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yes GOP scam will do same to USA Beating Obama is GOP # 1 goal More Corps cuts & deregulation are next Jobs come last if at all Thats why I gave up on the greedy deregulating lying GOP long ago. I am fearful Mitt will win becasue of the GOP stalls - blocking- lies- filibusters and very ill informed voters Corp media has failed They report lies- 1/2 truths - innuendo Its like ' he said she said ' with NO facts / clarification Corp run Media sucks
The austerity plans lined out and the measures taken have dampened the entire economic system in
a variety of countries in the EU.
Agree; and what would make an interesting picture is when they try to swim while hoarding and carrying that Gold, in the eventuality that Global Warming brings the sea level to their doors! "Everyody out of the pool!" /sigh
Do people think we are immune to this? I'm putting all my money into gold/silver coins that I HOLD in my house.
Economic destructionism: For a historical perspective on what Republicans are doing to destroy the economy, look at the modern history of Spain. For centuries Spain was governed by a monarchy, supported by wealthy land owners and the Catholic Church. In the early 20th century there were various uprisings that led to the election of a Socialist government in the early 1930s. This government promised much to the people who were largely peasants. The wealthy and the Church, not wanting to share power with the people, colluded to make the economy fail. Among other things money was withdrawn to foreign countries.
With the failing of the economy the people withdrew support for the government and the country became even more factionalized between right and left. This factionalization led to violence and assasinations which devolved into the famous Spanish civil war, with Spanish Fascists under Franco supported by Hitler and Mussolini. International liberals and communists supported the Spanish left but the American and British government decided not to get involved. With the aid of the German air force the fasicists won and Spain became a Fascist dictatorship under Franco for the ensuing four decades.
Of course this can't happen here because the left has little support or power, the government has powerful tools to suppress revolutionaries, and the people will be persuaded by an onslaught of propaganda to vote in proto fascist leaders from the far right as they did in 2010, or Wisconsin, or Italy and Nazi Germany.
Unfortunately we may not have four decades to endure the self destructive policies of fascist or corporate oligarchy before climate change makes the survival of the human race more pressing than any trivial concerns about supply side economics or gay marriage.
Hi Thom,
Seems indisputable that this stuff is treason-ous, although I'm not sure (as I believe you said also) it reaches the legal definition, as I'm sure the Caucus Gang studied thoroughly. Even if it did, would the Obama Admn do anything about it? I doubt it. Obama doesn't seem to like ANY kind of conflict, and unlike FDR, who was a fighter, he doesn't seem to want to go after this criminal gang. Even if this Caucus Restaurant meeting never took place, the CONS have been following the agenda that was outlined from the book. They must have "cooked it up" somewhere!
All I know is, we are in for the ride of our lives if Romney gains the presidency. American democracy. RIP? Heaven help us. We must get busy, or the outcome will be very sad indeed.
As Ted Kennedy Once Said On The Floor Of The Senate...
"WHEN WILL THE GREED STOP".
Ted On You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n_RM-DmiI8
Make no mistake of the matter that the EU insistence is Wall Street's insistence. Those who have the gold make the rules.
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Legendary journalist, Jack Anderson of the New York Times, claims that the Kennedies were mobbed up too - through Joe Kennedy. Joe Kennedy had his old friend, Sam Giancanna, fix the 1960 election for JFK. JFK or RFK were not to know anything about it, however, by Joe's insistance. Both the younger Kennedies were virulently anti Mafia and would not have accepted ANY help from the mob.
After the election the Kennedy Administration immediately began an anti Mafia law enforcement campaign. The mobsters, because they had just helped to get JFK elected, saw this as a double cross. They may or may not have been aware that JFK and RFK didn't know of the role of the mob in getting them elected.
The operation, carried out by the CIA, to assasinate Castro was continuing into the Kennedy Administration. The CIA was using mobsters to perform the actual mission as it always did for almost all its missions. This began long before the inception of the CIA. When the OSS needed a domestic intelligence network during WW II they went to the mob for it because the organized crime syndicates already had such apparatus in place.
