. He is now merely repeating his pre-election lies and deceptions.
If America doesn't do something really drastic...like elect Jill Stein...and break the good-ole-boy ruling elite class stranglehold on America...then America will soon have no other choice but to fight back the hard way. And it ain't gonna be pretty!
I just hope they are going to be smarter about it than to attack those unworthy of an attack. We will be inundated by propaganda to get us to fighting one another over silly differences and they will pretend to be one of us...they are very good at fooling lots of people...and trying to make some of us look crazy and, perhaps, violent. None of us who hate what America has been doing (ie: killing thousands of innocent civilians in the Middle East) are any where near as violent as the military and the politicians who send them over there to conduct this illegal war.
You will just be making things worse by voting for Obama again. If he wins...he, and his regime, will just say..."see there, their vote shows that they love me and my policies...here's more of the same!" And there will be absolutely no incentive for him to suddenly change and go to bat for the people who elected him. He's looking for that "revolving door" to the private sector where he can make some really big bucks. And that goes for all of the other political, government, and military people in power as well.
Voting for Obama, with almost identical policies, or extensions of, to the Bush regime and in many cases even more disgustingly vile than Bush's will only slightly delay the inevitable. Romney would, of course, bring it on even sooner. The longer we wait, the more prepared the government will be to fight the people. They will have saturated the skies with Hell-Fire missile armed drones.
But, there is one factor that may help us....that no matter how many cops or military they put on the streets of America....many of those warriors will be very conflicted when they start hearing that they are firing upon their own mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.
Guerrilla fighters since Robert the Bruce have defeated standing armies in the west and east more often than not . The current US Army requires 15 men in logistics to support 1 in the field. That's how Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam were lost . Castro won Cuba with a couple of dozen dedicated men with old US rifles.Your weapon only needs to be good enough to kill your enemy and take his weapons if they are better, as we have learned in these wars of conquest.
They are already doing this in places. Facebook reported 800000 bogus pages, the story quickly disappeared.
Better and more logically consistant to vote NOTA. The Greens believe the current system can be repaired with a few tweaks . This is clearly dillusional.
The US is the oldest republic on Earth 250 years is actually a long time for it to have survived
The majority of gun deaths are suicides 17000 or so in 2010.
Your onto the scam . The gun flap is a wedge issue along party lines , that both partys milk for all it's worth everytime there is a shooting. Car deaths and poisoned food are not wedged that way therefore no interest. PRO/Anti abortion, tied to healthcare, is the wedge both parties love the best. It generates the most contributions to both sides
Romney/Obama no difference for poor folk , Obama might help a thin slice of upper eschelon libs. become wealthier.
Now your broaching the real problem , no one wants to here about it unfortunately.
I agree and have posted several responses in the same vein. thanx.
In the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s, the people perceived as being strange and radical were on the left. Republican politicians like Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon did not hesitate to run against the hippies, the drug users, the student radicals, the anti-war protestors and the actual proponents of violent revolution. The Republicans understood that they were not alienating potential supporters because they stood no chance of getting those people’s votes under any circumstances. They knew that, if antagonized, the eccentrics would become even louder, angrier and more militant. They also understood the benefits of putting mainstream Democratic politicians in the position of having to either repudiate the eccentrics or support them. The Republicans’ strategy proved to be very effective. Although I was too young to vote, I knew many adults who didn’t especially like the Republicans or especially dislike the mainstream Democrats. They voted Republican largely to express their disapproval for the weirdos.
Today, the weirdos are on the right. Democratic candidates from President Obama down to candidates for county clerk should be using the same strategy that the Republicans were using forty years ago. Don’t focus on Willard Romney or the other members of what passes for the mainstream in today’s Republican Party. Focus on the weirdos.
· Run against the known lunatics like Todd Aiken, Michelle Bachman, and that clown from Florida who channels Joe McCarthy.
· Run against Rick Santorum and others who would outlaw not just all abortions but all forms of birth control.
· Run against the Republican debate crowds who cheered for the idea of someone dying because he did not have health insurance, who cheered Rick Perry’s execution record and who booed an active-duty soldier.
· Run against the greater and lesser stars of hate radio.
· Run against the people who wore guns to anti-healthcare rallies.
· Run against the birthers.
· Run against those who claim that the more bullets that are flying through the air, the safer everyone will be.
· Run against those who claim that we shouldn’t care about the environment in which our children will live because Jesus will end the world next month.
· Run against Ayn Rand, the militant atheist who understood that her ideas were completely irreconcilable with Christianity.
· Run against the closeted homosexuals who want to express their own self-loathing through public policy.
This election is too important to lose. It needs to be a referendum on right-wing extremism.
On the other hand, a person, or a group of persons (whether they control the government or not) can become very dangerous even if, or especially if, they have a lot to lose....like the 1%.
By amassing most of the wealth of the nations, the few that control that wealth are DESPERATE to continue controlling that wealth. They resort to desperate measures, getting police to bash heads or pepper spray peaceful demonstrators, for example. Or, eventually using the military and continued violent means in using their corrupt government to look out for their interests and suppress everyone else's interests. They own the news media and control the propaganda. The same desperate measures that all other country's ruling elite, past and present, have used against the masses have been, to some extent, used in the US. And, of course, it could get much worse.