Because the mob was feeling double crossed by Kennedy their operatives in Havana were not eager to carry out their orders of assasination. They, instead, approached Castro, told him of their instuctions and offered to assasinate Kennedy for Castro. That's when Castro's speech was given in which he said, "It has recently come to my attention that the president of the United States is trying to have me assasinated. Two can play at that game."
The rest, as they say, is history. That's all according Jack Anderson.
The Teamsters were a thoroughly corrupt and mobbed up union, far more than just Jimmy Hoffa and long after he had died. It wasn't until the union was put into receivership after a long campaign by the feds did that begin to end.
I was a member of Teamsters for a Democratic Union, the main Teamster reform organization, and on the Steering Committee of the Chicago chapter in the '70s. I don't know much about Hoffa jr. today but he was initially very closely associated with some very unsavory, old school, thuggish Teamsters. His running mate against Carey was the very dirty president of a very dirty Chicago Local 714 the name of Billy Hogan. Hogan, whose brother is part owner of a very large temporary help acency - of the very kind that outsources good jobs all over the United States into minnimum wage temporary ones - was banned from union activity for life by the IRB for taking kickbacks from an employer in Las Vegas to use temporary workers from his brother's agency instead of Teamsters for a job he was negotiating.
For a good understanding of the Teamsters, up to the late '70s, I recommend The Teamsters, the Men, the Money, the Mob by Stephen Brill.
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I have very little hope that individuals such as oil barons have enough self control to harness the inner madness of.......can't get enough of getting more.........even if it means reaching the tipping point. This is why we need a functional democracy, one in which the general welfare of the many trumps the madness of the few in regard to legislative decisions.....not gonna happen while the reign of republican/ tea-bag terror continues its death grip on all manner of representation by and for the 99.9%. Can't get anymore unpatriotic than the tea-party!
The American Indian, per Thom as I remember, had a political system that required any policy had to viewed in its effect on the 7th generation from the now. This is the kind of requirement that comes about when the female of the species is in control. I wonder how many millenia it took for the American Indian to evolve to this level.
Of course, the culture with the guns came along and wiped them out.
Every Citizen in this country should know by now that a USA with out a tax base can not succeed. The right has taken the good jobs out of our country and with it a very strong middle class tax base, and replaced it with GHW Bush's biggest and best service nation in the world. However, minimum wage part time service jobs have NO tax base, these workers are all at the poverty level.
Then for 30 years they have given the wealthy/corporations trillions of dollars of tax/welfare breaks elimating the strong upper class tax base, and replaced that with borrowing money from other countries to keep from going belly up, thus giving the USA the largest debt in history. The GOP "Grand Old Party" is dead and buried and it's founders are rolling over in their graves at what this owned Koch-Teapublican Party has done and doing to our country. From jobs, tax breaks, weather, ETC they have systematicly brought our nation to it's knees.
Ask your self and friends this question, IS THE USA BETTER OFF TODAY THEN IT WAS ON 01/19/2009? If you/they know where we were headed on that date then your answer has to be YES. Therefore I say that a vote of R will move our country BACKWARD, While a vote of D will continue our country moving FORWARD. hankk MI
The one positive to look at in the 2010 election is that Walker outspent his opponent 3:1 and this election it was 8:1. The first result he got 53% of the vote. The second time he got 54%. That's a helluva lot of money spent for a one point difference.
The bad news is, one only needs 51% of the vote to win.
The plus side is, despite all his negative ads, he did just about the same.
So this begs the question: did anybody change their minds as a result of the ads? (More on this later.)
I haven't heard or read anything to confirm that either way. But if what you are saying is true that the turnout was closer to the last election rather than the general election, it might be fair to assume that many of those eligible to vote chose not to vote both now and 2010. One reason why this may be true is that many of the non-voters didn't agree with the recall. It doesn't mean they agree with Walker either.
What I would like to know is how many stayed home this time but voted before and how many voted this time but stayed home before. My guess is that the difference is negligible. I say this because I believe those that stayed home, either didn't agree with the recall or didn't feel Walker's actions impacted them.
This brings me to question posed here: Is democracy in its death throes?
Unfortunately, I think it is. I believe it's safe to say that one-third of the country will always vote Republican, no matter who runs. Of the other two-thirds, some are equally die hard Democratic voters. However, I can't say with any certainty how much of that two-thirds is them. We had "Reagan Democrats" which implies that some registered Democratic voters can be swayed. I believe this is true of small segment of Republican voters who are willing to vote against their party because they see how screwed up it is. Plus we have that Independent base. (I know I have too many "thirds" here, but just go with me here)
Of these groups, the die hard Republicans (Tea Party, if you will) could fit nicely into the category of low information voters--they live off of FNC. But any amount of information, or facts, thrown their way would simply be deflected with hate and bigotry. So calling them low information would be inaccurate. They treat politics like a blood feud, so no amount of facts will change their mind. I do, however, believe there are low information voters in the other two thirds. They are mixed in with the Democrats and Independents, just a smattering though. I like to believe the "Reagan Democrat" numbers have subsided and those that remain must be low information voters. While I haven't taken a scientific poll, most Independents I know tend to be well informed, but I do feel safe to say that some who call themselves Independents are actually fairly conservative and vote accordingly and may very well be included as low information voters.
Where am I going with all this? Well, if, or should I say, IF there is a high voter turnout, the Democratic Party should win. The GOP knows this, hence we get voter purging and voter ID laws. But, if the turnout is just slightly better than average, I fear that the amount of low information voters will tip the balance. My math, rounded out because I suck at math, works like this: With a third of Tea Party votes and just enough of low information voters from the other two thirds, it could give someone like Romney just what he needs: 50.1% of the vote. (The upside of this possibility is that it doesn't mean he wins the Electoral Votes)
For argument's sake, let's say he wins the EV. With the GOP in control, and I see Romney easily being controlled by the GOP, I sadly believe we will be looking at a one party government for some time.
The two ways to prevent this from happening: 1) get out the vote 2) reduce low information voters.
Touching back to Walker's one point change leads me to believe that while negative campaigning does influence some voters, I also believe excessive negative campaigning exhausts the average voter, who then becomes disenfranchised about the whole election process because of the saturation and opts to stay home. I believe the GOP realizes this. Citizens United creates a two-pronged attack--extreme negative ads with extreme frequency. If you can't beat them into believing you, then just beat them down until they don't care. My difference of opinion regarding the Citizens case is that I believe it drives voter apathy more than it changes minds. Plus we have those who voted for Obama last year and feel he failed them, so they have become apathetic.
What about the low information voters? We could use them but can they be informed? There are so many kinds, I'm not sure how many can be saved. Between those that vote against their interests to those who don't even keep up with the campaigns until the day they vote, I'm not sure how they can be reached. The former would be swayed by negative ads, the latter may be too ambivalent to persuade them to vote for a major party. Is one way to invite them over and casually turn on Free Speech TV or a progressive radio station? Progressive radio tends to preach to the choir (as does conservative radio). Tho I do see that progressive hosts will give conservative callers air time so there is an opportunity to hear both sides. Anyway, at the very least it may stir discussion with your low info guest. Are there other ways to educate on a larger scale? We know we can't trust corporate media to do it.
We still need to reach out and give those tired and and apathetic voters a reason to get excited. But Obama may have to work on his strategy in such a way that will help do that. What that will or should be, is beyond me. He ran on Hope and Change last time. A lot of people lost that hope and the change we really need is in Congress, but he can't make that his focus. Campaign managers have a way of knowing the right things to trigger results. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing anything to suggest that from the Obama campaign at the moment. I am hopeful they will, otherwise the change we get will be backwards.