Maybe that is why most sane governments foster the idea of encouraging most people to have something to lose...like a marriage, children, a home, a job, health security, bank accounts...everything that might keep people from losing it. But when that government is being corrupted and controlled by a small group, say "the 1%", to take away all these things, then the masses can become very dangerous to the 1%. It happened in Russia and in France...and more recently in Libya and Egypt and breaking out all over the world.
When propaganda and "hope pandering" no longer work and people begin losing everything... (their wives or children due to the health$care death panels striving to maximize profits, their job due to downsizing and sending our jobs overseas in order to maximize the profits of the already wealthy, their homes due to a crooked mortgage scam, and their bank accounts due to rising food prices or bank failures that the bankrupt FDIC won't be able to cover a depositor's losses, or a government that will make good on the losses of the gambling of wealthy scamsters but not the people with bank accounts.)...then the historical and natural response may be a massive uprising.
The Tea Party was becoming very dangerous to the 1% until the 1% took them over to steer them. Now they are dangerous to the 99%. I hope that is not happening to the liberal movements. There are a lot of pretend liberals who are really subversives. Some even post blogs..perhaps as sock puppets paid by the ruling elite to discredit liberals or progressives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2w5EAVnQ4o
I hope that no one loses it and tries to act alone. They will only be seen as a crazy person and will, perhaps, do damage to other people suffering from, perhaps, the same problems. It won't do any good to strike out against those fellow victims. It just never made any sense for rioters, for example, to riot in their own communities.
When a person has nothing left to lose, they become very, very dangerous.
Many times, Fox news O'Reilly has said that charity should help poor people, not the government.
Many churches are struggling as people cannot give money or as much money anymore, they have lost their jobs. I have attended churches like this, they put their money problems in the church bulletin to show people that they don't have enough money. The churches for the most part help only those "in" their congregation.
Last week, on the radio, in Southern California, a very well-known very wealthy pastor said that they try to help people in their church, but the people keep coming back for more and more, and that, "We (the church) are NOT the Welfare Dept.
In the United Kingdom and Canada, patient self-referral to a medical specialist for how to gain some weight is rare as prior referral from another physician is considered necessary, regardless of whether the funding is from private insurance schemes or national health insurance. Thanks a lot.
"Mass interception of entire populations is not only a reality, it is a secret new industry spanning 25 countries
It sounds like something out of Hollywood, but as of today, mass interception systems, built by Western intelligence contractors, including for ’political opponents’ are a reality."
Selling Surveillance to Dictators
"When citizens overthrew the dictatorships in Egypt and Libya this year, they uncovered listening rooms where devices from Gamma corporation of the UK, Amesys of France, VASTech of South Africa and ZTE Corp of China monitored their every move online and on the phone.
Surveillance companies like SS8 in the U.S., Hacking Team in Italy and Vupen in France manufacture viruses (Trojans) that hijack individual computers and phones (including iPhones, Blackberries and Androids), take over the device, record its every use, movement, and even the sights and sounds of the room it is in. Other companies like Phoenexia in the Czech Republic collaborate with the military to create speech analysis tools. They identify individuals by gender, age and stress levels and track them based on ‘voiceprints’. Blue Coat in the U.S. and Ipoque in Germany sell tools to governments in countries like China and Iran to prevent dissidents from organizing online.
Trovicor, previously a subsidiary of Nokia Siemens Networks, supplied the Bahraini government with interception technologies that tracked human rights activist Abdul Ghani Al Khanjar. He was shown details of personal mobile phone conversations from before he was interrogated and beaten in the winter of 2010-2011."
"Orwell’s World
Across the world, mass surveillance contractors are helping intelligence agencies spy on individuals and ‘communities of interest’ on an industrial scale.
The Wikileaks Spy Files reveal the details of which companies are making billions selling sophisticated tracking tools to government buyers, flouting export rules, and turning a blind eye to dictatorial regimes that abuse human rights."
http://wikileaks.org/the-spyfiles.html
A new US military spy operation takes manipulation to a new level, using social media to tackle the online world. America's new 'sock puppet' software allows the military to simultaneously create multiple fake online identities to spread a pro-American message.
Nope, you are not being spammed. You have been targeted! You are so popular on Twitter, Facebook or where ever else you might spend your time online that the government wants to comment on your blog, many, many times to make sure their message is the loudest.
You can block them, report it as spam, but it will not work. The views will keep coming back. The military has awarded a contract to a California company to make sure of that.
The new software creates a super online persona management service allowing military members to control multiple online identities at once. The personas are generated to boast a convincing back story, a history and required supporting information. In addition, up to at least 50 controllers need to be able to operate their false identities from their government computers concurrently -- "without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries," of course.
---------------
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/03/report-recruit/
Military Report: Secretly 'Recruit or Hire Bloggers'
By Noah Shachtman
March 31, 2008
"A study, written for U.S. Special Operations Command, suggested "clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers."