If the DOJ doesn't sue Rick Scott and get their best lawyers on this case, then we have lost democracy altogether. The DOJ needs to come down hard on all these voter suppression tactics and voter ID laws. I am ashamed to say that I am from Wisconsin where the governor has won the recent recall vote and continues to try to get his voter ID bill through the court battles where we are trying (and so far succeeding) to get it struck down. This issue is as important as the Move to Amend issue, and I will be working for both.
David, 2 questions for you:
Why is it the PMS-NBC has less than half fo the ratings of Fox news?
Why did Rachel Maddow declare the Wisconsin recall one the biggest wins the progressives will ever get a month ago, yet obviously changed her tune completely Tuesday night?
Dont we need to restructure the setup process for our democratic system to make it so that when we elect a certain group that the house, congress and the senate and all of it,s connecting orginizations are in office and have the same groups wanting and working for the same changes all at the same time ? if we dont like the way they do things we can clean house every four years or so. and start with the new group that will sureley try to keep their posts if they know they have no choice but to do what,s right. Ive, been watching the same ol swing back and forth for better than 60 years and it,s always been only some change or what the one party can get approved while the other has controll. ENOUGH ALREADY IT DOESN,T WORK ! CLEAN HOUSE AND PUT ALL OF ONE PARTY IN FOR A TERM (ALL AT ONCE) THEN WATCH THEM FALL OR MAKE GOOD.!
way to go , iI am someone whome is not so educated but can still see the truth and warnings facing us in these political crisis and times. we all need to do something (no matter how insignificant it may seem ) to counter the stupidity that effects the concervative party and its leaders, (the corporate World ). My 60s attitude and change the world thoughts can only do good to help us all get a grip on this situation.
When I was a fundamentalist buying into the wackiness of the Christian Right, the tendency for end-of-the-worlders is that human extinction is inevitable -- and soon. This creates a fatalism about stewardship of the planet. It doesn't matter to that absolutist mindset. Now, move that scenario into the political ideology realm and one does not care about the planet. The planet is on a collision course and it doesn't matter. Give this ideology power and you produce phenomena like the Koch brothers. Their conscience about their fellow human beings is "seared," to put it "biblically." It's delusional. Not that this has never happened before in historic regimes -- especially religious regimes.
I have been on this planet living and breathing for 49 years. It's hard to believe that in less than the span of my lifetime that this country has gone from a world leader to a has been politically. We used to be a standard bearer for being fair, doing the right thing and being an empathetic people. Today, we resemble little of the country we were 50 years ago. There is an ever greater degree of pessimism about our future prospects--that all the breaks are going to the absurdly wealthy. The power and influence of money has corrupted the edifice of what I used to believe was nearly impossible to corrupt and that was the American Dream. More and more people are disenfranchised by the evils of money that has gone now into the auctioning our governing leaders. People that have absolutely no idea what it is to serve other people....rather they want expect to be served. These are some of the selfish "leaders" we have had to endure for years and years: G.W.Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Limbaugh, Hannity, Gingrich, Canter, Boehner, Walker, Scott, Heukstra, Corker, Sessions, McConnell, ALL are big on mouth and hot air, big on hypocracy but do not know what it is to do for the good for the country like pass a jobs bill, or an infrastructure bill so people can go to work again. Or support unemployment at least, or food stamps. Or actually think. But no, these self serving bastards are smug on betting against America when it needs help. They don't see their neighbors as Americans, instead they see us only as consumers or the next sale and how can I get the rest of their money. There is the Green Party... this green party is the one that wants your green money, and how can they get more. Let's add in the "green partys" real constituents, the corporations like JP Morgan, BP, Exxon/Mobil, Goldman Saks and Health Insurance companies too... There ought to be a law against that, but go tell that to the idiots on the Supreme Court... I hope they collectivley choke on the pollution they allowed with this idiotic Citizens United.
When I listen to Thom and Senator Bernie Sanders on Fridays, I am glad there is ONE voice talking about this utter disregard for good of the country... Somebody needs to hold these "peoples" feet to the fire. This has been a really difficult week to digest with the Wisconsin results. But I don't blame the people... I blame the system .... the broken down, corrupted system that doesn't have an ounce of fairness in it. Of one political party that has gone over the cliff of sanity and is threatening to take the rest of the country with it. And when is the Democratic party going to get some kind of proverbial testosterone and actually start playing hardball with the crazies on the right? I am so sick of the spineless Dem's on the weekend shows... It is really difficult to watch sometimes...
I know that I have the power to do something. Even though it looks impossible, it is possible to make pathway. Somewhere along the various shows I listened to this week, came some valuable insight. Be a part of a movement, do not look for a leader. A movement is where future leaders will come from. So I am here to define where my future leader is coming from. I am a liberal, I am a progressive and I believe in the causes of the Progressive Movement. I believe in a single payer healthcare system, womens equality issues, I am prochoice, I am for same sex equality, of earning a living wage, and I also beleive that EVERYONE has to take ownership of the national debt... if corporations are people then they get the same degree of responsibility in paything the National Debt. I believe we do need more protection in our own manufacturing industries and pass bills that protect American jobs. And lets be sensible about consumer advocacy. I want clean water, clean air and the right to assemble or form a union (collective bargaining).
I am not a politician... but I approve all those ideas... And after this week in particular, I want something even bigger. I want CLEAN ELECTIONS and true representation of leaders. PUBLIC FINANCING of elections. And make the campaign for elections only six months, no commericals or ads until six months before the election.. that's it!
OH i FORGOT TO MENTION ONE SMALL DETAIL THE OIL it does not belong to the oil barons ,this is a natural resource and belongs to our mother earth and all of us ,all the minerals belong to all the world,s people and for our world to truly work ,they have to be shared and not squandered .In the last 40 years we have used MORE RESOURCES THAN THE LAST 40 000 years.
We are asked by life to be good steward,s of this perfect planet and to not abuse it but to share and sustain what has been given by life.Nobody can own portions of the planet this is insane we are asked by the life principle of sustainability to do just that sustain all that we think of as good and serves us .
Everything that is around us has been placed in our care they are not our possessions ,ownership is a temporary fiction having nothing to do with ultimate reality.
Ownership is a fallacy and comes from the second fallacy about life that there is not enough to go around,for a larger understanding about all of this read the New Revelation.s by Neale Donald Walsch .
Papillon i concur my friend but please read the storm before the calm the new book by Neale Donald Walsch ,there is hope for humanity its time to create a new cultural story for humanity ,because the old one can never work and is based on fallacy -the book explains all of this .
We will never give up hope it,s time for repair not despair,the overhaul of humanity has begun !!!
namaste
Humanity is at the stage of it,s birth ,now as you know a birth is a very perilous time .
The birthing of humanity is a term that the wonderful Barbara ford max Hubbard uses to describe our current times she is a true visionary and futurist.
What will it take for humanity to jump to a new way of being and living together for the highest good of all when will the number of like -wise individuals reach critical mass to tip the balance so we evolve as opposed to DE-evolve?
Evolution is not a straight line but happens in leaps and jumps ,jump time is going to happen but we have to get to that critical mass of human,s reaching for and striving to bring about the change that we wish to see in the world that works for the highest good of all.
To reach critical mass it is estimated at around 2-4% of the population of the planet ,so raising consciousness to change consciousness is the first step ,that,s why everyone,s voice on this form is so important and Thom always say,s tag you are it and that is profoundly correct .
Its people like Thom who have sounded the alarm call and have raised awareness of the issues it is up to us to create another world for our children and our children,s children,s children.
If we came from the understanding that we are all ONE and what hurt,s one of us hurt,s us all and the thought that there is enough of everything for us all ,these two guiding principles would change Humanity over night ,that is why it has been said that belief,s create behaviors ,this is the only solution and the ultimate truth, as evolution is just another word for movement towards unity .
namaste