Since the start of the Iraq war, there's been a raucous debate in military circles over how to handle blogs — and the service members who want to keep them. One faction sees blogs as security risks, and a collective waste of troops' time. The other (which includes top officers, like Gen. David Petraeus and Lt. Gen. William Caldwell) considers blogs to be a valuable source of information, and a way for ordinary troops to shape opinions, both at home and abroad.
This 2006 report for the Joint Special Operations University, "Blogs and Military Information Strategy," offers a third approach — co-opting bloggers, or even putting them on the payroll. "Hiring a block of bloggers to verbally attack a specific person or promote a specific message may be worth considering," write the report's co-authors, James Kinniburgh and Dororthy Denning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2w5EAVnQ4o
This IS my life...so get over it! And I certainly don't care about whether you "enjoy" reading what I have to say. If you don't like what I say then just skip over my sections. I'm quite likely to ignore yours from now on, that's for sure. This is not the first time you've said that I am "paranoid" and that I should "get a life"...and I've responded then as I do now...just skip over what I write. Simple! But you have not done that so I guess you must have another reason for reading what I have to say....could it be that you are afraid that I might influence someone else in something that you do not agree with...and you can't really effectively refute what I say so you try to discourage me through ad hominem name calling?
Well, I have certainly tossed it around but have decided that there is just no way that voting for Obama again will be of any use whatsoever. If you vote for Obama again you remain in that groove that you'll never get out of. The Democrats have to see that if they don't totally support those who voted them into office that we absolutely will not vote for them again.
Since the ruling elite controls both the Republicans and the Democrats..if you vote for one or the other you are still voting for the ruling elite. I'm calling their bluff and won't play their game anymore. Obama not only blew it but he revealed the true game that they, the ruling elite, play. The whole thing is a charade to get you to stay locked in to the Business party with two factions..the Republicans and the Democrats.
I hate it that Romney would possibly win...but I also see the illusion that Obama is. Either way, and I sure am not looking forward to our very bleak and violent future. But I believe that it's coming...with Romney, it may happen a little sooner. But with Obama, the false hope he panders will tend to stave off a little longer what may be inevitable....when his supporters finally realize that he was not going to change after all.
I'm sticking with Jill Stein, even if it risks putting Romney in the White House. The Democrats just plain blew it and I've had enough of them. Just big pussies that won't stand up to the Republicans....because they are also part of the deception that the ruling elite uses to keep us pinned down.
Palindromedary, Do you have a life or do you just wait to release your emotions on this web page? I use to enjoy reading the different comments on Thom's blog, but it is just too frustrating to read your conspiracy rants each day. Get a life for yourself and perhaps you will have something to do, besides ranting on about how the government is conspiring to intercept information about our daily lives...and use it against us. We all know the government is corrupt and only works for the wealthy and the corporations to increase their bottom line profits. But, you sound like you actually believe the guys in black suits are waiting for the signal to start rounding up all of the decenters and place them in concentration camps. And I still have not heard anyone in Washington say they want to take all the privately owned weapons away from us and leave us without protection. Do you really think a civilian militia would actually stand a chance against federal troops? Can you spell the word, paranoia? The government is not the people who are growing GOM'S, it is the bloody corporations like Monsanto and other giant chemical corporations who produce the seeds of GMO food plants.
Palindromedary; Remember our current government, like it or not, is all that we have to keep and delineate us from ....say 14th century global society, the place and time the Koch's, Romney, Ryan, and the Republicans want to go back to.
That said, I would like to express my sentiment regarding the current democrats in office verse the republicans. I get that you recognize the corruption and misguided influence that big money has wrought upon both democrat and republican representatives, "employees," of...."We The People." I mostly agree with your outrage, and although I'd love to see the Green party in power, in my opinion we are not at the time and place for a third party. I believe that support of the Democratic Party on all levels is imperative come November. Look, way too much is at stake, including the future Supreme Court. Seriously.....you must see the difference between the two parties, if you don't buy what I'm trying to say just look at the Legislative record.... actions and bills.
I guess..... unless I'm misunderstanding your posts, you and others don't see much difference. I look at it this way, without an outright violent revolt in the next couple of months, any progressive voting for a third party is equal to a vote for Romney and a post modern feudal society...I really think it's that bad...and as I've said before, I'm an independent that has voted for the Green Party in the past and if anything I'm actually more progressive now. Just my opinion for what it's worth! Sorry if I just pissed off any of Jill's supporters...that certainly is not my intent! I believe the Greens will prevail in due time!
Well, I finally was able to sign in to you, but by now I've forgotten what the uck I wanted to c0mment on, so forgeddaboudit.
The frequently run video of Paul Ryan...right after being named Romney's running mate...reminded me of Il Duce (Mussolini). Ryan's demeanor of a resolute grimace, nodding his head repeatedly, while turning from side to side...just was a spitting image of that famous video of Mussolini doing the same thing.
Noted! Now does that make me sane?